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Countering the popular misconception that racial discrimination has largely not existed in Puerto Rico, Jay Kinsbruner's Not of Pure Blood shows that racial prejudice has long had an insidious effect on Puerto Rican society. Kinsbruner's study focuses on the free people of color--those of African descent who were considered nonwhite but were legally free during slavery--in order to explore the nature of racial prejudice in nineteenth-century Puerto Rico. In considering the consequences of these nineteenth-century attitudes on twentieth-century Puerto Rico, Kinsbruner suggests that racial discrimination continues to limit opportunities for people of color.
Following a discussion of Puerto Rican racial prejudice in historical perspective, Kinsbruner describes residential patterns, marriages, births, deaths, occupations, and family and household matters to demonstrate that free people of color were a disadvantaged community whose political, social, and economic status was diminished by racism. He analyzes the complexities and contradictions of Puerto Rican racial prejudice and discrimination, explains the subtleties of "shade discrimination," and examines the profoundly negative impact on race relations of the U.S. occupation of the island following the Spanish American War.
Looking behind the myth of Puerto Rican racial equity, Not of Pure Blood will be of interest to specialists in Caribbean studies, Puerto Rican history, and Latin America studies, and to scholars in a variety of fields investigating questions of racism and discrimination.

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CHOICE Review

Gordon Lewis affirmed many years ago that a "conspiracy of silence" surrounds race relations in Puerto Rico. Although the subject is of crucial importance, it is rarely talked or written about. This short book, unfortunately, does not do much to break the silence. Kinsbruner's main argument is that in the 19th century, Puerto Rican society followed "the logic of caste." Although free people of color made up a larger percentage of the population there than in comparable countries--a fact not adequately analyzed here--by the 1800s racial lines had hardened. Using census data for several barrios of San Juan, the author seeks to demonstrate that racial prejudice limited the ability of free people of African descent to participate in the market economy, obtain an education, organize families, reproduce, and even live as long as members of other groups. These deficiencies are seen as results of racial prejudice, but the fact is not satisfactorily demonstrated. That prejudice existed in a slave society is not in itself revealing, however. Ultimately, the limited nature of the questions asked in this book, the insufficiency of the data, and the conclusions leave much to be desired. Upper-division undergraduates and above. F. A. Scarano; University of Wisconsin-Madison

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Jay Kinsbruner is Professor of History at Queens College and Graduate Center, City University of New York.