May 16, 2025 • 27 mins
After World War II, Puerto Ricans began settling in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, drawn by economic opportunities among Mennonite farming communities. Several generations later, they’re honoring their history and reclaiming their identity as “Dutchiricans” within the Mennonite church—and beyond.
Today, the story of a Dutchirican matriarch —from her family’s migration from Puerto Rico to their adoption of the Mennonite faith— and how spirituality, work, and resilience forged a new cultural identity.
Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you drive an hour and a half west of Philadelphia,
you'll find Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Some three hundred years ago,
Amish and Mennonite people known for their plain dress and
simple way of life, begins settling right here.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
They're still here and you can see it. This place.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
It feels like stepping into an eighteenth century oil painting,
with rolling fields, farmhouses and horse and buggies. It's fall
and the cornfields have turned brittle in the cooling temperatures.
It's really out in the middle of nowhere, got all
these old cornfields.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
It's a acting to boonies. They didn't used to be
any houses around here. Oh it's just fields, Yeah, it
was just fields.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I'm with Ramona Neveno.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
She was born in Puerto Rico, but she's called Pennsylvania
Dutch Country home for most of her life. Today she's
taking me to a place from her childhood.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
It'll be this lane up here on the left. See,
I hadn't been back here for years and years and years.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
We come to a ranch property once owned by a
Mennonite farmer. Ramona used to live here, well sort of.
We walked to the back of the property where we
find a shack, a chicken house, as Ramona affectionately calls it.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
We came here in nineteen fifty two where it was,
you know, fixed up so that we could live in it.
Like I said, since I was so young, it didn't
really bother me that this was such a small place
because this was made for chickens, not for humans.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
It's a rectangular structure. The size and shape reminds me
of a school bus.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
I don't know if this one's open or not. I
don't know if I can living this.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Wow, there's just hay in here.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
This is just be the bedroom.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
How big do you think this space is?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Oh? Why?
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Maybe ten by thirteen? You think? I can't believe that
was our bedroom for four people.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Ramona's family moved to Pennsylvania Dutch Country when she was
just a child. They were part of a wave of
Puerto Ricans who moved to the mainland US due to
economic hardship following the Great Depression. Many who came to
Pennsylvania Dutch Country worked on Mennonite farms and lived in
converted barns and chicken houses, and as US citizens, Puerto
(02:32):
Ricans weren't subject to deportation, so in the decades after
many chose to remain Stateside. For Ramona, there was life
before this chicken house and life after. The clothes she wore,
the food she ate, the religion she practiced, the communities
she would become part of, It would all change. Ramona
(02:57):
and many other Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania Dutch Country just
like her, would eventually forge a unique cultural identity today
known as Duerto Ricans.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
From Futuro Media and PRX, It's Latino Usa. I'm Maria Rosa.
Today we take a trip to Pennsylvania Dutch Country where
we meet Puerto Ricans who call it home. Stories about
immigration often make me think so much about the issue
(03:33):
of sacrifice, where people have to give up or embrace
in pursuit of opportunity, stability, safety, all of those things.
And this feels especially relevant today when Latinos, Latinas, and
LATINX people are being targeted across the United States. This
tension is central to the story of Duto Ricans, the
(03:56):
Puerto Ricans who have been living among Pennsylvania's Men and
i Can communities since the nineteen forties. Now you won't
read about them in history books, but Duto Ricans have
faced unique challenges and a complex relationship with the Mennonite
community for about a century. And bringing us this story
(04:17):
is producer Sarah McClure. Sarah, Welcome to Latino USA. I
am fascinated.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Thanks for having me, Maria.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
I've been obsessed with Pennsylvania for a while now and
Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania. But this is a completely unique
story that I had never heard of. All Right, so
it is true that Puerto Ricans are the largest Latino
group that live in the state of Pennsylvania according to
the United States Census. But it wasn't until you brought
(04:45):
us this story that I learned about this part of
Puerto Rican history, which is the Dutch Arecan history. And
of course here in New York we know about New Eurekans,
and New Eurekan history is kind of prevalent in the city,
but Beakans break it down for us.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yes, it's a fairly new term. I learned about this, actually,
Doto Ricans only after speaking with a couple of scholars
from Lebanon Valley College here in Pennsylvania, Professors John Henshaw
and Evac Guzman Sabala started researching Doctor Ricans about a
decade ago.
Speaker 6 (05:20):
The name Doto Rican was given to us by this
man that we interviewed in Pedro Cruz. He was trying
to come up with a term that he thinks as
his identity, and he said, I am not a new
Yu Rican. Of course, as part of the Puerto Rican diaspora.
(05:41):
I am not a Puerto Rican, I am a I am.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
A Doerto Rican. Okay, So that is pretty cool.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
Pedro and the professors basically helped to coin the term
and put Doto Ricans on the map.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
I mean that's a great story absolutely.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I mean what we're seeing is this wrecord ignition, I
mean even celebration of Thetrican history in recent years because
descendants like Pedro and Ramona, the women you heard from
the beginning of the episode, are telling their stories.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
I first learned about Mennonites in Mexico because it's Los
Menonitas who make cheese in northern Mexico. But this is
a different kind of reality. This is Amish and Mennonites
in the state of Pennsylvania. So tell us more about them.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah, the Amish and Mennonites share interesting history. During the
seventeenth century, they fled religious persecution in Europe, they first
arrived here in Pennsylvania, and over the centuries have spread
across the entire country. Today, the Amish are pretty traditional.
