First published in Mundo Açoriano, April 19, 2012

REPRESENTATIVE JARED NUNES: FOUR GENERATIONS OF SUCCESSFUL SOCIOECONOMIC AND

POLITICAL INTEGRATION INTO AMERICAN SOCIETY

Representative Jared R. Nunes (Democrat- District 25, Coventry, West Warwick)

Rhode Island Representative Jared Nunes is one-fourth Portuguese, but because he carries a Portuguese
surname, he identifies the most with that part of his ancestry. “When people ask me, I always say I am
Portuguese and the rest comes after that,” he said in a personal interview.

The “rest” is French-Canadian, German and Armenian. “I think I embody what it means to be American.
Different groups of people came together, and one hundred years later we end up with someone like
me,” he added.

Representative Nunes’ great-grandfather was approximately twenty years old when he left the Azores.
He travelled in 1918 from the island of Saint Michael to Ellis Island and from there directly to West

1
Warwick, in the state of Rhode Island, where he lived, worked, created a business, and fathered thirteen
children.

During the long and turbulent voyage across the high seas, he met and fell in love with the woman, with
whom he would generate the Nunes’ legacy in the town of West Warwick. Since then, four generations
of Nuneses have been born, married, worked, started businesses, and raised children, while mixing with
people from other immigrant groups who also settled in the area.

After working in a factory, Nunes’ great-grandfather, moved by an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to
be in control of his own life, opened a small general store, selling household goods and food items. The
entrepreneurial spirit and business know-how was passed down through the generations.

Nunes’ grandfather, after serving in the Korean War, started a business in trash disposal. Nunes’ uncle
inherited the trash disposal business and his father, after serving as a firefighter for ten years, started his
own construction business, which is now owned by the Representative. “I am the fourth generation on
my Portuguese side of the family to own a business in West Warwick,” he said.

Rep. Nunes, left, joins with Reps. Deborah Fellela and Agostinho Silva, also Portuguese Americans, as
part of the Day of Portugal commemoration in the House of Representatives on June 9, 2011.

Many of Rhode Island’s towns were created in the 17th century, but West Warwick, the youngest town
in Rhode Island, was officially incorporated only in 1913. At that time, the town’s fathers recognized the
economic and political advantage of separating the Democratic dominated western section, with its
numerous lucrative textile mills along the Pawtuxet River, from the city of Warwick. Yet, already in the
19th century, large numbers of Irish, Italian, French, French-Canadian, and Portuguese immigrants, who

2
sought work in the area’s cotton factories, and later, after WWII, in the synthetic fiber industry, had
settled in the area (http://www.riedc.com/data-and-publications/state-and-community-profiles/west-
warwick).

West Warwick’s immigrant past is reflected in the diversity of its current population. According to the
American Community Survey (2008-2010 3-Year Estimates), West Warwick is home to about 29,259
people of eight major ancestries: Italian (6,969); Irish (6,810); French (5,415), English (5,128);
Portuguese (3,262), German (1,680); French Canadian (1,566); and Polish (1,089). There are several
other ancestries, each claimed by less than 500 people.

Rep. Nunes, left, and Rep. Scott Guthrie participate in the West Warwick St. Patrick’s Day Parade on
March 11, 2012.

In a town with such diversity, it would not have been unusual for people of different ethnic groups to
meet, fall in love, and marry. Representative Nunes’ grandfather married the daughter of French-
Canadian immigrants. Then, Nunes´ half Portuguese and half French-Canadian father married a half
German and half Armenian woman. This meant that Nunes grew up attending several festivals, from the
Portuguese Holy Ghost feast and Saint Patrick’s Day parade, to the French feast, and then October Fest
with his German maternal grandfather.

There are neighborhoods in West Warwick which are distinctively Portuguese and others that are mostly
French, but Nunes grew up in a neighborhood where people of both groups intermingled, and so he was
friends with a very diverse group of children, several of whom were of Portuguese descent. “Some were

3
children of immigrants and others had been here for a couple of generations, like me. Some spoke
Portuguese and others didn’t, but they knew something about their ancestry,” he explained.

Representative Nunes’ French-Canadian grandmother played an influential role in his life. He became,
and still is, a parishioner at the French-Canadian church, Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, which was
established in 1897, and attended its parochial school, Notre Dame. He also attended Bishop
Hendricken, a Catholic High School and later enrolled at the University of Rhode Island, from where he
was graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental science.

