the rest of company was set up. john took me down below the dike so i didn't take any more round from the initial two that hit my head and he's talking to me to try to keep me alert and that was probably good because i didn't go instantly into a coma. i do remember being slid onto a stretcher. but jon miller said here come some more of the guys on the squad. and one of the guys passed by and it mike johnny fielding. he said hold on, danny, the helicopter will be here within minutes. >> watch the entire oral history interview at 10:00 a.m. eastern on sunday. american history tv, only on c-span 3. >> puerto ricans became u.s. citizens in 1917. as the territory became a u.s.

commonwealth in 1952. throughout this period, there was a movement for puerto rico's independence from the united states. american history tv was at the organization of the american historians ian yul meeting in sacramento, california, where we spoke with lisa materson. she offers a brief history of puerto rican starting with the spanish-american war and talks about ruth reynolds and her role in the puerto rican independence movement. this is about 20 minute. >> lisa materson is an associate professor at the department of history at u.c. davis. you talked this morning about puerto rico and why it's important to historians. what did you tell your audience? >> i focused on the importance of placing puerto rico at the center of studies of u.s. history or of work by u.s.

historians. puerto rico, particularly among u.s. historians is not seen as part of u.s. history, or it falls through the cracks of latin american or u.s. history. the puerto rican studies association is a place where it's a very vibrant interdisciplinary conversation but because of the history of puerto rico as a doll any, it doesn't -- colony, it doesn't fit neatly into the geographical categories so it doesn't get the among u.s.hat reason historians. >> right now puerto rico is in the headlines as it tries to recover from an ulf -- awful hurricane that basically devastated the entire island, itself inif a structure. so many now are leaving and coming to florida and elsewhere in the u.s. does any of that surprise you

based on the history that you've researched in puerto rico? >> no. everything that we're seeing is a continuation of a legacy of of puerto status rico in relation to the u.s. federal government. it's an unincorporated territory. it has secondary status. and this is, you know, the federal response, the supplies, all these things were affected precisely because of this secondary status of unincorporate -- unincorporated territory. this is a legal invention to have u.s. supreme court. an unincorporated territory. it comes out of cases from the

early 20th century so we don't really have an idea of an unincorporated territory until we have puerto rico. this unequal rhythm that gives the executive branch and the congressional branch unrestricted power, it's not surprising at all. >> can you walk us through briefly the history of puerto rico, what you've learned in researching the common wealth. >> well, the first thing to know is what the commonwealth is and when it was established. the commonwealth was established in 1952 and the commop wealth was -- commonwealth was really a solution to a problem, if you will, that began in 1898 when the u.s. invaded puerto rico. and so you have pretty much with, you know, a shift here, a shift there, a continuous

situation where you have this unequal relationship from 189 to 1952. when i say shift here and there, for example, puerto ricans become u.s. citizens in 1917 but they don't have the right, if they're living on the island, to veto in congressional -- vote in congressional election or for president or vice president. so the crigse of a commonwealth, what it is -- so that's the kind of where it comes from. that's a big, broad history. 1898 to 1952 but for all practical purposeses, there's a continuity in terms of the relationship of this colonial status. in 1952, it's kind of described

as a third way or a middle way. t statehood but not intsd -- independent. and it does create more local power, local authority in terms , election or education language, and health. but ultimately executive congressional power rests with the u.s. federal government. so the president of the united states, congress, they can decide what kind of federal prive license can be revoked. -- preview lifpblgs can be revoked. they can send people to war. foreign policy. international trailed, all of these things are determined without representation, unless, of course, someone from puerto rico travels to the u.s.

