Latino History in Rhode Island: Nuestras Raices (American Heritage) - Softcover

In 1956, the Rosarios came to Providence and opened the first Hispanic food market in Rhode Island. This Dominican family's move signaled a new era of Latin American migration for the Ocean State. In the mid-1960s, Guatemalans came to Rhode Island as refugees from the dirty war at home, and Puerto Ricans arrived in the 1920s looking for agricultural work. From the Colombian factory workers who settled in Central Falls in the mid-1960s to the Cubans who fled Castro's revolution in the 1950s and 1960s, Latin Americans were flocking to the coastal towns and quaint neighborhoods of Rhode Island looking for brighter futures and a place to call home. Join author Marta V. Martinez as she turns a collection of oral histories into a fascinating story of the birth of Rhode Island's vibrant Latino community.

Marta V. Martinez founded the Hispanic Heritage Committee of Rhode Island in 1988 and served as the chair until 2013, at which time she was hired as executive director of the organization (now called Rhode Island Latino Arts). She founded the Latino Oral History Project of Rhode Island and is a member of the National Oral History Association, the National Storytellers Network and the American Folklife Society.