"Ida y Vuelta" (Aerial Bus Installation) offers a suspended moment to recognize generations of Puerto Rican migrants who have traveled back and forth between island and mainland, whose labor and resilience shaped Tampa while maintaining unbreakable ties to Puerto Rico. By creating an ephemeral installation existing for one day, the work embodies both the temporary nature of individual journeys and the persistent pattern of circular migration that defines this community. This project asks festival attendees to look up, to see the ongoing trajectories that connect Tampa to San Juan, and to recognize that Puerto Rican belonging is not diminished by movement, it is sustained through it. The airplane becomes not a symbol of departure but of connection, transforming one day in Ybor City into a portal across 140 years of Puerto Rican ida y vuelta, there and back, always.
SOURCES:Organized by Time Period (1885-2025)
PERIOD 1: 1885-1960s — The Cigar Industry Era (Tabaquero Migration) & Agricultural Migration
Overview
The first wave of Puerto Rican migration to Tampa Bay, centered in Ybor City as part of the cigar manufacturing boom. Puerto Ricans arrived alongside Cuban, Spanish, and Italian immigrants. The second wave Puerto Ricans moved primarily to South Florida (Miami) for agricultural work. Tampa Bay saw minimal Puerto Rican presence during this period as population shifted to other regions.
Key Sources:
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Encyclopedia of Puerto Rico - "Puerto Rican emigration to Florida"
Key Data: "The first wave of Puerto Rican emigrants, between 1885 and 1940 approximately, mainly settled in the Tampa Bay area, particularly in Ybor City, the center of the cigar industry in the United States. Hillsborough County was the center of the small Puerto Rican population in Florida until 1930."
Note: By 1930, only 94 Puerto Ricans were counted in Tampa census, indicating either return migration or move to other areas
- Library of Congress - "Birth of Ybor City, the Cigar Capital of the World"
Date: October 5, 1885 - Vicente Martinez Ybor contracted with Tampa Board of Trade to relocate cigar manufacturing
Key Info: Ybor City settled in 1886 by Cuban cigar manufacturers; companies moved from Key West to avoid unionization
Archival Resources: American Folklife Center collections, WPA interviews from 1939
- Southern Cultures Journal - "Ybor City"
Quote: "Black and white immigrants, primarily from Cuba, along with others from Spain, Italy, and Puerto Rico, collided in Tampa as they searched for work in the city's new cigar factories."
Context: Multi-ethnic borderland in Jim Crow Florida; Centro Obrero (Labor Temple) as organizing hub
Cultural Detail: Lectores (readers) in factories; mutual aid societies
- USF Access 3D Lab - Ybor City Casitas
Quote: "These factory workers, often of Spanish, Italian, and Puerto Rican descent, immigrated to Tampa to work in Ybor City's prosperous cigar industry."
Architectural Evidence: Shotgun-style casitas (worker housing) from 1898-1920
- Jorge Duany & Patricia Silver - "The 'Puerto Ricanization' of Florida"
Evidence: Letters preserved in Archivo General, San Juan showing requests from Puerto Ricans to move to Florida
1933 Context: Governor Robert Gore's inaugural speech proposed addressing Puerto Rico's "population problem" through Florida migration
Oral History Example: Santa Isabel couple who worked in fields near Tampa, sending letters back to island before returning to obtain land parcela
- Tampa Bay History - New College Thesis
Historical Context: Tampa was "one of the first destinations for Puerto Rican and Cuban tobacco rollers and political exiles in the 19th century"
- In Motion: African American Migration - Caribbean Migration
Context: "During the first two decades of the twentieth century, thousands of skilled Puerto Rican workers, especially cigar makers, arrived in the United States" including Tampa
Labor Leaders: Bernardo Vega, Jesús Colón, anarchist/feminist Luisa Capetillo
- Encyclopedia of Puerto Rico - "Puerto Rican emigration to Florida"
Jobs: Seasonal agriculture, assembly, tourism
Elite Migration: 1940s-1950s - Prominent families (Serrallés, Roig, Ramírez de Arellano, García Méndez, Ferré) bought land in Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee
Census Data: Miami-Dade County - 17,329 Puerto Ricans (1970), 44,656 (1980)
- Puerto Rico Labor Department's Division of Migration
Florida Component: Hundreds settled in South Florida (Dade, Broward, Palm Beach counties)
PERIOD 2: 1970s-1990s — Deindustrialization & Return to Tampa Bay
OverviewMajor shift as economic decline in Northeast (especially New York) and Puerto Rico drove migration to Florida's Sun Belt cities. Tampa Bay experiences significant Puerto Rican population growth for first time since early 1900s.