They limit their education to the eighth grade avoid modern technology.
(06:50):
They don't drive or use the internet. In fact, women
wear modest dresses still and headcoverings. Men wear trousers and
suspenders because belts are too modern. The Mennonites can be
as traditional as the Amish. However, Mennonites are more integrated
into society. Puerto Ricans are one of the fastest growing
(07:12):
groups in the Mennonite Church nationwide, and that.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Brings us to our story today.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
All right, Sarah, we're gonna hand it over to you.
I can't wait to hear this piece.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
What a beautiful day. Oh my gosh, I want to
sit on.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
We're nice to see you again.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
When I arrive at Ramona's house, she's already on the
porch waiting for me to come inside.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
I'm quickly greeted with a hug and a kiss on
the cheek. Ramona is in her.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Late seventies and lives alone, but she isn't lonely. Every
wall and surface is adorned with family photos, including of
her four adult children.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
These pictures tell a story.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Of Ramona's long life, which began in Puerto Rico in
a barrio called Rio Chigito in Monteciano. Ramona's family was poor,
but she still has good memories from this time. Her
mother Boola, washing clothes in the river, cooking crayfish and
cantoles on efhagon. There was love in the home, even
(08:20):
though sometimes there wasn't a lot of food.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Much less doctors are medicines.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
My sister was mentally delayed, and she was very frail.
My brother, he didn't develop correctly. He couldn't walk.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
One day, her older brother passed away unexpectedly.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
My dad, he was horrified when he found out. By
the time he got the letter, my brother was already buried.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Ramona's father was not in Puerto Rico when this happened.
He had been in the States for months already.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Now I would say, papadios, please try me me poppy,
you know, yeah, I still get stuffy.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
When her mother died, Ramona's dad was picking tomatoes for
a Mennonite farmer named Elma Weaver in Pennsylvania Dutch Country.
Ramona's father grieved deeply, and his employer noticed.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Elmer Pee Weaver Senior said to him that summer, I
know how much you have been suffering because your family
is not here.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Would you like to have them with you? And of
course he said yes.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
In nineteen fifty two, five year old Ramona, her younger sister,
and her mom left Puerto Rico to move to Pennsylvania.
It was Ramona's first time on a plane.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
We came to New York because at that time planes
did land in Philadelphia, so we went to the International
Airport in New York.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
They picked us up in a car.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
It was snowing. Can you imagine this little girl coming
from Puerto Rico never had seen snow, So my nose
was like plastered against the car watching this stuff fall.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
You know, snow wasn't the only novel thing. The men
and I girls in Pennsylvania soon changed Ramona's clothing.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
And they put me on top of this table and
I started to cry. They put long sockings and a
coat and a hat and boots.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
I still remember.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
It was such a traumatic thing that I still remember.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
In Puerto Rico, Ramona loved running around in her jones,
laying barefoot in the rain, but she soon realized that
wasn't going to fly in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
I started to see these ladies with these strange dresses,
you know, their cape and these little bonnets on their head.
They're a cape, so it's a one piece that is
to hide your shape so that men don't lust over
your breast.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
I didn't understand it.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Men and knights believed in evangelizing Puerto Ricans. Some even
thought it would keep field workers from sinning in the world.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Catholicism has long.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Been the dominant religion among part A Ricans on the island,
but eager to connect with any community in Pennsylvania, many
left it behind to join the Mennonite Church.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
My mom and my dad within the year they were
baptized in the church. My first time in the church,
I guess would have been maybe a week later. Why
so best It was like they felt they had to
ingratitude for while they were you know, received and stuff.
I don't really really think it was from the heart,
(11:30):
but they adapted to the church.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Assimilation sometimes came with confusion.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
My mom was as shocked as I was, because when
they greeted each other, they kissed each other on the lips.
The men with the men and a woman with a
women it.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Was called a holy kiss.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Assimilation also came with loss.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Familiar things like cooking on the fogon were renounced.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
It was hard on my mother.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
My mother was the one that really saw, you know,
in the beginning, because she couldn't cook the way she
cooked when she was in Puerto Rico. They would teach
her how to cook American food.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
So I learned to.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Eat mashed potatoes and gravy and meat made their way, you.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Know, and other things stood out to Ramona too.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Was kind of strange to see all these people that
were so white. Yes, so that was the beginning of
my journey in the United States coming up.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
Ramona learns that adjusting to life in a predominantly white
Mennonite culture didn't always come with easy acceptance.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
They were very loving people, but we couldn't marry them,
we couldn't fall in love with them.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
Stay with us, Yes, welcome back to Latino, USA, and
you're listening to today's story about the Dutch Ricans. When
(13:07):
Puerto Ricans settled in Pennsylvania, Dutch Country, they bonded with
the Mennonite community, but they also encountered cultural tensions and barriers.
