Fragments from a life of service
by Manuel Cabranes
Manuel Cabranes was, according to The New York Times, “the principal spokesman for the mass of poor Puerto Ricans” who came to New York City during the “Great Puerto Rican Migration.” Although “Nuyoricans” are now a community whose very nickname joins their identities and one now sits on the Supreme Court of the United States, Puerto Ricans were not initially greeted with open arms in New York City as their population grew following the Second World War. Migrants from the island to the City struggled for economic opportunity, social acceptance, and political influence. It was Manuel Cabranes who was “called upon to defend” his fellow Puerto Ricans “from attacks by opponents of the migration” “as the ranking Puerto Rican official in New York City for nearly two decades.”
Cabranes’s service as the first head of the Office of Puerto Rico in New York City and in various appointments in City government made him a critical conduit between the governments of his two homes. He was also cultural ambassador for his people in the City, helping build opportunity and understanding for them as a co-founder of the New York Puerto Rican Scholarship Fund and as leading Roman Catholic layman who was named by the Archdiocese of New York to lead the City’s celebration of Puerto Rico’s patron saint. His contributions as a pioneer in the field of social work and as public intellectual were felt in the City and on the island alike. Cabranes’s life and work would earn him respect from a broad coalition of both New Yorkers and Puerto Ricans—but would make him a target for assassination by extremists.
Drafted shortly before his death in 1984, these fragmentary remembrances shed light on the unique, unfamiliar, and misunderstood experience of the Puerto Rican diaspora in the twentieth century. They have been prepared for publication by Manuel Cabranes’s son, U.S. Circuit Judge José A. Cabranes—the first Puerto Rican appointed to a federal judgeship in the continental United States.
Hardcover: $28.99
6 × 9 in. (15.24 cm x 22.86 cm)
Perfect Bound
262 pages
57 artworks
Imprint: OctoberWorks
ISBN: 978-1-959262-13-8
LCCN: 2026930266
BISAC:
Fragments from a life of service
by Manuel Cabranes
Manuel Cabranes was, according to The New York Times, “the principal spokesman for the mass of poor Puerto Ricans” who came to New York City during the “Great Puerto Rican Migration.” Although “Nuyoricans” are now a community whose very nickname joins their identities and one now sits on the Supreme Court of the United States, Puerto Ricans were not initially greeted with open arms in New York City as their population grew following the Second World War. Migrants from the island to the City struggled for economic opportunity, social acceptance, and political influence. It was Manuel Cabranes who was “called upon to defend” his fellow Puerto Ricans “from attacks by opponents of the migration” “as the ranking Puerto Rican official in New York City for nearly two decades.”
Cabranes’s service as the first head of the Office of Puerto Rico in New York City and in various appointments in City government made him a critical conduit between the governments of his two homes. He was also cultural ambassador for his people in the City, helping build opportunity and understanding for them as a co-founder of the New York Puerto Rican Scholarship Fund and as leading Roman Catholic layman who was named by the Archdiocese of New York to lead the City’s celebration of Puerto Rico’s patron saint. His contributions as a pioneer in the field of social work and as public intellectual were felt in the City and on the island alike. Cabranes’s life and work would earn him respect from a broad coalition of both New Yorkers and Puerto Ricans—but would make him a target for assassination by extremists.
Drafted shortly before his death in 1984, these fragmentary remembrances shed light on the unique, unfamiliar, and misunderstood experience of the Puerto Rican diaspora in the twentieth century. They have been prepared for publication by Manuel Cabranes’s son, U.S. Circuit Judge José A. Cabranes—the first Puerto Rican appointed to a federal judgeship in the continental United States.
Hardcover: $28.99
6 × 9 in. (15.24 cm x 22.86 cm)
Perfect Bound
262 pages
57 artworks
Imprint: OctoberWorks
ISBN: 978-1-959262-13-8
LCCN: 2026930266
BISAC:
Image 1 of 13
Image 2 of 13
Image 3 of 13
Image 4 of 13
Image 5 of 13
Image 6 of 13
Image 7 of 13
Image 8 of 13
Image 9 of 13
Image 10 of 13
Image 11 of 13
Image 12 of 13
Image 13 of 13