Key Sources:
- New College Thesis - "The Tampa Bay Puerto Rican Community"
Critical Quote: "It was not until the 1970s that Tampa saw significant increases in the Puerto Rican population, as the deindustrialization of the northeast and massive unemployment of Puerto Ricans led many more to the Sun Belt, particularly Florida."
Census Data: Tampa's Puerto Rican population was 4,038 (1980); doubled to 9,683 (1990)
Finding: "It is around this time that Puerto Ricans became a notable community in the Tampa Bay area"
Geographic Scope: Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro could soon surpass Chicago metro
- UCF Dissertation - "Forming a Puerto Rican Identity in Orlando"
Context: 1970s Economic Recessions affected both Puerto Rico and New York City
Key Analysis: "As such, the economic recession of the 1970s led the Puerto Rican diaspora to Florida"
Finding: Puerto Ricans became displaced as New York restructured from industrial to white-collar service positions
Result: Poverty and unemployment pushed migration to Florida instead of traditional NYC destination
- Jorge Duany & Patricia Silver - "The 'Puerto Ricanization' of Florida"
Regional Status: Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is third largest Puerto Rican metro area in U.S. (after Orlando-Kissimmee and Miami)
Latino Demographics: Puerto Ricans are largest Latino group in Tampa (also in Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale)
- Encyclopedia of Puerto Rico
Contributing Factors: Military veterans stationed at Florida bases; NASA engineers at Kennedy Space Center
Walt Disney World: Major employer that heavily recruited in Puerto Rico starting 1971
- U.S. Census Data Referenced in Multiple Sources
Migration Shift: Mid-1980s takeoff in Central Florida migration from island AND from other U.S. cities (NY, NJ, IL)
1990-2000: Orlando experienced 142% increase in Puerto Rican population (greatest in entire U.S.)
PERIOD 3: 2000s-2025 — Continued Growth & Hurricane Maria Exodus/Current Era
OverviewTampa Bay area consolidates as sixth-largest Puerto Rican community in U.S. Circular migration patterns intensify with easier travel and economic ties maintained with island. Hurricane Maria (September 20, 2017) devastates Puerto Rico, triggering massive migration to Florida. Tampa Bay becomes major receiving area with estimated 300,000 evacuees to Florida, nearly one-third to Tampa Bay region.
Key Sources:
- Jorge Duany & Patricia Silver - "The 'Puerto Ricanization' of Florida" (Centro Journal 2010)
Tampa Metropolitan Ranking: 6th largest Puerto Rican community in U.S.
Florida's Growth: Puerto Rican population in Florida displaced New Jersey as second-largest concentration (after NY) during 1990s
State Demographics: Puerto Ricans grew from 2% of stateside Puerto Ricans (1960) to nearly 18% (2008)
- New College Thesis - Tampa Bay Community Analysis
Historical Significance: "Rich history of previous Puerto Rican and Latine migration" dating to 1885
Research Gap: Most academic research focuses on Orlando; Tampa Bay understudied despite being "one of the fastest growing Puerto Rican communities in the U.S."