Producer Sarah McClure is going to pick up the story
from here.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
As a teenager, Ramona worked for a Mennonite chicken factory.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
When I was working at Victor Waiver's, which I worked
in the chicken roll department, an Amish girl who had
become my friend, asked me, she goes Ramona, is.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
It true that all Puerto Ricans carried knives?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
And I said, yeah, you should see mine.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
And of course after our you know a law.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
That's not true, but that's one of the perceptions they
had of the Puerto Ricans, that they all carried.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Knives sometimes, though this othering was a lot more personal.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
They were very loving people. The only thing that hurts
it was okay for us to be friends like the
guys and whatever. It was okay, but we couldn't marry them.
We couldn't fall in love with them, and they couldn't
fall in love with us.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
She remembers how hard it was for her friends who
did develop feelings for Mennonites.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
I remember one friend of Miami fell in love with
an anglow girl, very pretty. Her name was Ruth, and
they had a hard time convincing her parents that he
it was okay.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Ramona knew that dating a Mennonite man was never an option.
Speaker 7 (14:40):
In the nineteen fifties, the Pennsylvania Dutch Mennonites were thinking, Oh,
we can have people join our church, but they're not
going to really be Mennonites because they're not going to
marry within the church. They're going to be essentially second
class citizens.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
This is Lebanon Valley College professor John Henshaw. Both he
and Professor Eva Guzman, who he heard at the top,
have extensively studied the Duto Rican community and its history.
Speaker 7 (15:07):
The Mennonite tradition, like any religious tradition, is filled with contradictions.
There's essentially a kind of civil rights movement within the
church because marriage, dating, and all of those things really
cut more to the sense of is Menonite a lifestyle
or is it a religious identity? And if it's a
(15:28):
religious identity, then there's no room to make those kinds
of invidious distinctions on the basis of ethnicity or language
or race.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Meaning it didn't make sense that Mennonites welcome to Puerto
Ricans on their farms and in their churches, yet didn't
accept them in other ways like dating and intermarriage. That
tension also showed up when it came to housing.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
When we went to a place, as long as you
were talking to the person on the phone and have
no accent, you're fine. You know, they're ready to rent
to you.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
The first time Ramona met with the landlord to rent
her first place, the homeowner was very direct with her.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
And he says, I don't rent to Puerto Ricans, So
I hung up. So he rented to an Anglo family.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
In the nineteen eighties, when Ramona wanted to purchase a home,
she encountered a similar situation.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
I was looking for a home to buy because you know,
and I was a single parent. Something would come up
for sale and it looked like it was within my
range of what I could afford, and I would call,
you know, they would be talking to me, and then
when I'd say my name, oh you know what, we
sold that one.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
It's not available anymore.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
And I thought of doing something like asking one of
my Anglo friends to come and to call, but I
never did it.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
By that time, I could have probably had a lawsuit.
I would do it now.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Ramona has a sense of humor about it, but housing
discrimination in Pennsylvania Dutch Country has been a huge problem.
In nineteen seventy one, a Puerto Rican couple became the
first on their block to move into an all white
neighborhood in Lancaster County. People protested the newcomers. This is
despite the fact that Puerto Ricans transformed the local economy.
(17:25):
When Ramona arrived in nineteen fifty two, Pennsylvania had about
twelve thousand.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Temporary farm workers.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
According to state officials, Puerto Ricans made up roughly half
of that number. Puerto Rican labor helped Mennonite farms, factories,
and businesses flourish. Remember that chicken factory where Ramona worked.
It was owned by a Mennonite farmer, Victor F.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Weaver. At the time of his death.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
In nineteen eighty nine, the company was generating one hundred
and sixty million dollars in yearly revenue roughly four billion
by today's standards. The Weaver company would eventually become a
part of Tyson Foods, a company now worth twenty one billion.
While the region may have been creating a lot of revenue,
(18:13):
it didn't change Ramona's life much. For example, it didn't
even occur to her to go to college.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
My parents weren't educated and most of the people that
I knew, even the Mennonites, they usually only went to
like eighth grade, just like the Amish. So I had
nobody to say, you know, it's good for you to
go to college or whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Ramona's children did get some opportunities in Pennsylvania Dutch Country.
She's grateful for that. One owns a construction company and another,
after graduating from Harvard University and Columbia School of Law,
is a lawyer. Today, Puerto Rican influence is the riving
(18:54):
and Pennsylvania Dutch Country, from the food to the music,
to flags and festivals in the streets. Their contributions can
be seen in Dutrican exhibits and historical events. There are
even Puerto Rican pastors within the Mennonite Church. Over time,
all divisions lessened between Puerto Rican and Mennonite communities. Bilingual
(19:17):
Mennonite churches were founded to serve the growing Spanish speaking
communities across the country, Puerto Ricans and Mennonites. Even and
a married Remember Ramona's friend who fell in love with
the Mennonite.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Girl, Ruth.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Eventually they did get married and had seven kids that
are still together.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
It's a special day, Ramona has invited me to church,
her Mennonite church. Today, she's reclaimed her Deuto Rican history
and is proud to share it with her congregation.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
The then and I Leaver said, we came, would call
me Ramona, but I said Rama.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Ramona is also sharing her history through photos. Tables with
cardboard displays featured dozens of photos of Ramona growing up,
Mennonite class, photos with Mennonite kids, old town Lancaster in
the nineteen sixties. Even the chicken house is there. One
photo shows Romona with a friend. They're both wearing a
(20:27):
Mennonite cape dress, except Ramona have paired her outfit with
retro cat ice and glasses. A congregation member esther joins me,
I love this picture of her where she's wearing her
very chic glasses.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Love it in her cape.
