On August 4th, 1902, the SS Philadelphia sailed into New York, carrying Isabel Gonzales, a young

woman looking for a better life, like the millions who have come through the harbor before

her.

But her story was a little different.

The ship passed by the Statue of Liberty and docked, letting out most of the passengers,

like Gonzales was promptly transferred to Ellis Island, entering the processing center,

where she was surrounded by thousands of newly arrived immigrants.

There were only a handful of people around her who could even speak in her native language.

And there was another complicating factor.

Isabel Gonzales was pregnant.

Her husband had died of tuberculosis, and she came to New York to live with family members

in Staten Island.

But when she was interviewed and examined by inspectors, she was deemed an alien, unlikely

to become a public charge.

She was then detained for weeks.

This was the unfortunate circumstance for many immigrant women.

But Isabel Gonzales was not an immigrant.

She was Puerto Rican.

But at a moment in the island's history, when her legal status was vague and undefined,

her story would market turning points in American history and change the fate of Puerto Ricans

in New York.

The Bowry Boys Episode 384.

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