Although he never earned a living as a journalist, Colón wrote for several language papers in New York and Puerto Rico at the same time. By 1950, Colón had regular columns in English, in labor and community newspapers. He wrote articles and news commentaries as well as poetry, short stories and anecdotes. However, Jesus Colón was masterful in the use of the cronica or chronicle to relate important events to the community in an engaging and affecting manner. Because Jesus Colón wrote in English and Spanish, he was able to chronicle for English-speaking audiences how Puerto Ricans shaped and were shaped by the history of New York City from his unique vantage point. “A Puerto Rican in New York and other sketches,” published in 1961, the first book written in English by a Puerto Rican about the experiences of Puerto Ricans in New York City. A “Puerto Rican in New York and other Sketches” is both a collection of human-interest stories and a social history of New York.

Jesus Colón was drawn to internationally progressive movements, especially in Latin America. He learned first hand that workers in all parts of the world shared a common cause in the struggle for a living wage and humane working conditions. He also knew that political power was key to creating better opportunities. Thus, he ran for numerous public offices, including comptroller, city councilman and assemblyman. Colón wrote about many topics, but his constant concern was the social and economic conditions of Puerto Ricans in New York City and on the island. Colón was keenly aware that the migrants’ quest for equality in the United States could not be separated from Puerto Rico’s ambiguous relationship to the United States.

Colón’s work is reminiscent of Walt Whitman and Zora Neale Hurston. But it was Langston Hughes, also a light-skin mulatto, who had much in common with Colón. Both were active in New York’s Black and Latino communities. Both portrayed the day-to-day lives of ordinary people. Both wrote about racial injustice and both wrote in English and Spanish. Although he wrote more than 400 pieces in his lifetime, little has been written about the literary contributions of Jesus Colón. Unfortunately, most of his writings and speeches are not accessible in bounded form. Even so, the Jesus Colón collection of the archives of El Centro de Estudios Puertorriquenos at Hunter College of CUNY makes accessible a collection of documents about the life and times of this unassuming man of letters who wrote to change the world. In his time, Colón’s simple and incisive prose informed and entertained the masses. Today, they give us a sense of historic continuity, connecting our present to our past and our differences to a common humanity.