Speaker 8 (20:44):
Yeah, that's the very classic traditional dress still worn by
many conservative communities.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Does this make you interested in learning a little bit
more about the Mennonite communities in Puerto Rico?
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (20:57):
Absolutely.
Speaker 8 (20:58):
I do have some family members who who did mission
work in Puerto Rico. They would have been like, they
are conservative Mennonites and they lived there as missionaries.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
These Mennonite missionaries esthers talking about have actually been in
Puerto Rico for nearly a century. Around World War Two,
Menonites worked on the island instead of enlisting in the
US military. Their pacifist faith made them conscientious objectors, so
(21:29):
instead of fighting on the battlefield during the war, they
built schools and hospitals in Puerto Rico. The Mennonite healthcare
system still serves the island today. Eventually, Mennonite missionaries began
evangelizing in Puerto Rico. By the time the war ended
in nineteen forty five, you could find Mennonite churches across
(21:50):
the island. Back in Pennsylvania, this religious relationship was also
an economic one. Mennonite farms and factories use their ties
to Puerto Rico to recruit labors like Ramona's dad. Inevitably,
the evangelize them and their families. For Puerto Ricans, the
(22:11):
adopted religion provided a pathway for settling in Pennsylvania Dutch
Country and obtaining that American dream of.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
A better life.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
This is how Ramona's life eventually came into contact with
the Mennonite Church. A lot of it was due to
political and economic circumstances that were out of her control,
but today her relationship with the church is firmly on
her own terms.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
My heart was always thrown.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
To the Mennonite Church, and I would say ask why,
And I guess I can't always say. I can only
say that God, that's where he wants to me.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Thank you bring it out.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Yes, so we can stronger than the Oh I used
to be really strong Now I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Ramona and I are taking out a framed piece of
plaster from storage. She's excited to show it to me.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Wow, oh my gosh, that releas.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
A It's actually a piece of wall from the Chicken
house where she grew up in Pennsylvania, Dutch Country. When
we pull it out, the frame is nearly up to
my shoulder. I mean, it's huge. But here's the remarkable part.
Ramona's father, Agallio.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Etched a message on the wall.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Ramona has placed a black and white photo of him
inside the frame.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Two.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
In the photo, he's holding a Bible.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
That was my dad at the house. He loved to
read the Bible and he loved to sing hymns to me.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
It's a treasure.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Argallio died in two thousand and four, but this wall
captures his life as.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
A Dutch Rican.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Many Puerto Ricans working on Mennonite farms, like Argallio, they
documented their days and dreams on the walls of barns
and sheds.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
Was this pencil, Yes, that was in pencil Spanish. It's
all in Spanish.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Ramona reathes from the seventy year old cracked wall.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
There hasn't been a Puerto Rican that has judged me,
but an American. Yes, because the devil puts something in
the mind to separate him from God, and it is
money that he loves.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
The passage is very spiritual and personal. His message just
carved onto plaster in a chicken house. It was his
way of saying I was here, I am here, So
is my daughter. So are Diuto Ricans. Ramona sits with
it for a moment. She discloses that there was a
(24:58):
period nearly thirty years ago when she stepped away from
the Mennonite Church. In that time, the church slowly began
to acknowledge her community's history. Artifacts like diaries and photos
and music written by and about Detricans were given more
attention and respect. Ramona eventually did come back, but only
(25:41):
when she felt that the church was not just a church,
but a welcoming, accepting community, one that would be a
part of her life in a.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Way that she'd always hoped it would be.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
It's very different from what I grew up with. They're
very liberal and dress and very liberal and a lot
of women cutting their hair and things like that, but
the love that they show is worth it. They still
have that love for other people and that has a
lot to do with it. So which.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
This episode was produced by Sarah McClure and edited by
Alejandra Salasad. It was mixed by Stephanie Lebau. Fact checking
for this episode by Roxanna Guire special thanks to Levi Slausser.
The Latino USA team also includes Julia Caruso, Felicia Dominguez,
Fernando Chavarique, Jessica, Elis, Victoria Estrada, Dominiquinestrosa, Renaldo Leanos Junior,
(26:54):
Andrea Lopez Cruzado, Luis Luna, Marta Martinez, Monica Morales, Garcia,
jj Car, Tasha Sannoval, Nour Saudi, and Nancy Thruhio Benny
later I, met Is, Marlon Bishop, Marie Gracia and myself
are co executive producers, and I'm your host Mariaino Posa
join us again for our next episode. In the meantime,
look for us on all of your social media. I'll
(27:15):
see you anin stagnam iyatusavis no tevayas Chao.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Latino USA is made possible in part by La Tau Foundation,
New York Women's Foundation, the New York Women's Foundation funding
women leaders that build solutions in their communities, and celebrating thirty.
