Immigrant power
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Economic woes drove millions to northern cities. Among them was the family of tennis great Althea Gibson — the first black athlete to break to color barrier in international tennis. She was born in South Carolina to former sharecroppers who migrated to Harlem in 1930 to escape Southern economic hardships during the Great Depression.
Recently, a Dominican Republic-born leader has been making a political impact on Harlem. Elected in November 2016 to succeed longtime Congressman Charles Rangel, Rep. Adriano Espaillat has some historic immigrant accomplishments to his credit — he is the first formerly undocumented immigrant elected to the House of Representatives, and the first DominicanAmerican to serve in the exclusive legislative body.
The Dominican Republic-born Democrat — who came to America when he was 9 years old and grew up in Washington Heights — now represents Harlem and the upper Manhattan neighborhoods of Inwood, Marble Hill, Spanish Harlem, Washington Heights, and part of Morningside Heights, the Upper West Side and a piece of the western Bronx, which make up New York’s 13th Congressional District.
Italian-American immigrants include Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who served for three terms as New York City’s first Italian-American mayor — from 1934 to 1945 — and for whom the city’s LaGuardia Airport is named.
Italian immigrants from the town of Brusciano established the East Harlem Giglio Feast in 1908 and continue to honor Saint Anthony of Padua annually by presenting the annual Festa del Giglio or “Dancing of the Giglio.” The towering statue and float — which can include musicians and weigh up to three tons — is carried along a route by devotees faithful to this still vibrant East Harlem immigrant tradition.
“These new Americans did not have much to carry with them on this long journey, but they did bring their beloved rituals and traditions from their homeland,” according to the Giglio Society