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Dominican Americans

Individuals of Dominican descent constitute the fifth-largest Latino group in the United States, after Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and Salvadoran Americans. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, there were 1,414,703 native or foreign-born people of Dominican descent in the United States, comprising approximately 0.4 percent of the population. The northeast has the highest concentration of Dominican Americans, with nearly 48 percent living in New York, followed by New Jersey (14 percent), Massachusetts (7 percent), and Pennsylvania (4 percent).

An additional 12 percent of Dominican Americans live in Florida. A thriving Dominican community has existed in the New York metropolitan area since the 1930s, particularly in the Washington Heights neighborhood in northern Manhattan. In addition, large numbers of Dominican immigrants settled in Boston, Providence, and Philadelphia.

Immigration to the United States

The Dominican Republic occupies the western third of the Greater Antillean island of Hispaniola. With an estimated 2010 population of 9,378,818, it is the second-largest Caribbean nation, after Cuba. Colonized by Spain in 1492, the nation first won its independence in 1821. Foreign powers, including Spain, Haiti, and the United States, occupied the Dominican Republic for intermittent periods through the 1920s. Years of political and economic instability, marked by assassinations and the brutal dictatorship of General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina followed. Subsequently, the nation experienced military rule, civil war, and a curtailing of civil liberties that continued through the 1970s.

Although there have been men and women of Dominican descent in the United States since the 18th century, immigration picked up significantly after the 1961 assassination of Trujillo. A second wave of immigration began in 1966, during an occupation by the U.S. military to end the civil war. The third period began in the early 1980s, due to high inflation and unemployment in the Dominican Republic, and the strong U.S. economy. Nearly half of all Dominican Americans have immigrated since the early 1990s, after Mexican immigration began to wane, thereby allowing Dominican applicants for legal residency to be approved.

Historically, most Dominicans immigrated to the United States from rural areas and lacked higher education. In contrast, a large percentage of second-generation Dominicans Americans live in or around large metropolitan areas, and at 21 percent, the group possesses one of the highest rates for college completion among American-born Latinos.

Politics and Sports

Although some scholars have maintained that, historically, Dominican Americans have been more interested in Dominican politics than in U.S. affairs, they have served in government at the local, state, and national levels. William Lantigua, Alex D. Blaco, and Angel Taveras have served as mayors of major American cities. In Massachusetts (Marcos Devers), Rhode Island (Grace Diaz), Maryland (Joseline Peña-Melnyk), and New York (Adriano Espaillat), Dominican Americans have been elected to state government. From 2001 to 2006, Dr. Eduardo J. Sanchez served as Texas's commissioner for health. In New York, multiple Dominican Americans have served as secretary of state, including Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez and Cesar A. Perales. President Barack Obama nominated Julissa Reynoso as U.S. ambassador to Uruguay in October 2011.

Baseball's popularity in the Dominican Republic has resulted in a number of prominent players in the American major leagues, including Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Manny Ramirez, and Albert Pujols. Although not as celebrated among Dominican Americans as baseball, basketball has gained in popularity in tandem with the successful careers of professional players like Trevor Ariza and Charlie Villanueva. Other Americans of Dominican descent are well-known athletes in tennis (Mary Joe Fernández), mixed martial arts (Eddie Sanchez), track and field (Félix Sánchez), and football (Dante Rosario).

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