1. Pura Belpré, activist, storyteller, llibrarian (1899 – 1982)
An activist, storyteller, librarian, and folklorist, Pura Belpré revolutionized the library experience for the Spanish-speaking community in New York City. Belpré became the first Puerto Rican librarian at the New York Public Library in 1921, and began instituting bilingual story hours, implementing Spanish-language books and programs based on traditional holidays like Three Kings Day. After not being able to find any books for children in Spanish, she wrote Perez y Martina, a tale of a romance between a cockroach and a mouse. It was published in 1932, becoming the first Spanish language book for children published by a mainstream U.S. press.
2. David Ortiz, baseball player (1975-)
Nicknamed "Big Papi", David Ortiz is a Dominican-American former professional baseball player who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball, primarily with the Boston Red Sox. During his 14 seasons with the Red Sox, he was a ten-time All-Star, a three-time World Series champion, and a seven-time Silver Slugger winner. Ortiz also holds the Red Sox single-season record for home runs with 54, which he set in 2008.
3. Tato Laviera, poet and playwright (1951 - 2013)
Jesús Abraham "Tato" Laviera was nine years old in 1960 when his family moved to New York City from Puerto Rico. Knowing no English, he waded into the totally new environment of the Lower East Side and graduated from high school with honors to earn a place atCornell University. After three weeks, the poet decided to leave college return to City University of New York’s Brooklyn College to put his efforts into his community, directing the University of the Streets, an educational project that helped adults obtain a high school diploma and attend college. His life was a beautiful amalgamation of his creativity and his commitment to his people. La Carreta Made a U-Turn, his first poetry book, published in 1979, received much praise. His second book Enclave (1981) made him the first Hispanic author to win the American Book Award of the Before Columbus Foundation, and poems from his third publication, AmeRícan (1986), have been included in more than thirty anthologies. He learned so successfully to move within two cultures and two languages that he became an iconic Nuyorican, and the best-selling Hispanic poet in the United States.
4. Gwen Ifill. journalist and news broadcaster (1955 - 2016)
Born to a Panamanian father, Ifill was one of the first Black women to host a national public affairs program in the United States and the first to moderate a vice presidential debate. While at Simmons College, Ifill interned for the Boston Herald-American. One day at work, she discovered a note on her desk that read, "Nigger go home." After showing the note to editors at the newspaper, who "were horrified", they offered her a job when she graduated from college in 1977.[13][10] Ifill's close friend Michele Norris stated that Ifill said "that was really unfortunate, but I have work to do. And that's how she got the job. She didn't get the job out of sympathy. She got the job because she didn't let that slow her down." She went on to work on The New York Times and The Washington Post before becoming, in 199, the moderator of the PBS program Washington Week in Review, the first black woman to host a national political talk show on television. The Panamanian journalist paved the way for many others and Afro-Latino journalists today have Ifill to thank for the path she blazed.
5. Felipe Luciano, comunity activist and journalist (1947 - )
Two time Emmy award winning journalist and poet Felipe Luciano is considered one of the top Afro-Latinos who have made huge contributions to the history of the United States. As articulate is he was visionary Felipe was a voice for the Latino community in New York and elsewhere at a time when they had no voice. Through student activism on campus, Felipe Luciano co-founded the Young Lords Organization New York Branch – a Puerto Rican activist group that started in Chicago with the same missions as the Black Panther Party. Shortly after starting the New York chapter, Felipe was elected as their chairman. He was also a member of the Original Last Poets.
6. Rosa Clemente, community activist and journalist (b. 1972)
In 2008, Rosa became the first ever Afro-Latina to run for Vice-President of the United States. On for the Green Party, she and her running mate, Cynthia McKinney, were to this date the only women of colour ticket in American presidential history. Rosa first sprung into the public light in 2001 with a groundbreaking article, 'Who is Black?'. Since then, from universities to prisons, Rosa has continued to be a leading scholar, speaker and writer on issues of Afro/Black-Latina/Latino/Latinx identity as well as media justice, United States Political Prisoners and the end of colonial rule in Puerto Rico. As a co-founder and national coordinator of the first ever National Hip-Hop Political Convention in 2003, Rosa helped bring together more than 3000 activists to create and implement a national political agenda for the Hip-Hop generation.
