‘In The Heights’ is set in the vibrant
upper Manhattan neighbourhood of Washington Heights; a neighbourhood
characterized by its predominantly Hispanic population and a lively mix of
cultural traditions as they take shape in the context of life in New York
City. More than any other city in
America, Manhattan and New York’s other four boroughs are defined by a varied
immigrant population. In fact, thirty-six percent of the city’s population is
foreign born. The sights, sounds and smells that draw visitors from all over
the world emanate from distinct neighbourhood communities created by others who
came in waves from around the world and settled here.
On the Lower East Side, best known as
the home of New York’s Jewish ghetto, you can still visit Katz’s
delicatessen. Uptown in the in wood
section, you’ll still find several of the old Irish pubs as
Well as the “Dyckman Farmhouse
Museum,” a little known repository of Manhattan history dedicated to the
original Dutch settlers of the area. Though these “old immigrant”
neighbourhoods retain some of their original character and culture, much has
been subverted over time by assimilation, new immigrant groups moving in and
economic change in which small neighbourhood businesses give way to corporate
entities when the rents become too high.
Washington Heights spans 35 blocks at
the northern end of Manhattan and was originally settled by “old immigrant”
populations, primarily of European descent. A large Jewish community with roots
in an earlier immigrant influx still inhabits the Hudson Heights area. The
dominant population in the neighbourhood today is Hispanic, comprised largely
of Dominicans, but also of other Spanish speaking populations including Puerto
Ricans and Cubans. The ethnic atmosphere they create here is still very much
alive with the sounds of Merengue, Salsa and conversations in rapid Spanish
mixed with English; the aromas of empanadas and sweet plantains; and the
colourful storefronts of small family-run businesses that line the streets.
Today, the neighbourhood is clearly
“home” to its Hispanic community but this wasn’t always the case. Once, these
people were strangers in a strange place. So what were the forces that drove
them from their homes and family and all that was familiar to face the dangers
and hardships of a journey to an unknown country? It takes powerful motivation
to drive people from their ancestral homelands and the history of emigration is
the history of people driven to uproot themselves by oppression of one sort or
another: economic, political or religious. Beginning in the 1600’s waves of
Europeans set out for the American continent for all of these and other
reasons. The Dutch were the first to come to New York, expanding their
commercial empire. They were soon followed by the English who sought political
and religious freedom and the Irish and Scottish driven from home by the potato
famine. Later the Jews of Eastern Europe came seeking refuge from the pogroms.
In the early 20th century, southern Europeans left their countries and came
here seeking jobs and opportunity. After WWII, it seemed the whole world was on
our doorstep, hoping to escape the post-war economic hardships at home and to
share in the burgeoning economic opportunities here, the gateway to the land of
opportunity and asylum. It was in this mid-century wave that Latino populations
began to arrive in large numbers. Since that time these “new immigrants” have
increasingly become a significant part of the textured and colourful fabric of New
York City. Technically, most Puerto Ricans migrated rather than immigrated to
the US. The Jones Act, passed in 1917, conferred US citizenship on Puerto
Ricans and revised their form of government to closely emulate that of a US
state. Previously, while under the oppression of Spanish rule, relatively few
Puerto Ricans were able to immigrate to the US as the passage by steamship was
prohibitively expensive. It wasn’t until the mid-twentieth century “Great Migration”
that they began to arrive and settle in New York City in large numbers,
particularly in East Harlem, which later became known as Spanish Harlem or El Barrio.
Driven initially by the economic hardship of the Great Depression, which was even
worse on the island than here on the “mainland and later by the post-World War
II search for opportunity known as “the great wave,” they were now aided by the
advent of the more affordable air travel. This influx continued until the
1970’s when a reverse-migration occurred in which many Puerto Ricans returned
to the island to buy homes and invest in local businesses there. In the
interim, the presence of this significant new population in New York City had
resulted in the first widespread recognition of a Latino community in the political
and cultural landscape of the city. The first Puerto Rican Day parade was held
in 1958. Today, there are roughly 1 million Puerto Ricans living in New York
City. Though US troops occupied Cuba as part of the aftermath of the Spanish-American
War, Cubans did not begin immigrating to the US in significant numbers until
1959 when Fidel Castro assumed power. The largest part of the expatriate masses
that left Cuba, settled in Miami, Florida but many made their way to New York
City. As Castro’s revolution took hold and his ideologies and alliances moved
further and further in the direction of communism, his new government seized private
property, nationalized companies and sent many more Cubans, many of whom were
middle class, from the island in exile. In 1980, unrest due to a suddenly declining
economy prompted Castro to announce that anyone who wished to leave could do
so. The result came to be known as the Mariel Boatlift, a chaotic, impromptu
exodus in which 125,000 people left the island during a six month period. Since
1994, emigration to the US has been regulated by mutual US-Cuba agreement. Over
1 million Cubans have emigrated from the island since 1959. While many more
have made it safely to our shores, it is estimated that 30-40,000 may have died
in the attempt. Most Cuban residents of New York City can be found in the area
just south of Washington Heights. In 1961, Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo
was assassinated resulting in a loosening of emigration policy. Fearing
political backlash at home and seeing opportunity in America, large numbers of
Dominicans began to immigrate to the US from their native Santo Domingo.
Another surge came a few years later facilitated by the US Military occupation
of the Dominican Republic beginning in 1965 and bolstered by favourable employment
conditions here in the States. During the 1960’s roughly 93,000 Dominicans
immigrated to the US compared with less than 10,000 in the 1950’s. Today, the Dominican Republic sends the
fourth largest Latino immigrant population to the US (after Mexico, Puerto Rico
and Cuba) with half of all Dominican immigrants settling in New York City, forming
the city’s largest immigrant group. In fact, Washington Heights is home to the
largest concentration of Dominicans outside of the Dominican Republic and is
affectionately known in the community as Quisqueya Heights. Quisqueya is a
colloquial term, which, among other things, refers to the Dominican Republic. Every
immigrant group brings its culture along with it. Many have arrived on the
shores of the US with nothing more than the shirts on their backs but inside
themselves they have always carried with them the richness of their traditions.
The language, the music, the food, the art, the beliefs and the pride in their
native countries are responsible for the many vibrant and varied neighbourhoods
around the city, in some cases neglected neighbourhoods that have found new
life. But that new life can be a complex one. In some ways the immigrant’s
journey really begins after he arrives. That journey is finding a way of going forward,
negotiating the tension between the need to assimilate and the equally powerful
need to preserve cultural identity. Nowhere is this more in evidence than in Washington
Heights where Dominican flags fly alongside the stars and stripes and where a
mix of Spanish and English is spoken on every street corner. The entrepreneurial
spirit of America is reflected in the ubiquitous small businesses that line the
streets labelled with Spanish names. This intersection of cultures is both a
celebration and a source of conflict with which every immigrant community must
contend and with which every individual within that community must come to
terms. It is a rite of passage. This is the celebration and the conflict at the
core of ‘In the Heights.’
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