Maxwell Burnbauer’s “Americanization through Education: The U.S. Influence on Puerto Rican Identity and Culture” offers a compelling historical analysis of the profound educational transformations imposed on Puerto Rico after 1898. This paper meticulously details how the United States leveraged the public school system, particularly through the leadership of figures like Martin G. Brumbaugh, the strategic use of American textbooks, and the aggressive push for English language instruction, to reshape Puerto Rican identity and culture. The insights gleaned from this historical examination—highlighting the complexities of implementing broad systemic changes, the resistance encountered from local communities, and the challenges of integrating new values—resonate deeply with the core work of Drass and Associates consulting. Just as this paper unpacks the deliberate efforts to align an existing culture with external norms through education, Drass and Associates specializes in guiding organizations and individuals through their own periods of significant change, focusing on strategic communication, stakeholder engagement, person or project based planning, and cultural integration to ensure successful transitions and foster resilient organizational identities.
Americanization through Education:
The U.S. Influence on Puerto Rican Identity and Culture
Following the Spanish-American War and the United States’ acquisition of Puerto Rico in 1898, the island officially became an American territory. In the years that followed, the U.S. began implementing extensive changes to the educational system in Puerto Rico. These changes were part of a larger effort to Americanize the island and reshape its cultural, social, and educational systems to align with U.S. norms and values. The United States saw education as a main tool for integrating Puerto Rico into the broader American empire with schools being crucial places to instill American ideals of citizenship, democracy, and national identity. At the core of these major changes in the school system was the push for English language instruction, textbooks that praised and focused primarily on the U.S. and its history, and the appointment of American teachers who were seen as the best fit to transmit these values to the Puerto Rican population.
This paper argues that U.S. educational policies in Puerto Rico, particularly through the leadership of Martin G. Brumbaugh, the use of American textbooks, and English-language instruction, played a central role in reshaping Puerto Rican identity and culture by aligning it with U.S. ideals, while also facing resistance from local communities. By using documents such as government reports, school laws, and textbooks, this study will not only analyze the goals behind these reforms but also evaluate the different forms of attempts at shaping the minds of Puerto Rican students. Furthermore, while much of the existing research has centered on how teachers navigated the pressures of Americanization, my paper will concentrate on the specific role of instructional materials in advancing U.S. values and cultural norms. The paper will also examine in great length how these materials were intended to alter Puerto Rican students’ identities by encouraging them to align their sense of self with American standards while undermining the significance of their own heritage.
success and inspiration
Imperial Education: Historiography of Americanization in Puerto Rico
The U.S. educational policies enacted in Puerto Rico after 1898 aimed to reshape Puerto Rican society through Americanization, using the public school system as a primary tool to impose U.S. cultural and ideological values. This historiography examines four foundational sources that explore these educational interventions and the resulting impacts on Puerto Rican educators, students, and communities. Solsiree del Moral’s Negotiating Empire: The Cultural Politics of Schools in Puerto Rico, 1898-1952 and José-Manuel Navarro’s Creating Tropical Yankees: Social Science Textbooks and U.S. Ideological Control in Puerto Rico, 1898-1908 each analyzes the impacts of Americanization efforts in the classroom, focusing on how curricular content and social science textbooks were used to influence Puerto Rican identity. Leila Sussmann’s article “Democratization and Class Segregation in Puerto Rican Schooling: The U.S. Model Transplanted” critiques the implementation of American educational models that introduced social and economic stratification rather than genuine democratization, showing how these policies reinforced class divisions. Finally, Aida Negrón de Montilla’s Americanization in Puerto Rico and The Public School System 1900-1930 provides a broad view of Americanization policies under many different commissioners of education, putting a focus on how language policies and U.S. ideology shaped Puerto Rican schooling and faced resistance from local communities. Together, these sources reveal a recurring theme: while U.S. policies aimed to instill loyalty to American ideals, they encountered a range of responses, from adaptation to resistance, as Puerto Rican educators and communities negotiated their identities within a colonial framework.
In Negotiating Empire: The Cultural Politics of Schools in Puerto Rico, 1898-1952, Solsiree del Moral explores how Puerto Rican teachers navigated Americanization policies, portraying schools as sites of cultural negotiation where educators balanced compliance with subtle resistance. She states, “teachers were not simple transmitters of U.S. colonial policy but, rather, critical actors who challenged and negotiated Americanization ideologies daily through the schools.” To build her analysis, del Moral relies on sources like government reports, educational directives, and teachers’ correspondence, which reveal the practical challenges and local interpretations of U.S. policies. A key example she highlights is how Puerto Rican teachers navigated the colonial system by crafting a vision of education that integrated local cultural values, putting an emphasis on the relationship between school, home, and native land. This example illustrates del Moral’s thesis by showing that even under strict Americanization policies, educators found ways to adapt the curriculum to reflect Puerto Rican identity, emphasizing autonomy within a restrictive American system in impactful ways that included the formation of the Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico (AMPR).
José-Manuel Navarro’s Creating Tropical Yankees explores the role of social science textbooks as tools of ideological control, arguing that the U.S. crafted educational content to reshape Puerto Rican identity by focusing on American civic ideals over local traditions in Puerto Rico. Navarro describes this effort as a “strategic use of education to cultivate loyalty among colonial subjects.” To support his argument, Navarro draws on primary sources that include early 20th century textbooks and educational reports, which he analyzes to show how curricular content was manipulated to portray American governance as morally superior. One key example Navarro discusses is how American historical figures such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were portrayed as role models, often shown as more admirable than local Puerto Rican figures, which reinforced the idea of American culture superiority through textbooks such as Frye’s Geography and Eggleston’s History of the United States and Its People. Through this example, Navarro demonstrates how textbook content served as a vehicle for instilling ideological loyalty, strengthening his argument that educational materials were central to the Americanization process.
In her article, “Democratization and Class Segregation in Puerto Rican Schooling”, Leila Sussmann critiques the implementation of American educational models in Puerto Rico, arguing that these policies introduced layers of social and economic stratification rather than authentic democratization. According to Sussmann, “not only our “neighborhood” elementary schools, but also our high schools and colleges are social class-segregated and collectively ability-segregated in no small degree” reinforcing inequalities that hindered educational access in Puerto Rico. Sussmann uses primary sources like government policy documents and enrollment records to show how U.S. schooling practices left out rural and lower-class students by directing more resources to urban areas. A key example that she discusses is the limited access to advanced schooling for students from poorer communities, which upheld socioeconomic divides. This case study supports Sussmann’s thesis that rather than leveling the playing field, American educational policies ingrained class distinctions in Puerto Rican society.
Aida Negrón de Montilla’s Americanization in Puerto Rico and The Public School System 1900-1930 explores how the U.S. used education in Puerto Rico as a tool for cultural transformation, with a focus on replacing local values with American ideals. Montilla argues that the Department of Education became a central force for Americanization, where each commissioner worked to enforce policies that were structured around English-language instruction and U.S. centric content. Montilla relies on primary sources such as government reports, official directives, and legislative documents to show how U.S. officials took a systematic approach to impose American culture. For example, she discusses Commissioner Martin G. Brumbaugh’s push for English as the main language of instruction, which faced substantial local resistance, as well as vocational training programs that promoted American work ethics and economic values. Through these examples, Montilla displays how educational policies functioned as instruments of both cultural and political control, reinforcing U.S. authority and diminishing Puerto Rican identity.
These sources share two overall themes among them: Americanization and colonial control through education and English instruction policies that contributed to the deepening of educational inequality in Puerto Rico. Through close examination of these sources one key example that emerges in two of them is the use of textbooks in Puerto Rican classrooms as tools of Americanization. In Creating Tropical Yankees, Navarro mentions specific examples of books that were used in Puerto Rican classrooms, while in Americanization in Puerto Rico, Montilla discusses Commissioner Brumbaugh’s attempts to establish libraries in schools to promote “good Americanism” by using textbooks. When it comes to the other two sources they share differences that separate them from the rest and each other as del Moral focuses more so on the role of educators in shaping education during this American colonial period whereas Sussman looks at the impact of the American educational model on class segregation in Puerto Rican schools.
My project will stand out by providing a closer look at how U.S. educational policies were implemented in Puerto Rico, focusing on three key areas: the role of textbooks in promoting Americanization, the influence of Martin G. Brumbaugh in shaping the education system, and the significant educational reforms such as the push for English as the primary language of instruction. While many studies focus on the ideological aspects behind Americanization, my research uses rich primary sources including government reports and school laws, to examine both the intended goals and actual impact of these policies. For instance, while Solsiree del Moral dives into how teachers navigated Americanization, I will go into detail about how textbooks such as A First Book in American History and Elements of Geography were used to promote American values. Whereas Aida Negron de Montilla and Leila Sussmann focus on the large-scale social effects of Americanization, my work will concentrate on how these educational reforms reshaped Puerto Rican schools and reinforced American ideals. By analyzing educational policies, the content of textbooks, and local reactions, my project will provide a clearer picture of how Americanization unfolded in Puerto Rican classrooms, revealing its impact on the education system and shaping Puerto Rican identity.
Brumbaugh’s Leadership and the Americanization of Puerto Rican Education
Under Martin G. Brumbaugh’s leadership, U.S. educational policies in Puerto Rico played a central role in Americanizing the island’s schools, notably through his push for English language instruction, the promotion of American values, and the integration of U.S. cultural practices into the educational system. Brumbaugh, an experienced educator who had held various education leadership roles in Pennsylvania such as superintendent (Huntingdon County) and chair of pedagogy at the University of Pennsylvania, was appointed as the Commissioner of Education for Puerto Rico in 1900. Brumbaugh’s tenure from 1900-1902 as Commissioner of Education was marked by a clear focus on transforming Puerto Rican schools into places where American civic ideas could be instilled into the youth of the island. As mentioned in his 1901 report, one of his significant actions in pursuing these goals was the naming of schools in the Puerto Rican city of Caguas to reflect prominent U.S. figures that included Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and William McKinley. In the same report, Brumbaugh discusses the visit he and other higher-ups took to a few towns in Puerto Rico that included Carolina and Gurabo, where they observed students dressed in American red, white, and blue while also singing the Star Spangled Banner. Perhaps the most impactful statement regarding Brumbaugh’s efforts to Americanize Puerto Rico through education comes from the end of his discussion on these demonstrations when he writes “These exercises have done much to Americanize the island, much more than any other single agency. No such demonstration was ever witnessed in Porto Rico. The young minds are being molded to follow the example of Washington.” Along with patriotic ceremonies and symbolic acts, American educators and leaders including Brumbaugh viewed schools as places to instill values like hard work and civic responsibility as Puerto Rican children were encouraged to take part in manual labor, a concept that was once frowned upon on the island, as a meaningful and essential part of building a modern, prosperous society aligned with American ideals. In a 1905 reflection, Brumbaugh called the U.S. educational mission in Puerto Rico “unique in the history of the race,” describing it as a significant effort to introduce “the forms of civilization peculiar to the Saxon race” to a people rooted in Spanish language and traditions. Brumbaugh also proudly pointed to the rapid expansion of schools, noting that in 1901, 385 schools were in operation with attendance rates higher than some U.S. states. For Brumbaugh, these accomplishments stood as clear evidence of the implantation and success of Americanization efforts through education.
Before Martin G. Brumbaugh took over as Commissioner of Education, the U.S. military government had already begun introducing English into Puerto Rican schools. In 1899, officials started distributing English learning materials as well as bringing American teachers to help supervise instruction. However, these early efforts were met with significant challenges such as most Puerto Rican teachers did not understand or speak English and students had little to no opportunities to continue learning the language outside of the classroom. Reports from the time described how many students had a hard time engaging in English lessons, in large part due to the fact that their daily lives revolved around the Spanish language. Recognizing these difficulties, the United States Insular Commission recommended expanding the use of more advanced American teachers to lead English instruction and incorporate U.S. educational methods into Puerto Rican schools. These recommendations laid the groundwork for Brumbaugh’s later efforts to make English instruction a key component of the Americanization process.
As commissioner, Brumbaugh implemented school policies that pushed English towards being the primary language of instruction, citing its importance for Puerto Rico’s integration into American civic and economic life. His overall goal was to use the language across all academic subjects, from primary grades to higher education, with American trained teachers being used as role models for local educators. Under his leadership, the Department of Education focused on systematically appointing English teachers to both urban and rural schools to ensure that language instruction would reach every level of students. Brumbaugh’s push for English instruction would eventually pave the way for its eventual adoption as the official language in Puerto Rican schools in 1903. Although this change did not occur until a few years following his term as Commissioner of Education, his policies laid the foundational pieces for this shift. This marked a significant move that further advanced the Americanization of Puerto Rican education, aligning it closely with U.S. cultural and ideological goals.
Although Brumbaugh’s reforms were praised by many for expanding education and promoting civic values, some local voices saw them as prioritizing American control over genuine educational progress. One article from The Puerto Rico Herald accused Brumbaugh of prioritizing U.S. control over actual educational progress, focusing on measures that more so valued American authority rather than improving learning for the students in Puerto Rico. The article points to his heavy reliance on English-language textbooks and American teachers as evidence of this approach, arguing that these policies overlooked Puerto Rican educators for leadership roles and failed to recognize their professional qualifications. This lack of inclusion left many local educators struggling to adapt within a system that undervalued their expertise. Furthermore, the article highlights the cultural disruption that was caused by Brumbaugh’s initiatives, claiming that they forced students and teachers to navigate an educational structure that was detached from Puerto Rican traditions, language, and identity in such ways that included students being taught “to sing patriotic hymns” and to “march like soldiers.” “The Instruction in Puerto Rico” also criticizes Brumbaugh’s self-interest stating “Mr. Brumbaugh arrived and introduced several thousands of his books for teaching English, for which he pocketed several thousand dollars.” This critique stresses how Brumbaugh’s Americanization efforts were not only damaging to Puerto Rican culture but also driven by self-interest, revealing the deeper tensions that surrounded his tenure as Commissioner of Education.
Shaping Minds: The Pedagogical Foundation and Textbook Strategy of Americanization
The 1901 Report of the Commissioner of Education for Porto Rico provides insight into how U.S. educational policies worked to transform Puerto Rican schools into tools of Americanization through instructional materials. A major component of this effort was the use of textbooks and curriculum to teach discipline, morality, and civic values that were rooted within American principles. Reading materials such as Bible stories, patriotic texts, and classical myths were carefully chosen to promote orderliness, hygiene, and loyalty to U.S. models while downplaying Puerto Rican cultural narratives. The report further emphasizes the role that education played in facilitating Christian values, devotion to country and family, and moral character, describing these traits as essential to producing good citizens. By presenting these lessons as universal truths, it shows that the curriculum sought to replace local values with ones that would be in line with American standards. The importance of textbooks in advancing Americanization efforts in Puerto Rico cannot be overstated. In Creating Tropical Yankees, José-Manuel Navarro refers to textbooks as “the best weapons in the outposts and garrisons,” showcasing their deliberate use to implement U.S. practices in Puerto Rican classrooms. Education materials, most significantly textbooks, that were used in Puerto Rico between 1898 and 1908 were crafted to encourage students to think and feel as though they were Americans by putting great importance on loyalty to the United States.
