Power and Poverty in Nueva York

About: By 1990, Latinx New York had grown to over 1.7 million residents, surpassing the population of Houston, then the fourth-largest city in the U.S. Yet it was a tale of two cities: one marked by strides in political and union power, the other by deepening poverty on a broad scale. The stagnant Latinx political landscape of the 1980s received a boost with the citywide district elections in November 1991, which increased representation on the City Council. Additionally, by 1990, about 38 percent of the approximately 534,000 of the city’s Latinxs boasted union membership. At the same time, nearly one-third of Latinxs lived below the poverty line. This project delves into the paradoxes within the Latinx experience in New York City during this era, where growing political and labor representation unfolded alongside pervasive hardship. It also seeks to explore how these dynamics were shaped by the city’s conservative political shift and rising anti-immigrant sentiment nationwide.

Research Tasks: Conduct literature reviews of scholarly sources in both English and Spanish; locate and analyze quantitative data relevant to the project’s themes; identify, summarize, and organize relevant English and Spanish-language media articles and reports.