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Download a PDF file of the short story "American History" by Judith Ortiz Cofer, a Puerto Rican-born writer who explores her identity and culture in Paterson, New Jersey. The story follows the narrator's crush on Eugene, a blond boy who reads books and lives across the street.
A short story about a Puerto Rican girl in Paterson, New Jersey, who falls in love with a white boy during the Kennedy assassination. Read the full plot summary, characters, themes, quotes, and historical context of this classic story by Judith Ortiz Cofer.
Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “American History” is a coming-of-age story set in the 1960s, a time marked by racism and segregation. The protagonist, Elena, is a fourteen-year-old Puerto Rican immigrant residing in Paterson, New Jersey, when the assassination of President John F. Kennedy occurred.
American history consists of both large events and ordinary moments. The story takes place on the day of President Kennedy’s assassination, a pivotal time in the United States.
Set on November 22, 1963, the day of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Judith Ortíz Cofer’s semi-autobiographical short story “American History” is a snapshot of racial tensions in 1960s blue-collar New Jersey.
Judith Ortiz Cofer's short story "American History" is a coming-of-age tale set in the early 1960s, when racism and segregation were still in full bloom. The story's fourteen-year-old protagonist, Elena, is a Puerto Rican immigrant living with her family in Paterson, New Jersey, when President John F. Kennedy is assassinated.
Judith Ortiz Cofer was a Puerto Rican-born American author. Her family settled in Paterson, New Jersey, when she was four and relocated to Augusta, Georgia, when she was 15. She was one of several women writers of Latin American descent whose work became prominent in the 1980s and 1990s.