Representative Nunes, left, welcomes the Honorable Patrick Binns, Counsel General of Canada to New
England, at the State House, March 3, 2011

Elected on November 2, 2010, Representative Nunes is among the latest of 58 officials of Portuguese
descent who have been elected to Rhode Island´s General Assembly since 1937. Prior to 2010, it would
have been difficult for someone of Portuguese descent to be elected from Nune’s district because there
were no vacancies. “The person who served before me was in office for twenty years and the one who
served before him held the seat for about twenty-two years and it is not easy to beat an incumbent,” he
explained.

It is not uncommon for elected officials to start their political career at the local level in town or school
committees. Nunes, however, decided to run directly for the State General Assembly. He did not grow
up thinking that he would become a politician, but as a construction business owner, involved in asphalt
paving, landscaping, excavation, and utility work, he has a stake in decisions that are made by legislators
at the State General Assembly. Nunes, who now serves on the Corporations and Small Business
Committees, said:

4
 When you run or own a business and you see how the decisions that are made at the
state level affect your business, and in turn the decisions that you have to make ...
That’s when I decided. I just can’t sit back and let someone else’s decisions dictate what
I do in my business and what happens to my employees.

Elected from a district which is heavily Portuguese, Nunes first could draw on the strength of the now
more than 150 relatives who are descendants of his immigrant great-grandfather, most of whom still
live in West Warwick. The name recognition and the networking brought about by four generations of
business ownership were likewise of great significance to the young Nunes’ political campaign.

The Portuguese Holy Ghost Society also supported Nunes by helping him organize a few fundraising
events in their hall. Nunes is not a member of the Society, but every year he helps by providing trucks
and his garage for use during the Holy Ghost parade.

West Warwick has other Portuguese American clubs that have as members four to five generations of
descendants of Portuguese immigrants. Nunes’ great-grandfather was a founding charter member of
the Portuguese American Citizens Club. He instilled a sense of civic duty in his children, and both, Nunes’
grandfather and father, became active within the Democratic Party, although they never ran for office.

Some of West Warwick’s churches were also important to the Nunes’ campaign. As he said: “The Polish
Church was helpful to me. Through my business, I know many of the parishioners there.” The
Portuguese Church, Saint Anthony’s, did not endorse any candidate, but, when Nunes attended their
annual feast, many people he talked with would say: “I am going to vote for you. I knew your father,
your grandfather,” and some even knew his great-grandfather.

When asked about his future political career goals, Nunes takes a cautious attitude. For now, he will run
for a second term, but beyond that he will “wait and see” how things progress.

Nunes would someday like to visit the Azores and Portugal, the land and country from which his great-
grandfather came. He is grateful that his great-grandfather had the courage to cross the ocean to start a
new life and provide a better future for his descendants in an unknown land. Nunes is also thankful to
the America which provided his immigrant ancestor with opportunities to build a legacy. As the
Representative explained:

My great-grandfather came here with nothing, with no money in his pocket, but then he
started a family and started a business. His family line went from being dirt poor to
having a very comfortable level of living, and now also a presence in the political system
of Rhode Island. There are not that many countries, where this can happen in such a
short period of time.

Life in the United States was not easy for early twentieth century immigrants. Many bore the brunt of
prejudice and discrimination, while working arduously to provide a better future for their children in
America. Representative Jared Nunes and his family legacy illustrate a path of successful socioeconomic

5
and political integration, an overcoming of all obstacles and difficulties, begun by a Portuguese
immigrant and his family early in the 20th century.

Dulce Maria Scott, Ph.D. (March 28, 2012)

Professor, Anderson University
Affiliated researcher, Institute for Portuguese and Lusophone World Studies
Editor, InterDISCIPLINARY Journal of Portuguese Diaspora Studies
(http://portuguese-diaspora-studies.com)

(The interview with Representative Jared Nunes is part of a wider research project on the integration of
Portuguese Americans into the political system of Rhode Island, which is being conducted with the
collaboration of Marie Fraley, Interim Director of the Institute for Portuguese and Lusophone World
Studies at Rhode Island College, a former resident of West Warwick, RI, USA).