Puerto Rico

Hide caption Puerto Rican nationalists Irvin Flores Rodriguez, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Lolita Lebron, and Andres Figueroa Cordero, standing in a police lineup following their arrest after a shooting attack on the U.S. Capitol, March 1, 1954. Previous Next AP

Hide caption Pedro Albizu Campos, right, waves his hat in this undated photo. The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party leader called for armed uprisings in several cities in 1950. Previous Next AP

Hide caption Governor Luis Munoz Marin, first elected governor of Puerto Rico, looking over hundreds of cablegrams congratulating him on his escape after nationalists attempted to assassinate him. Previous Next Bettmann Archive

Hide caption Dr. Cornelius P. Rhoads is presented with a $10,000 check for cancer research by Dorothy Shaver, president of Lord & Taylor department store, during the 20th Lord & Taylor Award Luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City, 1950s. Previous Next Hulton Archive/Getty Images 1 of 4 i View slideshow

Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory in 1898 and for much of the next fifty years Puerto Ricans fought fiercely about this status. Should they struggle for independence, or to be a U.S. state, or something in between? In this episode, we look at Puerto Rico's relationship with the mainland U.S. and the key figures who shaped the island's fate.

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