Invisible Cities: The Arts and Renewable Community

Background Information – Visible History

The next few sections will be used as historical intersections that I will use in the class room to give context for the investigations we will hold. It will also provide a basis of understanding and an entry point to create inquiry based projects. Below you will find a brief outline of important events in Puerto Rican and Chicago history.

1493

As Columbus travelled to the New World in 1492, he stumbled along the islands that are located in what now call the Caribbean Sea. There were several different tribes that lived in these areas, but the two dominant were the Caribe and the Taino. The Taino's were inhabitants of the island of Boricua. Living in several well-developed cities they are documented as being quite open to the European settlements. In a 2011, Smithsonian article it quotes Columbus's notes in that "upon meeting them in the Bahamas in 1492 [,] '[t]hey were very well built, with very handsome bodies and very good faces…They do not carry arms or know them…They should be good servants.'" This new cohabitation didn't last very long once the Spaniards enslaved Taino men to work in the various gold mines and plantations. This allowed little time for the Taino men to farm and support their families. While many families began to starve, others died from a variety of European diseases, or in battle against the Spaniards. In only a couple of years, over three million Taino were dead. We now regard Boricua as the island and United States Territory Puerto Rico. ⁵

1898 - Puerto Rico and the United States of America

For 400 years Puerto Rico remained under Spanish rule, until the Treaty of Paris in 1898. Through this treaty the United States was given ownership of Puerto Rico. A couple of years later, during 1900, the US Congress placed a civil government when they passed the Organic Act. ⁶ Two years later, with its government in place, Puerto Rico was named a territory by the United States. Several years later, 1917, the Jones Act was passed and granted Puerto Ricans limited US citizenship. ⁷ 40 years later Puerto Rico remains a commonwealth of America, but becomes self-governing. While Puerto Rico has remained a commonwealth, 2012 was the first time in which 61% supported statehood, which could happen as early as 2015. ⁸

There had been many waves of Puerto Rican immigrants to Chicago between the 1940s-1960s. Yet, it wasn't until the early 1950s and 1960s that the largest groups of Puerto Ricans relocated to Chicago. It was at that time that Chicago had established itself as a place that immigrant working class families could live and work. Since then Puerto Ricans have resided primarily along Division Avenue, known as La Division, on Chicago's west side. ⁹

Simply stated, the relationship the United States has with Puerto Rico is unique. And, if anything, it is particularly confusing to those unaware of Puerto Rico's history. Some of this uniqueness creates some of the modern tension that resides within the identity of Puerto Ricans. While no one is enforcing them to identify with a cultural heritage, there are certain histories that are more prevalent than others represented on the Paseo Boricua.

2013 – Aqui luchamos, aqui nos quedamos – Here we struggle, here we stay

¹⁰

Just east of Humboldt Park is the first bandera. Weighing in at 45 tons, the 60 foot flag spans across the intersection creating a gateway greeting to Chicago's Puerto Rican neighborhood. Established as a Puerto Rican community throughout the 1950's, the paseo, which stretches down Division St., also has had a long and significant historical relationship to Chicago's Puerto Rican history. The Division Street riots helped spark many community outreach organizations that still exist today: Spanish Action Committee of Chicago (SACC), ASPIRA, and the Escuela Superior Puertorriquena. ¹¹

In addition to the assembly of the flags many other changes were made to La Division. In an effort to remember Puerto Rican history, light posts already adorned with the blinking of blue Chicago Police Department surveillance cameras, now featured placards with traditional Taino Indian symbols. Additionally, 78 painted planters were added to the 5 blocks featuring the 78 towns of Puerto Rico. Capturing significant historical markers, the Paseo also includes a brief Walk of Fame featuring key points and people in Puerto Rican history. ¹²

Strategies – Making the Invisible Visible

"When I started learning about Puerto Rican history, my view of myself completely changed. I was no longer an object drifting alone. All of a sudden I was a force. I had an identity. And that is extremely important," Enrigue Salgado, executive director of the the Division Street Business Association (DSBA). ¹³

The key is not to just focus on what has been recorded in history books, but to use this city as our classroom and to investigate and compare the forensic evidence we dig up. Therefore, the deconstruction is where the myths face reality and history faces narrative.

We are often deadened by the repetition around us – bus rides, walking routes, etc. This repetition allows us to have more noise penetrate our appreciation of the sameness of items in our world. That isn't true of Enrique, who is of Puerto Rican descent. When he started learning about himself he then gained access to his personal history and therefore gained agency in experiencing his cultural history. As Puerto Rican's claim, "[h]ere we struggle, here we stay," how will the arts and renewable society achieve such a large economic gap? ¹⁴ Our classroom solution: discourse through the optics, phonics, mnemonics, kinetics, proxemics, architectics, and poetics of Humboldt Park

Focus Framework

Historically, the seven liberal arts are typically broken down into two groups: the trivium and the quadrivium. The trivium consists of grammar, rhetoric, and logic while the qudrivium contains arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. In the spirit of this unit, I will rely less on the Medieval seven liberal arts and more on Sterling Professor of Theater and English Joseph Roach's 7 'ics': optics, phonics, mnemonics, kinetics, proxemics, architectics, poetics. Below I have created a table combining both descriptors: