Recollections of Mother… I can still hear her saying, “Adelante, María! Never go backward, only forward, María!” In 1920, Esperanza, sixteen, an abused orphan, penniless and alone, ventured from her birthplace, Vieques, Puerto Rico, to New York to embark on a new life. In the face of murder, prejudice and betrayal… her tenacity, sacrifices and hopes enabled her and her descendants to achieve “The American Dream.”