Speaker 8 (27:39):
Years of radical generosity and funding for Latino USA is.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Coverage of a culture of health is made possible in
part by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
If you drive an hour and a half west of Philadelphia,
you'll find Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Some three hundred years ago,
Amish and Mennonite people known for their plain dress and
simple way of life, begins settling right here.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
They're still here and you can see it. This place.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
It feels like stepping into an eighteenth century oil painting,
with rolling fields, farmhouses and horse and buggies. It's fall
and the cornfields have turned brittle in the cooling temperatures.
It's really out in the middle of nowhere, got all
these old cornfields.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
It's a acting to boonies. They didn't used to be
any houses around here. Oh it's just fields, Yeah, it
was just fields.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I'm with Ramona Neveno.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
She was born in Puerto Rico, but she's called Pennsylvania
Dutch Country home for most of her life. Today she's
taking me to a place from her childhood.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
It'll be this lane up here on the left. See,
I hadn't been back here for years and years and years.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
We come to a ranch property once owned by a
Mennonite farmer. Ramona used to live here, well sort of.
We walked to the back of the property where we
find a shack, a chicken house, as Ramona affectionately calls it.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
We came here in nineteen fifty two where it was,
you know, fixed up so that we could live in it.
Like I said, since I was so young, it didn't
really bother me that this was such a small place
because this was made for chickens, not for humans.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
It's a rectangular structure. The size and shape reminds me
of a school bus.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
I don't know if this one's open or not. I
don't know if I can living this.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Wow, there's just hay in here.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
This is just be the bedroom.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
How big do you think this space is?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Oh? Why?
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Maybe ten by thirteen? You think? I can't believe that
was our bedroom for four people.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Ramona's family moved to Pennsylvania Dutch Country when she was
just a child. They were part of a wave of
Puerto Ricans who moved to the mainland US due to
economic hardship following the Great Depression. Many who came to
Pennsylvania Dutch Country worked on Mennonite farms and lived in
converted barns and chicken houses, and as US citizens, Puerto
(02:32):
Ricans weren't subject to deportation, so in the decades after
many chose to remain Stateside. For Ramona, there was life
before this chicken house and life after. The clothes she wore,
the food she ate, the religion she practiced, the communities
she would become part of, It would all change. Ramona
(02:57):
and many other Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania Dutch Country just
like her, would eventually forge a unique cultural identity today
known as Duerto Ricans.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
From Futuro Media and PRX, It's Latino Usa. I'm Maria Rosa.
Today we take a trip to Pennsylvania Dutch Country where
we meet Puerto Ricans who call it home. Stories about
immigration often make me think so much about the issue
(03:33):
of sacrifice, where people have to give up or embrace
in pursuit of opportunity, stability, safety, all of those things.
And this feels especially relevant today when Latinos, Latinas, and
LATINX people are being targeted across the United States. This
tension is central to the story of Duto Ricans, the
(03:56):
Puerto Ricans who have been living among Pennsylvania's Men and
i Can communities since the nineteen forties. Now you won't
read about them in history books, but Duto Ricans have
faced unique challenges and a complex relationship with the Mennonite
community for about a century. And bringing us this story
(04:17):
is producer Sarah McClure. Sarah, Welcome to Latino USA. I
am fascinated.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Thanks for having me, Maria.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
I've been obsessed with Pennsylvania for a while now and
Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania. But this is a completely unique
story that I had never heard of. All Right, so
it is true that Puerto Ricans are the largest Latino
group that live in the state of Pennsylvania according to
the United States Census. But it wasn't until you brought
(04:45):
us this story that I learned about this part of
Puerto Rican history, which is the Dutch Arecan history. And
of course here in New York we know about New Eurekans,
and New Eurekan history is kind of prevalent in the city,
but Beakans break it down for us.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yes, it's a fairly new term. I learned about this, actually,
Doto Ricans only after speaking with a couple of scholars
from Lebanon Valley College here in Pennsylvania, Professors John Henshaw
and Evac Guzman Sabala started researching Doctor Ricans about a
decade ago.
Speaker 6 (05:20):
The name Doto Rican was given to us by this
man that we interviewed in Pedro Cruz. He was trying
to come up with a term that he thinks as
his identity, and he said, I am not a new
Yu Rican. Of course, as part of the Puerto Rican diaspora.
(05:41):
I am not a Puerto Rican, I am a I am.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
A Doerto Rican. Okay, So that is pretty cool.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
Pedro and the professors basically helped to coin the term
and put Doto Ricans on the map.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
I mean that's a great story absolutely.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I mean what we're seeing is this wrecord ignition, I
mean even celebration of Thetrican history in recent years because
descendants like Pedro and Ramona, the women you heard from
the beginning of the episode, are telling their stories.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
I first learned about Mennonites in Mexico because it's Los
Menonitas who make cheese in northern Mexico. But this is
a different kind of reality. This is Amish and Mennonites
in the state of Pennsylvania. So tell us more about them.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah, the Amish and Mennonites share interesting history. During the
seventeenth century, they fled religious persecution in Europe, they first
arrived here in Pennsylvania, and over the centuries have spread
across the entire country. Today, the Amish are pretty traditional.
