Hartford has always been an economic hub, from factories and farms in the mid nineties to a major healthcare company hub today. The economy of Hartford has attracted Latinos from all over Latin America and the Caribbean with Puerto Ricans being the first major Latino group to settle into Hartford. Benito Torres is a kitchen worker at Trinity College. He first moved to the United States in 1985 and lived in three different cities before settling in Hartford. He came to the United States to work through a farming company that sponsored him and paid for most of his living expenses. Puerto Rican workers brought to the U.S. mainland by farming companies demonstrate the extent of U.S. companies’ desire for economic efficiency and the cultural changes this brought to cities like Hartford.
The constant desire for inexpensive labor from farms created a wave of mass migration of Puerto Ricans to the United States mainland and consequently to Hartford. The lack of desire of people living in the U.S. to perform these jobs forced these companies to seek more inexpensive and willing workers in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico was the perfect place to hire because companies did not need to solicit work visas or pay workers a set wage as stated by the law with migrants from other Latin American countries. Benito Torres was one of the thousands of Puerto Ricans that migrated to the U.S. through a farm company. He worked in the fields picking fruits and vegetables for three years and moved through Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey with that company. Benito’s migration story echoes that of many immigrants today who come to the U.S. through farm companies, construction companies, factories, among others. After working for the farming company and living in New York for six years, Benito moved to Hartford and has been living in the city ever since. In the mid twentieth century, the economic promise of a better paying and less laborious job in a factory pulled Puerto Ricans away from farm work and into factories in Hartford.
Over the years, there has been a vast increase in diversity of Latin Americans living and working in Hartford. The majority of Latinos in Hartford are blue collar workers which as a result placed Hartford as one of the poorest cities in the country, despite being in the wealthiest state in the country. This oxymoron serves as a mirror for the relationship between the phenotypically diverse Hartford and the rest of the homogenous state of Connecticut. Benito currently works in the kitchen at Trinity College. As Hartford has continued to grow throughout the years, there is a growing and more apparent disparity of wealth and phenotypes within Hartford due to universities establishing themselves within the city. This creates a large divide within certain parts of the city despite all of the rest of the Latino community being very united.
The community Puerto Ricans harvested in Hartford allowed the city to become a welcoming place for new and old immigrants. Puerto Ricans were the first major Latino group to settle in Hartford and paved the way for the evolvement of the culture of Hartford. Through the pushing of local government, the Hartford community was able to transform the architecture on Park Avenue to resemble that of Old San Juan giving Hartford a more comforting and nostalgic feeling for its residents. Benito said that when he first moved to Hartford, the city was plagued by gang violence and high volumes of crime. He mentioned, however, that he never thought about moving due to this because he felt at home and welcomed by the community. This is shared sentiment among the Latino residents of Hartford. Many mentioned they would never leave the community because it’s so tightknit and inclusive of the different Latino cultures. Benito mentioned, though, that a lot of the gang violence and crime that once existed in the community has greatly lowered. The community’s shared experience of immigration/migration and workers has brought the community together especially in times of challenge such as the hurricane in Puerto Rico and the earthquake in Mexico. Though life has not been easy in Hartford for Benito or Latinos in general, they would not change the comfort of their culture for anything else.
The Hartford community has had many tribulations throughout its development up until today both socially and economically. However, it is clearly evident that for its residents, Hartford is a perfect balance of nostalgia of one’s native country but also a motivation for the American Dream. Benito is a prime example of the typical migration story of not only many Puerto Ricans in the 20th century but also many immigrants today that arrive in hopes of achieving the American Dream without losing their culture.