mainland and they can vote as a resident in the u.s. mainland so it's a very territoryly based kind of disenfranchisement. >> trying to understand or explain, we make hawaii a state and yet puerto rico, is it a state, is it a commonwealth, is it gocking -- going to become an independent country, is it a territory? >> so it is an unincorporated territory. will it become a state, will it become ifpblet? right now you have about 50-50 in puerto rico in terms of support. half and half 50 towards maintaining the commonwealth tatus and or becoming a state. i don't know. i don't know what's going to happen. ere is in this fairly even

divide, there's a percentage of the population that favors independence. it's about, in the election in puerto rico it's about 2% to 3% but this is a bit of a mask of independenceorical movement that existed in puerto rico that was quite vibrant and was suppressed, sometimes violently, by the u.s. government and by a very wide spread surveillance system that incarcerated people who advocated independence. >> so they kind of want it both ways? is that a fair assessment or not? >> you mean people on a the island? >> in puerto rico. >> what do you mean both ways? >> being a state, being independent, being a commonwealth, being a territory. >> it depend on who you ask. some people say the commonwealth

status, they want to maintain a rhythm with the u.s. mainlyland. and others want state hood because it will offer representation that's not possible. you have to understand that -- people have to understand that puerto ricans have been u.s. citizens for a long time. so distangle this kind of long-term relationship -- but there is a strong sense of nation hood. there's something called cultural nationalism and that's very strong on the island, everyone while some folks have a strong identity with the united states or u.s. citizens proudly search in the military and so on. >> of nose americans, what do you think are some of the biggest miscop exceptions about the island, by americans. >> for example, puerto ricans are americans so people living in the u.s. mainland who are not

they have n and -- the luxury of having a misconception. i think until hurricane maria, most people who don't have a tie to the island have not really thought about puerto rico. i think most people did not know that they were u.s. citizens, have served in the u.s. military. have fought in many wars, are proud veterans. ad so i don't know if there's luxury of kind of this misconception, certainly of that history. >> who was ruth reynolds? ruth reynolds was -- she -- i'm writing a book about her and she was a -- representative of

someone who was involved in what you might describe as the solidarity movement. she was not puerto rican but she was a supporter of the nationalist party of puerto rico. the nationalist party of puerto rico was the pro independence revolutionary organization that had been active on the island refirsting u.s. control since resisting u.s. control since the 19 zpwenlts she was a white, radical pacifist from south dakota who became a leader in the puerto rican independence party. a supporter of the national party. she claimed not to be a member of the party, and one of the closest confidants of campos, who was the leader of the nationalist party, which had -- most people are familiar with the nationalist party to the

extent that they are because a few members went into congress in 1954 and opened fire and injured several congressman. so that's the national party. now, ruth reynolds, she created the american league for puerto rican independence. puerto rico's independence. hat involves nonpuerto ricans. mobilizing in solidarity for puerto rico's independence. she spent two years in federal prison or in prison in puerto rico. there was another uprising in 1950. the two big uprisings for 1950 and 1954. she was caught in a drag net assassination attempt of president triumph tooen. d she was convicted of

supporting the overthrow of the u.s. government in puerto rico. this was something that was called the gag law and it made it illegal to have the idea to engage in the idea or the act of supporting puerto rican independence, which is the whole purpose of the insurance movement. >> even the idea? >> yes. i mean, so many people were political prisoners. who were involved in the nationalist party. it's often called the little smith act because the smith act was the vergets that was applied in the u.s. mainland towards sub subversives. ruth reynolds started to party that thought the end -- suth the end of u.s. control in puerto

rico. i do want to note that the nationalist party is -- there are other components. e nationalist party is among different sectors of the independent movement. on the island. d indeed ruth reynolds was sometimes in man hasn't. it's not just in puerto rico. diasphoric puerto rican community and she becomes involved in the independence movement and here you can really see a tremendous cross pollination of political movements at mid 20th century. she was in something called the harlem -- which was located in spanish or hem. -- harlem. she was there as someone who was

involved in the black civil rights movement and the free india movement and she was living in a community that were predominantly puerto rican. she is with other members, both black and white, several rights free india activists, holding signs pro testing british imperialism in india and some puerto rican neighbors said, you know, if you're opposed to imperialism. you don't have to protest it in india but the u.s. has a colony here so this was some of the factors that contributed to her transition. but the other factor is that you have a lot of nagsist party members. that's hunt anyway in area of manhattan. and pedro decamp's is released