They limit their education to the eighth grade avoid modern technology.
(06:50):
They don't drive or use the internet. In fact, women
wear modest dresses still and headcoverings. Men wear trousers and
suspenders because belts are too modern. The Mennonites can be
as traditional as the Amish. However, Mennonites are more integrated
into society. Puerto Ricans are one of the fastest growing
(07:12):
groups in the Mennonite Church nationwide, and that.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Brings us to our story today.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
All right, Sarah, we're gonna hand it over to you.
I can't wait to hear this piece.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
What a beautiful day. Oh my gosh, I want to
sit on.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
We're nice to see you again.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
When I arrive at Ramona's house, she's already on the
porch waiting for me to come inside.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
I'm quickly greeted with a hug and a kiss on
the cheek. Ramona is in her.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Late seventies and lives alone, but she isn't lonely. Every
wall and surface is adorned with family photos, including of
her four adult children.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
These pictures tell a story.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Of Ramona's long life, which began in Puerto Rico in
a barrio called Rio Chigito in Monteciano. Ramona's family was poor,
but she still has good memories from this time. Her
mother Boola, washing clothes in the river, cooking crayfish and
cantoles on efhagon. There was love in the home, even
(08:20):
though sometimes there wasn't a lot of food.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Much less doctors are medicines.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
My sister was mentally delayed, and she was very frail.
My brother, he didn't develop correctly. He couldn't walk.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
One day, her older brother passed away unexpectedly.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
My dad, he was horrified when he found out. By
the time he got the letter, my brother was already buried.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Ramona's father was not in Puerto Rico when this happened.
He had been in the States for months already.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Now I would say, papadios, please try me me poppy,
you know, yeah, I still get stuffy.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
When her mother died, Ramona's dad was picking tomatoes for
a Mennonite farmer named Elma Weaver in Pennsylvania Dutch Country.
Ramona's father grieved deeply, and his employer noticed.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Elmer Pee Weaver Senior said to him that summer, I
know how much you have been suffering because your family
is not here.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Would you like to have them with you? And of
course he said yes.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
In nineteen fifty two, five year old Ramona, her younger sister,
and her mom left Puerto Rico to move to Pennsylvania.
It was Ramona's first time on a plane.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
We came to New York because at that time planes
did land in Philadelphia, so we went to the International
Airport in New York.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
They picked us up in a car.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
It was snowing. Can you imagine this little girl coming
from Puerto Rico never had seen snow, So my nose
was like plastered against the car watching this stuff fall.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
You know, snow wasn't the only novel thing. The men
and I girls in Pennsylvania soon changed Ramona's clothing.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
And they put me on top of this table and
I started to cry. They put long sockings and a
coat and a hat and boots.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
I still remember.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
It was such a traumatic thing that I still remember.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
In Puerto Rico, Ramona loved running around in her jones,
laying barefoot in the rain, but she soon realized that
wasn't going to fly in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
I started to see these ladies with these strange dresses,
you know, their cape and these little bonnets on their head.
They're a cape, so it's a one piece that is
to hide your shape so that men don't lust over
your breast.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
I didn't understand it.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Men and knights believed in evangelizing Puerto Ricans. Some even
thought it would keep field workers from sinning in the world.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Catholicism has long.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Been the dominant religion among part A Ricans on the island,
but eager to connect with any community in Pennsylvania, many
left it behind to join the Mennonite Church.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
My mom and my dad within the year they were
baptized in the church. My first time in the church,
I guess would have been maybe a week later. Why
so best It was like they felt they had to
ingratitude for while they were you know, received and stuff.
I don't really really think it was from the heart,
(11:30):
but they adapted to the church.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Assimilation sometimes came with confusion.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
My mom was as shocked as I was, because when
they greeted each other, they kissed each other on the lips.
The men with the men and a woman with a
women it.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Was called a holy kiss.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Assimilation also came with loss.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Familiar things like cooking on the fogon were renounced.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
It was hard on my mother.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
My mother was the one that really saw, you know,
in the beginning, because she couldn't cook the way she
cooked when she was in Puerto Rico. They would teach
her how to cook American food.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
So I learned to.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Eat mashed potatoes and gravy and meat made their way, you.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Know, and other things stood out to Ramona too.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Was kind of strange to see all these people that
were so white. Yes, so that was the beginning of
my journey in the United States coming up.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
Ramona learns that adjusting to life in a predominantly white
Mennonite culture didn't always come with easy acceptance.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
They were very loving people, but we couldn't marry them,
we couldn't fall in love with them.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
Stay with us, Yes, welcome back to Latino, USA, and
you're listening to today's story about the Dutch Ricans. When
(13:07):
Puerto Ricans settled in Pennsylvania, Dutch Country, they bonded with
the Mennonite community, but they also encountered cultural tensions and barriers.
