Empowerment since history immemorial has meant the measure of the degree of autonomy in people and the society. This is the ability to represent one self’s interests and needs in a well ordered manner which is both responsible and determined way. It could also be referred to as the power to act on your own authority. History plays a significant role in creating empowerment. The society learns from their history, such as what affected their society in the past and apply lessons learnt as empowerment tools. This empowerment lessons will act as a guide towards a more responsible and vigilant living in the present and in the future.
The history of the Mexican and Puerto Ricans is mainly marked by the trade of slaves and importation of the slave labor force in the United States. The native Puerto Ricans, the Tainos were to mainly extensive agricultural farmers and were extremely well organized. In the book The Four-Storeyed Country the Gonzalez tries to capture the notion of the hopeless and frustrated Puerto Ricans (González 142). The Americans try to intervene, which is in essence disabling driving force in the of the society identifying itself and having a sense of national unity.
Gonzalez clearly breaks down the big myth of a mostly predominant Spanish society and the white culture in the history of Puerto Rico. Through his works the notion of empowerment in a sense of national identity is extensive captured. The Puerto Ricans refer the first as Mezitos (the people of mixed races) (González 25). The Africans slaves are among the first inhabitants of the island nation. The whites also come in and settle in Puerto Rico and become the minority influential class of land owners and later urban professionals in the Island nation.
Geography is another thing that is seen in the two texts as the most important in history as empowerment. From the two texts, geographical location of individuals has a lot of significant to their prosperity (González 65). This shows that geography plans an important role in the two texts as written by Gonzalez and Arturo Schomberg. From the Gonzalez’s book, people from geographical locations are exposed to different forms of life which are the main determinants of their prosperity. Those who were enslaved were forced to work extra hard so that they are able to move out from those geographical locations and go to other locations so that they can start to make a living. On the other hand, Arturo in his text also talks of specific geographical locations where the Negros were subjected to atrocities. This shows that geography in the two texts have the same importance or play the same significance.
Conclusion
The history of the Puerto Ricans is clearly seen to have influenced and made great impacts towards the empowerment of the Puerto Ricans and the Mexicans on various notions. The sense of national identity is one such major empowerment taken from the historical lessons
Work Cited
González, José L. Puerto Rico: The Four-Storeyed Country and Other Essays. Princeton;New York: Wiener Publ, 1993. Print
