Colonialism, Catholicism, and Contraception: A History of Birth Control in Puerto Rico

Ramírez de Arellano, Annette B. & Conrad Seipp, Colonialism, Catholicism, and Contraception: A History of Birth Control in Puerto Rico, Chapel Hill & London: University of North Carolina Press, 1983. (signed by Annette Ramírez de Arellano for Dr. Mathews)

Reviewed in Hispanic American Historical Review (1984) 64 (3).

Reviewed in Nieuwe West-Indische Gids, Vol. 59, No. 3/4, 1985.

From the cover:

The history of family planning in Puerto Rico stretches over more than half a century. Given the island’s high density, relative poverty, and dramatic population growth, the relationship of people to resources has been a key issue, dominating other concerns and reflecting profound social tensions, antagonisms, and fears. In Colonialism, Catholicism, and Contraception, Annette Ramírez de Arellano and Conrad Seipp analyze the tortuous course that Puerto Rico has followed in evolving a population policy. They describe the many steps involved in first broaching the subject of birth control and establishing the relevance of contraception. They find that both proponents and opponents of birth control were passionate in their convictions and pursued their goals with evangelical zeal. Between 1940 and 1960, Puerto Rico underwent profound changes; these included the creation of a new machinery of government, industrialization, mass emigration, and a redefinition of the island’s relationship with the United States. With these transformations as a backdrop, the authors discuss Puerto Rico’s role as a laboratory for testing different birth control methods and the inevitable conflicts between church and state. Also treated are the island’s rapid economic growth, shifting values, and changes in the position of women in society. Using the history of contraception as a focus, Ramírez de Arellano and Seipp assess Puerto Rican society today and anticipate the island’s prospects and potential.

Dictionary of Caribbean Biography, 1969-1970

Kay, Ernest, Dictionary of Caribbean Biography, 1969-1970, London: Melrose Press, Ltd., 1969.

From the Foreword:

The ‘Dictionary of Caribbean Biography’ is, we believe, the first completely comprehensive biographical reference work to cover every country and territory in and adjacent to the Caribbean, including those with a coastline on the Caribbean. Thus, men and women of achievement from all the following territories are included in this First Edition: Bahama Islands, Barbados, Bermuda, British Honduras, Canal Zone, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Surinam, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands, Venezuela, Virgin Islands, Windward Islands.

The Puerto Ricans: Their History, Culture and Society

Lopez, Adalberto, Ed., The Puerto Ricans: Their History, Culture and Society, Cambridge, Mass.: Schenkman Pub. Co., 1980.

General Contents Headings:

Part I: Puerto Rico to 1898.

Part II: Puerto Rico since 1898.

Part III: Puerto Ricans in the United States.

The Contributors:

Edna Acosta-Belen.

Frank Bonilla.

Juan Manuel Carrion.

Diana Christopulos.

Sandra Messinger Cypress.

Adalberto Lopez.

Morris Morley.

Francisco Moscoso.

Pedro Pietri, Iris Morales & Felipe Luciano.

Angel Quintero Rivera.

Aaron Gamaliel Ramos.

Tom Seidl, Janet Shenk & Adrian DeWind.

Reviewed by Thomas G. Mathews in Hispanic American Historical Review (1982) 62 (3).

Reviewed in The Journal of Ethnic Studies, Vol. 9, Iss. 3, Fall 1981.

Reviewed in American Studies Vol. 16, No. 2.

Actes du XLIIe Congrès international des Américanistes: Congrès du Centenaire: Volume V

Société des américanistes de Paris, Actes du XLIIe Congrès international des américanistes: Congrès du centenaire: Paris, 2-9 septembre, 1976, Paris: Société des américanistes, 1978. (Deux copies)

De l'introduction:

L‘étude multidisciplinaire de la tradition et du changement dans de petites sociétés bien définies démographiquement, généalogiquement et écologiquement est l’objectif que se propose le Centre de Recherches Anthropologiques dont un des terraines d’études se situe dans l’Arctique. Cet intérêt constant depuis plusieurs décennies explique ce symposium, groupant autor des eskimologistes de notre laboratoire, des spécialistes du Groenland de l’est ou del’ouest, du Nord Canada ou desIles Aléoutiennes, venus d’autres laboratoires français ou de Hollande, du Danemark, du Canada et des Etats-Unis.

From the Introduction:

The multidisciplinary study of tradition and change in small societies well defined demographically, genealogically and ecologically is the objective proposed by the Center for Anthropological Research, one of whose fields of study is located in the Arctic. This constant interest for several decades explains this symposium, bringing together eskimologists from our laboratory, specialists from East or West Greenland, North Canada or the Aleutian Islands, from other French laboratories or from Holland, Denmark, Canada and the United States.

Porto Rico, 1493-1778: Histoire Géographique, Civile et Naturelle de L'île

Abbad Y Lasierra, Iñigo, Porto Rico, 1493-1778: histoire géographique, civile et naturelle de l'île, [présentation par Albert-André Genel], Paris : L'Harmattan , 1989.