Producer Sarah McClure is going to pick up the story
from here.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
As a teenager, Ramona worked for a Mennonite chicken factory.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
When I was working at Victor Waiver's, which I worked
in the chicken roll department, an Amish girl who had
become my friend, asked me, she goes Ramona, is.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
It true that all Puerto Ricans carried knives?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
And I said, yeah, you should see mine.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
And of course after our you know a law.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
That's not true, but that's one of the perceptions they
had of the Puerto Ricans, that they all carried.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Knives sometimes, though this othering was a lot more personal.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
They were very loving people. The only thing that hurts
it was okay for us to be friends like the
guys and whatever. It was okay, but we couldn't marry them.
We couldn't fall in love with them, and they couldn't
fall in love with us.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
She remembers how hard it was for her friends who
did develop feelings for Mennonites.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
I remember one friend of Miami fell in love with
an anglow girl, very pretty. Her name was Ruth, and
they had a hard time convincing her parents that he
it was okay.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Ramona knew that dating a Mennonite man was never an option.
Speaker 7 (14:40):
In the nineteen fifties, the Pennsylvania Dutch Mennonites were thinking, Oh,
we can have people join our church, but they're not
going to really be Mennonites because they're not going to
marry within the church. They're going to be essentially second
class citizens.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
This is Lebanon Valley College professor John Henshaw. Both he
and Professor Eva Guzman, who he heard at the top,
have extensively studied the Duto Rican community and its history.
Speaker 7 (15:07):
The Mennonite tradition, like any religious tradition, is filled with contradictions.
There's essentially a kind of civil rights movement within the
church because marriage, dating, and all of those things really
cut more to the sense of is Menonite a lifestyle
or is it a religious identity? And if it's a
(15:28):
religious identity, then there's no room to make those kinds
of invidious distinctions on the basis of ethnicity or language
or race.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Meaning it didn't make sense that Mennonites welcome to Puerto
Ricans on their farms and in their churches, yet didn't
accept them in other ways like dating and intermarriage. That
tension also showed up when it came to housing.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
When we went to a place, as long as you
were talking to the person on the phone and have
no accent, you're fine. You know, they're ready to rent
to you.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
The first time Ramona met with the landlord to rent
her first place, the homeowner was very direct with her.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
And he says, I don't rent to Puerto Ricans, So
I hung up. So he rented to an Anglo family.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
In the nineteen eighties, when Ramona wanted to purchase a home,
she encountered a similar situation.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
I was looking for a home to buy because you know,
and I was a single parent. Something would come up
for sale and it looked like it was within my
range of what I could afford, and I would call,
you know, they would be talking to me, and then
when I'd say my name, oh you know what, we
sold that one.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
It's not available anymore.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
And I thought of doing something like asking one of
my Anglo friends to come and to call, but I
never did it.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
By that time, I could have probably had a lawsuit.
I would do it now.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Ramona has a sense of humor about it, but housing
discrimination in Pennsylvania Dutch Country has been a huge problem.
In nineteen seventy one, a Puerto Rican couple became the
first on their block to move into an all white
neighborhood in Lancaster County. People protested the newcomers. This is
despite the fact that Puerto Ricans transformed the local economy.
(17:25):
When Ramona arrived in nineteen fifty two, Pennsylvania had about
twelve thousand.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Temporary farm workers.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
According to state officials, Puerto Ricans made up roughly half
of that number. Puerto Rican labor helped Mennonite farms, factories,
and businesses flourish. Remember that chicken factory where Ramona worked.
It was owned by a Mennonite farmer, Victor F.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Weaver. At the time of his death.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
In nineteen eighty nine, the company was generating one hundred
and sixty million dollars in yearly revenue roughly four billion
by today's standards. The Weaver company would eventually become a
part of Tyson Foods, a company now worth twenty one billion.
While the region may have been creating a lot of revenue,
(18:13):
it didn't change Ramona's life much. For example, it didn't
even occur to her to go to college.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
My parents weren't educated and most of the people that
I knew, even the Mennonites, they usually only went to
like eighth grade, just like the Amish. So I had
nobody to say, you know, it's good for you to
go to college or whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Ramona's children did get some opportunities in Pennsylvania Dutch Country.
She's grateful for that. One owns a construction company and another,
after graduating from Harvard University and Columbia School of Law,
is a lawyer. Today, Puerto Rican influence is the riving
(18:54):
and Pennsylvania Dutch Country, from the food to the music,
to flags and festivals in the streets. Their contributions can
be seen in Dutrican exhibits and historical events. There are
even Puerto Rican pastors within the Mennonite Church. Over time,
all divisions lessened between Puerto Rican and Mennonite communities. Bilingual
(19:17):
Mennonite churches were founded to serve the growing Spanish speaking
communities across the country, Puerto Ricans and Mennonites. Even and
a married Remember Ramona's friend who fell in love with
the Mennonite.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Girl, Ruth.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Eventually they did get married and had seven kids that
are still together.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
It's a special day, Ramona has invited me to church,
her Mennonite church. Today, she's reclaimed her Deuto Rican history
and is proud to share it with her congregation.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
The then and I Leaver said, we came, would call
me Ramona, but I said Rama.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Ramona is also sharing her history through photos. Tables with
cardboard displays featured dozens of photos of Ramona growing up,
Mennonite class, photos with Mennonite kids, old town Lancaster in
the nineteen sixties. Even the chicken house is there. One
photo shows Romona with a friend. They're both wearing a
(20:27):
Mennonite cape dress, except Ramona have paired her outfit with
retro cat ice and glasses. A congregation member esther joins me,
I love this picture of her where she's wearing her
very chic glasses.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Love it in her cape.
