Adams_Anna_2000_Hidden From History

HIDDEN FROM
HISTORY
The Latino Community
ofAllentown, Pennsylvania
Anna Adams
J-
in
LEHIGH
tim
COUNTY
~~~~~~
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
HIDDEN FROM HISTORY:
LA COMUNIDAD LATINNTHE LATINO
COMMUNITY OF ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
Published by the Lehigh County Historical Society
Old Courthouse
Hamilton at Fifth Street
Allentown, Pennsylvania 18105-1548
Contents
Acknowledgments
5
Preface
7
PART I
Copyright © 2000 Anna Adams
All right reserved
Introduction
1
Allentown
3
The Latino Face ofAllentown
Allentown's First Latinos
is Associate Professor ofLatin American History and Spanish at
MuhilenbeJ'g College. She received her PhD. from Temple University in
Born in New York City, she has lived in Allentown for the past
tWenJ:Y-J:wo
where she has served on the Mayor's Advisory Council on
Mfairs, the Allentown Human Relations Commission, the boards of
directors of Casa Guadalupe, the Hispanic American League ofArtists, and
emo nllaJ[lZa Latina, ofwhich she was a founding member. She lives in Center
City 'wi,'h her husband, Hank Noordam.
.tlllIlOLn'JarIJ>
phot~:ral)h by
Naomi Halperin, courtesy of The Morning Call.
Cooper.
7
10
11
Post World War II
1950s ~ An Established Community
12
1960s ~ The Decade of Change
18
1970s - Allentown: A Quiet Place
27
1980s - "And they're Closing all the Factories Down"
30
1990s - ''Allentown, PA, The San Juan of
Pennsylvania Dutch Country"
39
PART II
Allentown Schools
Welcome to Allentown: Tales of Discrimination
47
Finding Community
56
Stories
68
Conclusions
85
Notes
91
Index
95
54
Acknowledgments
For my family Marie, Max, Louis, Robin, Hank, Rona and Lynn
First and foremost, I am most grateful to Marlene (Linny) Fowler for her
extreme generosity in support of this project.
It would be impossible to express my appreciation to all the people
who have helped me in so many ways. I would like to thank the following
individuals and organizations for their emotional, technical, editorial, finan-
cial, intellectual, photographic, and bibliographical support: Ann Bartholomew, Nicholas Butterfield, Kelly Cannon, Jose Cooper, Dick Cowen,
Bernard Fishman and the Lehigh County Historical Society, Ann Graham,
Naomi Halperin, Muhlenberg College, Muhlenberg students in Latinos in
the USA classes, Hank Noordam, Cathy Ramella, Judy Rittenhouse, Fred
Rooney, David Rosenwasser, Ana Sainz de la Pena, Marie Galindo Siegel,
Jill Stephen, The Moming Call, and Virginia Wiles.
And, of course, this book would not have been possible without all the
wonderful people who shared their time and wisdom with me. Each oftheir
stories is part of the mosaic that is the history ofAllentown's Latinos.
Interviews: Unrecorded
Father John Bisek
Judy Davison-Roth
Louis DiLorenzo
Fern Mann
Diane Scott
Interviews: Recorded
Amado Aguila - Puerto Rico
Eva Aguila - USA
Gloria Alamos - Puerto Rico
Celia Alvarado - Colombia
Leyda Avila - Panama
Evelyn Bay6 Antonsen - Puerto
Rico
Carmen Arroyo - Puerto Rico
Interviews: Recorded
Thomas Bruni - USA
Sonia Olivieri - Puerto Rico
Luis Campos - Nicaragua
Gloria Ortiz - Puerto Rico
Pastor Edwin Colon - Puerto Rico Margot Ortiz - Puerto Rico
Olga Cosme - Puerto Rico
Miguel Ortiz - Puerto Rico
Pastor Francisco Crespo - Puerto
Adelina Pagan - Mexico
Rico
Eliseo Paris Peters - Puerto Rico
Bot1ifacio Cruz - Puerto Rico
Lupe Pearce - Chile
Linda Cruz - USA
Pastor Juan Pizarro - Puerto Rico
Ed DeGrace - Cape Verde
Beatrice Ramirez - Puerto Rico
Carmen Dejesus - Puerto Rico
Pastor Raul Ramirez - Puerto Rico
Anibal Diaz - Cuba
Jesus Ramos - Puerto Rico
Diatle Diaz - Puerto Rico
Luis Ramos - Puerto Rico
Norberto Dominguez - Dominican Nidia Ramos - Puerto Rico
Republic
Miriam Rodas - Guatemala
Eduardo Eichenwald - Colombia
Angel Rodriguez - Puerto Rico
Luz Espinal - Dominican Republic Isias Rodriguez - Puerto Rico
Juan Estevez - Dominican Republic Polita Rodriguez - Puerto Rico
Jaime Faux - Mexico
Miriam Rodriguez Reyes - USA
Raul Feliciano - Puerto Rico
Ana Sainz de la Pena - Peru
Francisco Francesqui - Puerto Rico Francisco Sainz de la Pena - Chile
Pastor Victor Gonzalez - Puerto
Dionisio Santana - Puerto Rico
Rico
Elsie Santana - Puerto Rico
Luis Goyzueta - Peru
Luz Santiago - Puerto Rico
Julio Guridy - Dominican Republic Radames Santiago - Puerto Rico
Guillermo Lopez - USA
Madeline Santos - USA
Lopez - Cuba
Charles Snelling - USA
Lariviere Mestre - Puerto Rico Francisco Suarez - Puerto Rico
JVJ,CH110n - USA
Lillian Suarez - USA
M:1Tg,ie
- USA
Samuel Solivan - Puerto Rico
D"I"fJ'.'l\t1aldoJnaclo - Puerto Rico Mel Tatum - USA
M'lTc,mo - Puerto Rico
Emma Tropiano - USA
USA
Elsa Vazquez - Dominican Republic
Puerto Rico
Francisco Vega - Puerto Rico
Ip,eardoj'vloutero - Peru
Miriam Vega - Puerto Rico
j'vldr"les - Puerto Rico
Martin Velazquez, J r. - Puerto Rico
USA
Martin Velazquez III - USA
Preface
At the start of the new millennium, demographers, statisticians, politicians
and business executives are studying the rapidly growing Latino'population
in the United States. Hundreds ofarticles in newspapers and magazines document the importance of this community that is estimated at about twentyseven million. (Mexicans make up approximately 64 percent, Central and
.South Americans 14 percent, Puerto Ricans 10 percent, and Cubans 4 percent.)' Recent demographic predictions tell us that the European-derived