Edward Eggleston’s A First Book in American History serves as a prime example of how U.S. textbooks were used in Puerto Rico to advance Americanization. Officially incorporated into school curriculum in 1900, as outlined in the Teachers’ Manual, the book was read twice a week in schools and was used as a springboard for discussion about American values and history. Upon reading through the book it can be seen that the book puts a primary focus on American figures like Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson, with full chapters dedicated to their lives and accomplishments. Chapters on American figures that included these men were carefully put together to display qualities such as leadership, patriotism, and “manly honor,” qualities that were aligned with the U.S. standards of being an American. For instance, the chapter on Benjamin Franklin puts emphasis on his resourcefulness and dedication to self-improvement, showcasing his rise from humble beginnings to become a celebrated inventor and statesman. Eggleston’s portrayal of Franklin offers a compelling view into the book’s role as a tool of Americanization. Franklin’s early years, defined by his work in his father’s candle shop and his apprenticeship in a printing office highlighted the importance of hard work and self learning. Stories of his experiments with electricity, invention of the lightning rod, and the founding of America’s first public library were told as not just historical facts, but as moral lessons in creativity and public service. It is quite evident Eggleston’s book wasn’t just teaching history to the youth of Puerto Rico, it was shaping their future generation’s identity. By focusing on the lives of America’s “great men,” and ignoring all aspects of Puerto Rican history, the book conveyed U.S. culture and values as both superior and aspirational.
While history books like A First Book in American History focused on teaching American values through the lives of celebrated U.S. figures, geography textbooks played an equally important role in advancing Americanization efforts through the education system in Puerto Rico. Alex Everett Frye’s Elements of Geography was one of these books, praised in the Teachers’ Manual for the Public Schools of Puerto Rico as a book that took a more scientific approach to the subject. However, what the Teachers’ Manual neglected to mention was that Frye’s book presented a clear bias towards Anglo-American values while portraying other cultures as inferior. Elements of Geography wasn’t just about teaching geography to the students of Puerto Rico; it served as an avenue to promote the idea that the United States was the model for civilization. One way in which the book does this is by dedicating one fourth of the entire volume to the United States, with an extensive focus on American features such as physical landscape, climate, commerce, and industries. For instance, the textbook puts a strong focus on the economic power of American states and cities like New York and Chicago, referring to New York as a “great center of manufactures” and stating that “Chicago is perhaps growing more rapidly than any other city in the world.” By having such a tight focus on the U.S., Frye’s work indirectly suggests that the American model is the one that other countries, including Puerto Rico, should follow to be successful. In contrast, Puerto Rico is barely mentioned in the textbook, and when it is, the portrayal feels lackluster with little effort put into it. It is clear that the more that the textbook magnified America’s accomplishments, the more it inspired Puerto Rican students to view the U.S. as the measure for success. Through this method, it is certain that Fyre’s Elements of Geography was one of the many books that intended to influence students to internalize American values, positioning them to view their own cultural identity as less important than that of the United States.
The Imposition of English and U.S. Teachers in Puerto Rico’s Schools
Building upon the groundwork laid by Martin Brumbaugh, Commissioner Samuel Lindsay (1902-1904) set in motion a comprehensive plan in 1902 to rapidly integrate the English language into Puerto Rico’s school system. Detailed extensively in his 1902 report, Lindsay outlined his efforts to expand English-language education on the island, including using English in schools “as much as possible” and even going as far as offering cash prizes as a reward for native teachers who passed the English examination. Although commissioner Lindsay states in this annual report that the Americans did not desire to “force English upon the people” of Puerto Rico, it is obvious by the actions and intents listed throughout the report that this was far from the truth. Perhaps the most aggressive way Lindsay and education officials began to push English-language instruction was the appointment of teachers from the United States to lead classroom instruction in Puerto Rican schools. During the year of 1902, 102 American teachers were already teaching English on the island which only had 351 schools at the time. It is also mentioned that these schools most often made up of 3-4 different grades and is implied that those schools were attended by children of younger ages. Samuel Lindsay emphasized that his motive behind this was to help prepare students as they progressed to higher grade levels “receive instructions in English” and be “prepared to use English text-books.” It is quite clear in the grand scheme of things that Lindsay’s primary goal was that by bringing in U.S. educators, it would help native teachers acquire English more effectively, enabling them to teach in the English language in all subjects in due time.