Speaker 8 (20:44):
Yeah, that's the very classic traditional dress still worn by
many conservative communities.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Does this make you interested in learning a little bit
more about the Mennonite communities in Puerto Rico?
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (20:57):
Absolutely.
Speaker 8 (20:58):
I do have some family members who who did mission
work in Puerto Rico. They would have been like, they
are conservative Mennonites and they lived there as missionaries.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
These Mennonite missionaries esthers talking about have actually been in
Puerto Rico for nearly a century. Around World War Two,
Menonites worked on the island instead of enlisting in the
US military. Their pacifist faith made them conscientious objectors, so
(21:29):
instead of fighting on the battlefield during the war, they
built schools and hospitals in Puerto Rico. The Mennonite healthcare
system still serves the island today. Eventually, Mennonite missionaries began
evangelizing in Puerto Rico. By the time the war ended
in nineteen forty five, you could find Mennonite churches across
(21:50):
the island. Back in Pennsylvania, this religious relationship was also
an economic one. Mennonite farms and factories use their ties
to Puerto Rico to recruit labors like Ramona's dad. Inevitably,
the evangelize them and their families. For Puerto Ricans, the
(22:11):
adopted religion provided a pathway for settling in Pennsylvania Dutch
Country and obtaining that American dream of.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
A better life.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
This is how Ramona's life eventually came into contact with
the Mennonite Church. A lot of it was due to
political and economic circumstances that were out of her control,
but today her relationship with the church is firmly on
her own terms.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
My heart was always thrown.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
To the Mennonite Church, and I would say ask why,
And I guess I can't always say. I can only
say that God, that's where he wants to me.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Thank you bring it out.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Yes, so we can stronger than the Oh I used
to be really strong Now I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Ramona and I are taking out a framed piece of
plaster from storage. She's excited to show it to me.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Wow, oh my gosh, that releas.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
A It's actually a piece of wall from the Chicken
house where she grew up in Pennsylvania, Dutch Country. When
we pull it out, the frame is nearly up to
my shoulder. I mean, it's huge. But here's the remarkable part.
Ramona's father, Agallio.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Etched a message on the wall.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Ramona has placed a black and white photo of him
inside the frame.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Two.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
In the photo, he's holding a Bible.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
That was my dad at the house. He loved to
read the Bible and he loved to sing hymns to me.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
It's a treasure.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Argallio died in two thousand and four, but this wall
captures his life as.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
A Dutch Rican.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Many Puerto Ricans working on Mennonite farms, like Argallio, they
documented their days and dreams on the walls of barns
and sheds.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
Was this pencil, Yes, that was in pencil Spanish. It's
all in Spanish.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Ramona reathes from the seventy year old cracked wall.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
There hasn't been a Puerto Rican that has judged me,
but an American. Yes, because the devil puts something in
the mind to separate him from God, and it is
money that he loves.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
The passage is very spiritual and personal. His message just
carved onto plaster in a chicken house. It was his
way of saying I was here, I am here, So
is my daughter. So are Diuto Ricans. Ramona sits with
it for a moment. She discloses that there was a
(24:58):
period nearly thirty years ago when she stepped away from
the Mennonite Church. In that time, the church slowly began
to acknowledge her community's history. Artifacts like diaries and photos
and music written by and about Detricans were given more
attention and respect. Ramona eventually did come back, but only
(25:41):
when she felt that the church was not just a church,
but a welcoming, accepting community, one that would be a
part of her life in a.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Way that she'd always hoped it would be.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
It's very different from what I grew up with. They're
very liberal and dress and very liberal and a lot
of women cutting their hair and things like that, but
the love that they show is worth it. They still
have that love for other people and that has a
lot to do with it. So which.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
This episode was produced by Sarah McClure and edited by
Alejandra Salasad. It was mixed by Stephanie Lebau. Fact checking
for this episode by Roxanna Guire special thanks to Levi Slausser.
The Latino USA team also includes Julia Caruso, Felicia Dominguez,
Fernando Chavarique, Jessica, Elis, Victoria Estrada, Dominiquinestrosa, Renaldo Leanos Junior,
(26:54):
Andrea Lopez Cruzado, Luis Luna, Marta Martinez, Monica Morales, Garcia,
jj Car, Tasha Sannoval, Nour Saudi, and Nancy Thruhio Benny
later I, met Is, Marlon Bishop, Marie Gracia and myself
are co executive producers, and I'm your host Mariaino Posa
join us again for our next episode. In the meantime,
look for us on all of your social media. I'll
(27:15):
see you anin stagnam iyatusavis no tevayas Chao.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Latino USA is made possible in part by La Tau Foundation,
New York Women's Foundation, the New York Women's Foundation funding
women leaders that build solutions in their communities, and celebrating thirty.
Speaker 8 (27:39):
Years of radical generosity and funding for Latino USA is.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Coverage of a culture of health is made possible in
part by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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