Pioneer: (noun)
A person who is among those who first enter, venture, or settle into region, thus opening it for occupation and development by others.
A person who is among those who first enter, venture, or settle into region, thus opening it for occupation and development by others.
Anthony (Tony) Affigne
In 1982, Tony Affigne decided to run for office as one of three Latinos in Rhode Island running at that time. In 1985, he became the first Latino to run for Governor.
Julieta Marroquin Castellanos
Julie Castellanos's remarkable story embodies what Latinos and Latinas endured yet persevered as new immigrants to this country in the 1970s and 80s ....
Osvaldo Castillo
Today, the community has changed a lot because it is larger. I see more bilingual people working in government offices, and back in the early days there was none of that. I also speak better English, but I still feel bad for the people who are just arriving to this country because they still have to go through what I went through ...
Bernardo Chamorro
In 1955, Angel “Tato" Cosme quit school after the ninth grade to help his mother earn money for the family. He left the poverty of his home in Puerto Rico and traveled to New England, and eventually settled in Rhode Island.
Grace Díaz
In 2004, Grace Diaz was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives and made history as she became the first Dominican-American in the country elected for this post.
Jay Giuttari
The Colombian population in Rhode Island owes its beginnings to one gentleman who, in the early 1960s, had an insightful and innovative idea: Jay Giuttari, whose father owned Lyon Fabrics, a textile mill in Central Falls.
José González
My main goal then, was to give back to the Latino community by going into social work. But I had a moral dilemma. In social work you sometimes provide too much support, and don’t educate people into becoming independent. And you have this realization that the best way you can help the Latino community is by educating them ...
Roberto González
Roberto González moved to Rhode Island from New York City in 1969 with his brother, José. After being invited here to visit, their mother decided to bring the family (including a third brother) to raise them in what she felt was a safer environment. Roberto eventually became the first Latino Judge in Rhode Island - sworn into the Providence Housing Court in 2004 ....
Francisco Litardo
In the summer of 1974, Cuban minister Rev. Pedro Ortiz walked the streets of Rhode Island, knocking on the doors of local churches. He was there on behalf of the American Baptist Church, tasked with finding congregations willing to host Spanish-speaking services. It was Calvary Baptist Church that opened its doors to him.
Victor Mendoza
The best thing that I did, my best performance is when we founded the Coalition of Hispanic organizations because that was the agency that gave respect to the community. That was the agency that put the name Hispanic high in the state ...
Valentín Ríos
Valentín Ríos came to Rhode Island in the early 1960s. He was one of the first Colombians here who were brought to work in the failing mills in Central Falls.
Doña Fefa Rosario
I remember when we would drive to New Haven in our blue station wagon to buy platános, yuca, café Dominicano and other food for the Hispanic people who lived in Providence in the mid-to-late 1960s ...
Miriam (Salabert) Gorriaran
Tessie Salabert and her sister, Miriam, were born in Cuba. The two girls and their brother, Eduardo, were sent to the U.S. on April 10, 1961 as a result of “Operación Pedro Pan (Operation Peter Pan).” Tessie was 11 years old , Miriam was 14 years old and their brother was eight. ....
Tessie Salabert
Tessie Salabert and her sister, Miriam, were born in Cuba. The two girls and their brother, Eduardo, were sent to the U.S. on April 10, 1961 as a result of “Operación Pedro Pan (Operation Peter Pan).” Tessie was 11 years old , Miriam was 14 years old and their brother was eight. ....
Angel Taveras
Angel Taveras was raised in Providence by a single mother and attended the public schools. In 2000 he was unsuccessful candidate for the 2nd Congressional District and in 2011 ran and was elected first Latino mayor in the City of Providence ....
Nerino Sánchez
Nerino Sánchez arrived penniless in Miami in 1969, fed up with the rationing and communism of Castro's Cuba. Soon he joined relatives in Providence. Many early Latinos remember shopping at a small market that he owned on Douglas Avenue.
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The History of Latino Community Activism
When Latin Americans first began to arrive in Providence in the 1950s and 1960s, the very small community was met with minimal recognition on the part of the bureaucracy...