Reviewed by Dr. Thomas Mathews in The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 74, No. 4, Nov., 1994.

Fray Íñigo Abbad y Lasierra (1745–1813), born in Estadilla, Spain, was a Benedictine monk and the first historian to extensively document Puerto Rico's history, nationality, and culture. (…) While living in Puerto Rico he observed and recorded every day Puerto Rican life. In 1788, ten years after leaving Puerto Rico, he published the first comprehensive history of Puerto Rico titled Historia geográfica, civil y natural de la isla de San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico (Geographic, civil and natural history of the island of Saint John the Baptist of Puerto Rico). In his book he described, in detail, a wide array of aspects of Puerto Rican life. Among the topics discussed are San Juan's fortifications and defenses, Taíno customs, and Puerto Rican history, society, clothing, flora, fauna, socio-economic peculiarities, and personality. He also proposes several reforms such as free commerce and the promotion of agriculture and other industries. Even though Abbad's book is the most complete historical account of Puerto Rico from 1493 to 1783, many of the historical accounts presented were obtained from second-hand sources.

La Isla de Puerto Rico (1765-1800)

Torres Ramírez, Bibiano, La isla de Puerto Rico (1765-1800) [Prólogo de Don José A. Calderón Quijano, Rector de la Universidad de Sevilla], San Juan, Puerto Rico: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1968.

Reseñado en el Anuario de Estudios Americanos; Sevilla Vol. 26, (Jan 1, 1969).

De la cubierta:

Después de los primeros años de la conquista y colonización de Puerto Rico, época de intensa actividad con la metrópoli, la isla va a vivir largo tiempo en un ostracismo prolongado durante el siglo XVII y la primera mitad del XVIII. Es en este momento cuando la Corte española va a reconocer el valor que la situación de la isla tiene – sobre todo ante el crecimiento del imperio ingles en América – y va a comenzar a trazar una serie de reformas, que aunque mucha de ellas no se llevaron a cabo con la celeridad necesaria, van a servir para determinar una adecuada evolución social, económica, política y militar, cuyos frutos van a ser realidad en el siglo XIX. Todas estas reformas borbónicas son las estudiadas por el autor en esta obra. Ofrecidas despues de una intensa investigación en las fuentes documentales que los archivos españoles poseen, particularmente el Archivo General de Indias, y cuyo trabajo sirvio al autor para obtener el grado de Doctor en Historia de America por la Universidad de Sevilla.

Translation:

After the first years of the conquest and colonization of Puerto Rico, a time of intense activity with the metropolis, the island will live for a long time in a prolonged ostracism during the seventeenth century and the first half of the eighteenth. It is at this time that the Spanish Court will recognize the value that the island's situation has - especially given the growth of the English empire in America - and will begin to draw up a series of reforms, which although many of them are not carried out with the necessary speed, they will serve to determine an adequate social, economic, political and military evolution, the fruits of which will be a reality in the nineteenth century. All these Bourbon reforms are those studied by the author in this work. Offered after an intense investigation in the documentary sources that the Spanish archives have, particularly the General Archive of the Indies, and whose work served the author to obtain the degree of Doctor in American History from the University of Seville.

La Abolición de la Esclavitud en Puerto Rico; La Cuestión Cubana; Recuerdos de un Revolucionario

Emeterio Betances, Ramón, La abolición de la esclavitud en Puerto Rico; La cuestión cubana; Recuerdos de un revolucionario, San Juan, Puerto Rico: Seminario de Estudios Latinoamericanos, 20 de septiembre de 1979.

Betances creía en la abolición de la esclavitud, inspirado no solo por los trabajos escritos de Victor Schoelcher, John Brown, Lamartine y Tapia, sino también por su experiencia personal, basado en lo que vio en la granja de su padre y en la vida diaria puertorriqueña.18 Basado en sus creencias, fundó una organización cívica en 1856, una de muchas otras que luego fueron llamadas las Sociedades Abolicionistas Secretas por los historiadores. Se conoce poco de ellas dada su naturaleza clandestina, pero Betances y Salvador Brau (un amigo cercano que luego llegó a ser el historiador oficial de Puerto Rico) las describen en sus escritos. Algunas de estas sociedades buscaban la libertad y el paso libre de cimarrones de Puerto Rico a países donde la esclavitud ya había sido abolida; otras sociedades buscaban liberar tantos esclavos como fuera posible comprando su libertad.

Translation:

Betances believed in the abolition of slavery, inspired not only by the written works of Victor Schoelcher, John Brown, Lamartine, and Tapia, but also by his personal experience, based on what he saw on his father's farm and in everyday Puerto Rican life.18 Based on his beliefs, he founded a civic organization in 1856, one of many others later called the Secret Abolitionist Societies by historians. Little is known about them given their clandestine nature, but Betances and Salvador Brau (a close friend who later became the official historian of Puerto Rico) describe them in their writings. Some of these societies sought freedom and the free passage of maroons from Puerto Rico to countries where slavery had already been abolished; other societies sought to free as many slaves as possible by purchasing their freedom.