On Nov. 8, Anore Horton, assistant professor of history, delivered this year’s annual Algie Newlin lecture in Bryan Jr. Auditorium Her lecture was entitled, “What Good is Citizenship? Learning from Puerto Rican Migrant’s Experiences in the 1950’s.”At 7:30 p.m. about 30 students and other members of the Guilford community made their way into the auditorium. Horton greeted them and gave two handouts that would supplement her presentation. The audience, culturally diverse and varied in age, came prepared with pens and paper as they quickly settled into their seats.

Sarah Malino, professor of history, introduced Horton after a brief account of Algie Newlin’s legacy at Guilford.

Horton explained what led her to her research before delving into the significance of citizenship.

“At the time that I was choosing my dissertation topic, it was 1996 and there was a big backlash against immigrants,” Horton said. “It became an ethnic and racial backlash against people of Latin descent whether they were documented or not. Citizenship seemed irrelevant if you had a brown face and an accent.”

Horton asked the audience to define citizenship.

“Formal equality,” one person said.

“Identity,” said another.

Everyone agreed that citizenship would imply equality of rights and privileges. For Puerto Ricans, however, migration to America did not include the supposed benefits of citizenship.

Puerto Rico as a commonwealth receives no federal representation from the United States; therefore they do not pay taxes. They do receive U.S. military protection and can be drafted. Also, Congress can override any of their laws.

Some benefits of Puerto Rico as a commonwealth to the United States were that corporations in the United States could operate within Puerto Rico and import and export without having to pay federal taxes. Also, to alleviate the high rate of unemployment, corporations could hire Puerto Ricans to work in these factories without having to follow minimum wage standards since U.S. law did not apply.

In 1948, the United States allowed Puerto Rico to appoint their governor. In 1952 the country wrote their. All aspects of the constitution were approved of by the United States except for Puerto Rico’s request for rights to a standard of living and employment.

The handouts Horton gave were an area employment contract for agricultural workers and the letters that the migrants sent home pleading for support from their governor in Puerto Rico.

Horton continued to discuss discrepancies between the United States policies regarding Puerto Rico. At the conclusion of the lecture the audience asked questions. Time did not permit Horton to delve into each answer the way she would have liked.

Later, Horton said that one of the questions she would consider researching in depth are the reasons Alaska and Hawaii became states but not Puerto Rico.

When asked what drives her passion Horton said, “I want to make Puerto Rico visible in U.S. history because they are a colony, though the American government doesn’t like to look at themselves as colonists. Puerto Ricans are a significant group within the U.S. yet invisible in the history that is taught to us.