Hispanic-Americans in the Eastern United States

The eastern part of the United States contains a large and growing Hispanic minority. If present trends con tinue, all Hispanics will constitute the largest minority in the United States by the year 2000. Their influence is already felt in the social and political life of the nation. The largest con centration of Hispanics, mainly Puerto Ricans, in the East is found in the New York City area. Cubans predominate in the Dade County area of Florida, with large numbers also in New York City and in the northern New Jersey area. Newcomers from Santo Domingo and Central and South America are found in New York City and other large eastern cities. These populations vary in age, color, education, and occupation. Cubans and Central and South Americans tend to be at the level of the American middle class; Puerto Ricans and Dominicans tend to be at lower socioeconomic levels. Puerto Ricans are steadily progressing in New York City in terms of political representation and organizational activity. Those born in the continental United States are at higher educa tional and occupational levels than their Puerto Rican born parents, but they reflect the problems of identity common to previous second-generation newcomers. Hispanics may play as important a role in the United States during the next century as Americans from European backgrounds have played in the present century.