Little Things are Big

  In 1917, sixteen year old Jesus Colon moved from Puerto Rico to live with his brother in New York City.  Colon found work as a waiter, postal clerk, and a dishwasher to survive.  It was during this time that he developed a sense of empathy for the working class and experienced discrimination first hand.  The combination of Colon's dark skin and his struggles learning English made it challenging for him to advance his career.
      During the 1920s and 1930s Colon became involved in various organizations that support Puerto Ricans and Latinos living in New York  City.  His political associations helped him get involved in the labor movement and he became involved in the Communist Party. In the 1950s, he became a featured columnist in The Daily Worker a communist newspaper.
   Later in his life Jesus Colon wrote the short story Little Things are Big, reminiscing about an experience he had on a New York subway in the 1950s.


Here is a link to the Colon Reading

For H.W.

Read "We and They" by Rudyard Kipling and answer the questions on the back of the handout.