This extreme push from Samuel Lindsay for English instruction on the island of Puerto Rico did not come without negative opinions from Puerto Ricans and even some American educators on the island. During this period, newspapers like The Puerto Rico Herald and the San Juan News contained articles written by those who saw these changes in action up close as they took place. An article from the San Juan News, titled “The End Seems Yet So Far Away,” highlights the discontent among some American teachers, who were not only displeased about having to teach native instructors in Puerto Rico the English language but also felt they were being unjustly treated by the Commissioner of Education. The unnamed author details how these teachers, brought to Puerto Rico to instruct English and train local educators, were essentially taken advantage of and subjected to unfair treatment.
Furthermore, the author puts an emphasis on a specific policy that Samuel Lindsay implemented in Puerto Rico towards the end of 1902 that required all American teachers on the island to dedicate an extra three hours a week teaching native instructors the English language. This new policy was put in place in order to help better prepare Puerto Rican teachers to pass their English examination, but issues would show that the Americans teachers were anything but motivated to help. The author sufficiently pinpoints how this policy put American teachers at a disadvantage in other areas as well that included tremendous amounts of excess school work, the cost of living, and salary. On top of these pressing issues, the teachers from the mainland also had to fund their own Spanish language lessons, on their own time, and paid 25 cents more per lesson than native teachers paid for their private English lessons. The article finishes off with a strong argument from the point of view of the American instructors by stating “Only a minimum amount of good can be accomplished in this way” and questioning “With salary, cost of living, and amount of schoolwork, all in favor of the native teacher why should the American teacher give him English lessons?” Although not taken into account often historically, the challenges faced by American teachers in Puerto Rico highlights the broader difficulties of implementing English instruction, which only grew as the process continued across Puerto Rican schools.
John Joseph Osuna was a Puerto Rican who came to the United States with his family in 1901 and was sent to the infamous Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. The school was one of many originally formed for Native American children, but U.S. leaders had initially believed that Puerto Ricans were actually Indians and sent children who came from there to these schools in the early 1900s. According to Osuna himself, what took place at these schools was the active destruction of cultural identity and the imposition of American culture. In 1923, Osuna would return to his native land of Puerto Rico to write an analysis of the transformation that occurred in the education system of his homeland under U.S. occupation. Throughout his evaluation, Osuna explains in great detail how education officials such as Brumbaugh, Lindsay, and others attempted to make English the standard of language in Education on the island and how their plans did not fully come to fruition. It can be debated that one of the biggest mistakes the commissioners of education in the early 20th century made in their quest for English-language instruction was the lack of resources that were invested in rural schools, besides Brumbaugh who split resources in all areas. Osuna notes “No attempt was made to teach English in the rural schools any more than the rural teacher could do alone.” With the rural sections of the island being ignored when it came to Americanization through language in educational settings, it was clear that the overall plan surely did not succeed during the early 1900s. Also laid out by Osuna in his work was the failure of the earliest attempts of instilling English in classrooms, even in the more populated cities such as Ponce and San Juan. American teachers in these cities were instructing such a high number of pupils during each school day, leading to little time for each group of students, which correlated with low retention from students as they did not use the language outside of these specific class sessions with the English teacher. Despite the push for English only instruction from American educational leaders, the official policy would only last for one school year, which was 1903-1904. The lack of resources and challenges faced in both rural and urban schools in Puerto Rico led to the establishment of a bilingual education system, where English was only taught as the primary languages in the 5th and 6th grades, beginning in 1917.
In conclusion, U.S. educational policies in Puerto Rico during the early 20th century, particularly through the leadership of figures such as Martin Brumbaugh, American textbooks, and the push for English-language instruction, played a substantial role in transforming Puerto Rican education and culture. These efforts aimed to instill American ideals of citizenship, democracy and national identity in Puerto Rican students, aligning their cultural and educational structures with those of the United States. However, as this paper has demonstrated, these policies faced considerable resistance from local communities, practical challenges in execution, and limitations due to inadequate resources, notably in rural areas. Despite the aggressive push for English instruction, the lack of support for teachers, students, and resources led to the establishment of a bilingual education system by 1917. Ultimately, these educational reforms shaped Puerto Rican identity but also highlighted the complexities of Americanization efforts, revealing both their reach and limitations in Puerto Rican society during this period.
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