7. Adriano Espaillat Rodriguez, politician (1954-)
Adriano Espaillat is the Dominican-American to be elected to Congress. He is the U.S. Representative for New York's 13th congressional district and the first formerly undocumented immigrant to ever serve in Congress.
8. Lazaro Alonso, actor (b.1974)
Born to Cuban parents Lazaro Alonso is an American film and television actor known for playing Tsu'tey in James Cameron's science fiction film Avatar and Fenix Calderon in the film Fast & Furious. As of 2019 Alonso is part of the main cast of Amazon Prime Video's original series The Boys based on the comic book series of the same name playing the character known as "MM" (Mother's Milk). Alonso was born in Washington, D.C. and is of Afro-Cuban descent. After graduating from Howard University. Laz has publically urged both South and North Americans of African descent to "I am black first...we get caught up in where the ship dropped us off versus where the ship picked us up,” he insists. “We all come from the same root. When I get stopped by the police its because I'm black not because I'm Cuban”
9. Orlando Cepeda, baseball player
Orlando Manuel "Peruchin" Cepeda Pennes is a Puerto Rican former Major League Baseball first baseman and a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The 1958 National League Rookie of the Year, Cepeda was voted the National League Most Valuable Player in 1967, the year that his team, the St. Louis Cardinals, won the World Series. Overall, he appeared in three World Series and was the first winner of the American League's Outstanding Designated Hitter Award in 1973.
10. Rosario Dawson, Zoe Saldana and Gina Torres, actors and activists
All of these actors have battled against the double prejudices of being not only Latinas but black Latinas. It's difficult enough to get good roles as women, let alone Latina women and then...another hurdle, as Gina Torres bluntly..."It took me a while to realise that in the Entertainment world, casters wanted their Latinas to look Italian and not black..."
Gina Torres (1969 )is best known for her starring roles as Zoe Washburne in the Fox science fiction series Firefly (2002–2003) and its feature film sequel Serenity (2005), and as Jessica Pearson in the USA Network legal drama series Suits (2011–2018) and its spin-off series Pearson (2019). She also appeared in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, The Vampire Diaries (2009) and has appeared in supporting roles in numerous television series, including Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, Cleopatra 2525, Alias, Angel, 24, The Shield, Gossip Girl, Hannibal, Revenge, and Westworld. Torres was born to Cuban parents in Manhatten and grew up briefly in Washington Heights before moving to The Bronx. She attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City. She also trained in opera and jazz and performed in a gospel choir. Though accepted to several colleges, Torres cound’t afford to attend and chose to pursue her dream of being a performer.
Rosario Dawson (1979) was born in in New York City. Her mother, Isabel Celeste, of Puerto Rican and Afro-Cuban descent, is a singer, and her stepfather, who raised her, Greg Dawson, of Irish descent, is a construction laborer. She’s known for Sin City (2005) and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), Claire Temple in five of the Marvel/Netflix series (2015–2018). In 2020, she portrayed Ahsoka Tano in the second season of The Mandalorian, and will star in the upcoming Disney+ original series Ahsoka. Dawson has long been a political activist and was arrested in 2004, while protesting against president the Iraq war and was a supporter of both Barack Obama for re-election in 2012,[41] and Bernie Sanders swell as also endorsing her boyfriend Cory Booker first African-American U.S. Senator from New Jersey.in the 2020 presidential.
Zoe Saldana is most recognized for her roles in two of the largest grossing movies of all-time, “Avatar” and “Avengers: Endgame.” Born to a Dominican father and Puerto Rican mother, Saldana makes no apologies for her identity as an Afro-Latina. She has been very outspoken about her experience as a Black Latina.
11. ELIZABETH ACEVEDO, poet and writer
ELIZABETH ACEVEDO is the New York Times-bestselling author of The Poet X, which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the Carnegie medal, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and the Walter Award. She is also the author of With the Fire on High—which was named a best book of the year by the New York Public Library, NPR, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal—and Clap When You Land, which was a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor book and a Kirkus finalist.
