History

=**History **=

The Era of Trujillo
By Thalia Viana

During the1930s to the 1960s, the Dominican Republic was going through the “Era of Trujillo”. At this time Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina was the dictator of the Republic. He gained term in 1930 till in 1961 regardless of constitutional term limitations. Once Trujillo won his election, he liked to maintain a secret police force that monitored, tortured, and eliminated any political opponents that got in his way. With all the power he then gained, he used the state to enrich himself and soon became one of the richest men in the Dominican Republic. Later in 1937, he ordered his secret police to massacre Haitians living along the Dominican border. This tragedy is known as the Parsley Massacre and it is estimated that 20,000 to 30,000 were killed. It is known as the Parsley Massacre, because the secret police would go up, holding parsley and ask, “What is this”. Anyone who could not pronounce the word correctly in Spanish, were considered Haitian. Then later in the 1950s, Trujillo tried to assassinate the Venezuelan president, Romulo Betancourt, fearing that Betancourt was plotting against him. Finally on May 30, 1961 Rafael Trujillo was assassinated by an ambush on his vehicle, rumored by the CIA to constructed (Trujillo 28).

=Feminism= By Wendy Benitez

“The idea that women had an important role in building a virtuous home was soon expanded to society,” (pg. 101). Women were seen as the housewife. She had to take care of the family because that was what she was born to be. She couldn’t go to school and study whatever career she desired because that was only for men. It wasn’t until the 1830’s that decided to step up and protest for the rights of women. Throughout the 1850’s women organized conventions to let people know that men and women should be treated equal. “Feminism--the belief that men and women should be equal politically, economically, and socially,” (Pg. 101). After a lot of work on August 24, 1920 the right to vote for women went into effect. Women had finally gotten the right to vote but they were still not being treated equal. In the 1960’s the newspaper ads for jobs were separated by gender, the banks would not lend them money, and they were getting paid less for the same work. In March 1972 the Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment. The amendment said “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridge by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

Circumstances the Two Countrys Were In
by Sarah Stucky

The Dominican Republic did not enjoy full independence until 1844, when it emerged from twenty-two years of occupation by Haiti; this liberation came later than that of most Latin American countries. Reacceptance of Spanish rule from 1861 to 1865 demonstrated the republic's insecurity and dependence on larger powers to protect it and to define its status. Dominican vulnerability to intervention from abroad was also made evident by the United States military occupation of 1916-24 and by a more limited action by United States forces during a brief civil war in 1965. In small towns of the Dominican Republic social life focused on the central park, or the plaza; in rural neighborhoods most social interaction among non-kin took place in the stores, the bars, and the pool rooms where men gathered to gossip. Six-day workweeks left little time for recreation or socializing. Many farm families came to town on Sundays to shop and to attend Mass. The women and children generally returned home earlier than the men to prepare Sunday dinner; the men stayed to visit, or to enjoy an afternoon cockfight or an important baseball or volleyball game. In America, the 1960's weren't seen as a struggle, but as the era of the Baby Boom. Everyone was out enjoying the end of the war, nothing was stopping Americans from celebrating.

=****Immigration****=

by Eddy Gomez

Many immigrants from the Dominican Republic have been recorded for various reasons. Many of them came in search of a better life, "Poverty, no jobws, and a weak education system are some of the reasons they are emigrating" (Rinker 15). they are almost forced to come because they can not provide for either themselves or their families so they came to the U.S. Another reason they came, "Through the 19th century and into the 1960s, many dominicans immigrated to escape the homeland's political turmoil" (Rinker 16). so they have been coming for a variety of reasons mainly to have a better life. On the other hand, some of the wealthier families have immigrated here. Tinker states on page 16, "Historically, most of the Dominicans who have immigrated to North America have represented the upper and middle classes." With all this happening they have become the largest group emigrating from the Caribbean (Rinker 15). In 2000, on the census they have a recording number of 692,000 Dominican's born in the U.S. (Rinker 15). So with whatever reason they had to migrate, they are all in search of the same thing, a new beginning.