Jack Agüeros was born in 1934 in East Harlem, New York City, the son of Joaquin Agüeros and Carmen Diaz Agüeros. Joaquin Agüeros moved to New York City in the mid-1920s from Puerto Rico, where he was a policeman; Carmen Diaz arrived in New York from Puerto Rico in 1931. Life for Puerto Ricans in New York during the depression of the 1930s was hard; work was not easy to find, and Agüeros grew up in relative poverty in an immigrant area.

Agüeros' early ambition, instilled in him by his parents, was to become a doctor. He was also an avid reader, and it was his literary interests that eventually dictated his career choice. After receiving his B. A. from Brooklyn College in New York and an Master of Arts in Urban Studies from Occidental...