Hispanic Reference Collection

The Hispanic Reference Collection is an English and Spanish language research collection aimed at scholars looking to conduct research on the Hispanic communities of New Jersey. This collection contains newspapers and clippings which include El Nuevo Coquí, La Tribuna and La Hispanidad newsletter. In addition to newspapers and clippings, the Hispanic Reference Collection includes oral histories of varying themes such as Immigrant Stories, Activist Stories, Justice Stories and Latino Life Stories.

“My mother used to tell us...if you don’t speak English properly, don’t bother. And she had an accent. I had an uncle who spoke broken English and when...we’d hear him speak, we would laugh at him...one day he taught me a lesson that stays with me ‘til this day. He said, ‘Never make fun of anyone with an accent because that person masters another language where you might just master one and not properly.’ ”

- Carmen Luz Morales de Martinez, 2007.

“Our work has a long way to go...Latinos in the State of New Jersey not only have been there forever...but are still constantly trying to prove that they belong, and...that’s one of our biggest challenges.”

- Juan Cartagena, 2012.

“I think it’s so important that people don’t forget who they are, where they come from. Because if you don’t know who you are, then you don’t know where you’re going… I’m on the shoulders of previous Latinos that fought for our rights... this next generation are going through doors that we opened.”

- Lizette Delgado-Polanco, 2012.

“Get together...organize a group...develop organizations. That’s what we did back in the seventies over here in New Jersey, when we started there was no CURA, there was no Casa De Don Pedro, there was no FOCUS... If you do start something, keep an eye on it. Don’t just set the ball and walk away and expect somebody else to do the job.”

- Amilkar Velez-Lopez, 2018.

“La decisión de venir para acá fue muy dura. Muy dura porque eso significaba dejar a nuestros seres queridos. Pero no dejarlos y decir, ‘te vamos a ver en un año, te vamos a ver en dos años.’ Era tal vez para no verlos a ver nunca más.”

- Maria Matute, 2018.

“Yo más o menos sabía que este país era de las oportunidades y ya no pensé en mí, sino en mis hijos... y me vine. Y en Perú yo era un hombre intelectual, llegando acá tuve que volverme hombre manual porque el primer trabajo que conseguí fue para tumbar paredes con comba.”

- Artemio Oporto, 2018.

Artemio Oporto and Interviewer Kevin Rosero (2018)

In Memory of Kevin Rosero

La Tribuna, Vol. XIV, No. 11, p. 1 (June 5, 1975)

La Hispanidad, Vol 1., No. 9, p. 1 (April 29, 1989)

Cubans in New Jersey (2012)

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