from prison around this time and the nationalist party -- there were a lot of people in prison. radical pass vists to who opposed the draft were imprisoned with puerto rican nationalists who didn't recognize the u.s. government. they were draft evaders for different -- and these mental met in prison and when they were released into harlem. you great the intense cross pollination of different movements that start to work together. so the puerto rican independence movement historically and today extends far beyond puerto rico and certainty includes in people on the island but it extends

onto people who are not u.s. who are located in the u.s. -- u.s. mainland and covepnaverbing national movement it's a movement the u.s. government really suppressed and there's a listen not many nose much about t and there was a reason republicans didn't want to make it known that he was not in support of independence. they didn't want to have a match r. -- f.b.i. file opened. mail were thoughtses of being opened and it's a very dark history of the united states. >> a couple of quick follow-throughs. i think she passed away. >> she did. she passed away in 199.

>> and how did you come across her story and why? >> i first started doing research on and i have written about -- puerto rican women who were involved in the independence movement in puerto in including protesting, the is the 1970's. and i can say something about that. but as i did research in wan juan -- san juan, i hittered sta stow her name and i reelsed that me scomme other nationalist party women that i was researching were also active in manhattan so i went to the archives at the center hear poke -- puerto rican stows. ashram.found the harlem

and in the process, i started seele all these people. james farmer and all of these different people who were involved in this harlem ashram. i started oipt not writing about her but her story is so incredible. she -- one of her first jobs was on an indian reservation so she had access to u.s. impeerlism against native merps. she had these different moments that helped her build her opinion. she's not an anomaly. there are many other who she's working with. >> based on all of this, all that wow -- you've hearned. the research, the history of puerto rico, what -- what do you think it's future is going to

be? >> i think it's a tough question. know. don't -- i dent there's been rough reluctance by e u.s. federal government to ive up certain powers. and i think perhaps an important thing to realize is that once puerto ricans become u.s. citizens, i really think that was a significant turning point. it's very hard to distangle the situation or -- you know, but i don't know. i am hopeful that there'll be greater awareness and attention puerto rico so the type of, for instance, response that took

take in texas would takes place in puerto rico in the future. not just in terms of natural disasters but in terms of development, addressing issues of underdevelopment and policies that much hurt they over many decades. so to try so -- to right some of the wrongs but if your question is is it going to become a state or not, i don't know. >> the natural follow-up is because so many puerto ricans, american his citizens are now here on the mainland. texas, georgia, florida, south carolina. wlosht that's going to have any long-term impact on the island? >> oh, it definitely is. it is right now. it's a brain drain and culturally it hurts the island -- maybe not in

the metropolitan san juan area but in some of the other cities, you have many young people coming into the u.s. mainland for an occasion, for job. in some of those places you have an older population, that effects business. it affects every level of the way a city operates, the culture the city so it's a difble drain on the vibrancy of puerto rico. >> when does your book come out? >> i hope to have a full draft by the end of this year. i am on sabbatical this year. i'm almost done with it so my hope is it will be out within the next -- it takes about a

once o pub lay occasion you get it in production. >> lisa materson thank you so much for joining us here in sacramento. >> thank you. >> this weekend on espn spann -- c-span, the weekly standards political summit in colorado springs with a detective on prosecute trump's foreign and domestic policies. sunday at k8 9:00 p.m., former u.s. attorney general eric holder at the policyles and eggs event. 9:00 pan 2, saturday at eastern. len strategyisten and president trump's swing state voters and how they could impact future election. kliner y author sam discuss is his book. and on american history tv.

c-span 3, starred saturday at 6:00 p.m. eastern on the civil war. the 150th anniversary of the atification of the 14th amendment with clemson history professor burton. and sunday on oral history, u.s. historian ticks turkeys hanes balks about his long recovery during the vietnam war. wla -- watch the c-span networks this weekend. and, the cowtown coliseum in fort worth hosts a weekly wild west show and involvement joe hub baker talks about this historic venue and how the culture is still prevalent today. >> we're standing on the bricks of the fort wirt stockyards here in fort worth, t.k. we're standinged in the coliseum, home of the world's first