News from the Diaspora

An approach to the Portuguese immigrant press in the United States between 1910 and 1929

Abstract

In the early 20th century, especially between 1910 and 1929, the Portuguese press in the United States reached a period of great growth and expansion, giving rise to the consolidation of an interesting information discourse in Portuguese through the production of newspapers founded by immigrants in several American states. During this period, 52 new newspaper titles were published in Portuguese, although the majority were effeminate. Using both quantitative and qualitative techniques, the main objective of this work is to analyze the role that this type of press played among the immigrants who arrived in mass in the first decades of the 20th century, helping them to understand the functioning of American society and to integrate into its social fabric. This work demonstrates that this type of newspapers, carried out with great limitations by self-taught journalists, had a relevant role as media of information and instruction among Portuguese immigrants.