- Pew Research Center - Puerto Rican Population Maps
Visual Data: County-by-county mapping shows growth 1980, 1990, 2000, 2013
Tampa Population Data (PopulationU.com - 2019 estimates)
Tampa City Hispanic Population: 113,700 total
Puerto Ricans in Tampa: 26,889
Context: 28.4% of Tampa population is Hispanic; Puerto Ricans are second-largest Latino group after Cubans (41,244)
- ABC News - "Tampa opens arms to Puerto Rico evacuees after Hurricane Maria"
Date: October 14, 2017
Statistics: 36,000+ people arrived in Florida from Puerto Rico since October 3, 2017
Tampa Response: Reception centers set up; "Hurricane Maria Assistance Information" table at Tampa International Airport baggage claim
Personal Story: Jennifer Martinez fled with young daughter due to heat/no AC; staying with Tampa family
Personal Story: Rosa Merced - "Everything is destroyed. We have no water, no electricity. There are people who don't even have food"
Island Conditions (as of October 2017): Only 14.6% had power, 58% cell service, 64% drinking water access
- WUSF News - "Tampa Bay Area Preparing For More Hurricane Evacuees"
Key Statistic: "Nearly 300,000 evacuees relocated to [Florida] as a result of the destruction—almost a third of them living in Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Citrus and Hernando counties"
Exact Counties: ~100,000 Puerto Ricans relocated specifically to Tampa Bay's five-county region
Personal Story: Julio Ildefonso moved to Hillsborough County after storm
Community Response: Organizations helping transition; clients remain "nervous anytime they start receiving storm updates
- Hurricane Maria - Wikipedia & Effects in Puerto Rico
Death Toll: 2,975 officially (some studies estimate 4,645)
Damage: $90 billion+
Infrastructure Collapse: 95% without power weeks after; months without electricity for most
Migration Scale: 400,000 Puerto Ricans left island 2017-2018; nearly half went to Florida
Preceding Context: Hurricane Irma hit two weeks prior (September 6, 2017), already leaving 1 million without power
ARCHIVAL & RESEARCH RESOURCES
USF Special Collections - Tampa/Ybor City Materials
USF Libraries - Ybor City and West Tampa Collections
USF Tampa Through Time Portal
URL: https://lib.usf.edu/news/usf-libraries-tampa-through-time-portal-brings-archives-to-life-through-experiential-content/
Resources: 1,000+ digital objects (expanding to 5,000+)
Collections: Photographs, archival documents, historic map overlays
Featured: African American Experience portal, Centro Asturiano, Centro Español, Círculo Cubano, L'Unione Italiana, Sociedad La Union Marti-Maceo
Walking Tours: Ybor City cigar factories, Depression-era housing (Tony Pizzo collection)
USF Special Collections - Florida Studies
URL: https://lib.usf.edu/special-collections/florida-studies/
Latin American/Caribbean Collections: Archival records documenting Tampa's Ybor City and West Tampa communities
Emphasis: Bolivia, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico
Materials: Monographs, maps, manuscripts, photographs, oral histories, artists' books
Themes: Immigration, race, ethnicity, gender in global context
Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños (Hunter College/CUNY)
Centro Journal: Academic publication
Research Focus: Interdisciplinary study of Puerto Rican diaspora
Newspaper Archives
Tampa Bay Times / St. Petersburg Times
Historical Archive: 1901-2009 (digitized)
La Gaceta
Founded: 1922 (Victoriano Mantiega, Cuban immigrant and lector)
Unique Status: Nation's only trilingual newspaper (Spanish, English, Italian)
Still Publishing: Continuous since 1922
Relevance: Ybor City community voice; articles on cultural/community topics
Academic Works - Key Scholars
Dr. Gary R. Mormino
Theses/Dissertations Available
"Forming a Puerto Rican Identity in Orlando: The Puerto Rican Migration to Central Florida, 1960-2000" (UCF)
"The Emergence of Central Florida's Puerto Rican Community" - Cynthia Melendez, UCF 2007
"The Tampa Bay Puerto Rican Community" - New College of Florida (recent)
Additional Research Resources
Florida Memory Project
URL: https://www.floridamemory.com/
Resources: Teacher materials, historical photographs, documents on cigar industry
Cigar Industry Section: Photos, guides on Tampa/Key West history
Southern Spaces - "Preserving the Memory of Ybor City, Florida"
URL: https://southernspaces.org/2009/preserving-memory-ybor-city-florida/
Digital Collections Review: Analysis of available Ybor City digital resources
Burgert Brothers Photography: 732 images at USF (separate from larger HCPLC collection)
Centro Asturiano Portraits: 5,076 membership record snapshots
Robertson and Fresh Photography: 2,882 images (1932-1960)
KEY THEMES & PATTERNS IDENTIFIED
Circular Migration ("Ida y Vuelta")
Continuous back-and-forth movement between island and mainland
Family ties maintained in both locations
Described as "aerial bus" phenomenon
Return migration common (evidenced by 1930 census showing only 94 remaining in Tampa after early cigar era)
Puerto Ricans were most likely counted as Cubans, Spanish, & White in earlier census'