white majority's days are numbered. By the year 2010, almost one out of every six Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one will be Latino. By 2020, the non-white and Hispanic population of the United States
will have more than doubled to almost 115 million. The move of Latinos to
the United States over the last 30 years represents the largest and longest migration ofany people to any western democracy3 As the fastest growing ethnic minority in the United States, Latinos' cultural, economic and- military
contributions are notable: salsa has replaced ketchup as the national condiment; the most popular song at the 1996 Democratic convention was the
macarena; People Magazine has a Spanish-language edition; Americans
snack on tortilla chips as readily as potato chips; in America's bars, margaritas
are as popular as manhattans. In 1993, Latinos made up 7.7 percent of the
U.S. Marines,'6.5 percent of the Navy, 4.5 percent of the Army and Coast
Guard, and 3.4 percent of the Air Force.
Politicians have learned to pay attention to Latino voters: Nationwide,
Latino turnout for the 1996 presidential election was 19 percent higher than
four years earlier. In 1996, for the first time, Latinos exceeded the nationwide turnout rate. 4 Big business cannot ignore the Latino presence: In 1993,
V11
there were 650,000 Latino-owned businesses in the United States S The Latino market is the fastest growing market for consumer goods. It was prethe year 2000 Latino purchasing power would represent $477
time, statistics show that Latinos tend to have lower
o.av... J"vo
and are the hardest hit by problems in the economy.
the unemployment rate for non-Latinos increased
perc"nt while the Latino unemployment rate jumped from
Polls indicate that Latinos in general earn less than
largest high school dropout rates. Educators, social sercommunity organizations should be concerned about
§p;trtishCsp'ealk:inlg people have been living in this land since the days of
Spfuiish explorers. In more recent times, political and social upby United States policies, have brought millions ofLalands. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848 ended the
Ivlexican-.Anaelrican War and made thousands of Mexicans U.S. citizens
"border crossed them." The treaty ending the Spanish American
1898 made Puerto Rico a colony of the United States. Post-World
II economic agreements between the United States and Puerto Rico
caused the uprooting and migration of thousands of Puerto Ricans to the
mainland. The 1959 Cuban Revolution and revolutions in Nicaragua, EI
Salvador and Guatemala in the 1980s brought many millions more to the
United States in search ofpolitical and economic stability.
While the majority ofMexicans live in California and Texas and the majority of Cubans live in Florida, there are Latino communities of varying nationalities and ethnicities in cities and towns all across America. The heartland
is not as white as it used to be. In Allentown, Pennsylvania, the Latino com-
munity has grown over the last fifty years from several hundred to approximately 15,000 or 15 percent of the city's population.
'Fheidea for this book came to me in 1993 while preparing materials for
a~R""S"urse at Muhlenberg College, "Latinos in the USA." Having lived in
i\11011l()""1lforalmost twenty years and having worked with the Latino comtl)l1tlitjri "arious capacities, I had planned to use the city as a living laboratl
t"'?'!foftl)ystudents. Much to my surprise, a trip to the Allentown Public
Librf'['t"gftherbackground information proved fruitless. Latinos were virtl1;IJyab~el1tfromAllentown's history books. I decided then to write the histqty0ftheLatinq Community ofAllentown.
In What is History? E.H. Carr describes history as an enormous jig-saw
puzzle with a lot of missing parts. He writes that the mere existence of historical documents does not in itselfconstitute history. It is the historians' job
to rescue evidence and process it into history.7
Latinos may be invisible in Allentown's history books, but they are not
absent from the city's historical documents, as statistics and hundreds ofarticles from the last decades of Allentown's newspapers attest. Thus far, city
historians have ignored those documents, and Latinos have been hidden
from the official history ofAllentown. The 1962 publication for the city's bicentennial featured photographs ofAllentown's many social and political organizations, yet no Latinos appeared in its pages despite the fact that 200
people attended the inauguration of the Puerto Rican American Cultural
Society in 1958. The purpose of the photographs and interviews in the 1984
publication, Allentown: A Pictorial History, was "to capture the city's history
and to restore its memory." No interviews with Latinos appeared in the text
ofthe book. While a two-volume history ofthe city published in 1987 by the
Lehigh County Historical Society documents the recent increase in A1len,to\Vll'S Latinos, it ignores their historical presence. Latinos, especially the
Puerto Ricans, are portrayed as resistant to incorporation into the larger
community because of "their high value on retaining Puerto Rican culture
and the Spanish language.'" In 1993, the Delaware and Lehigh Canal National Heritage Corridor TaskForce wrote about the Latinos: "We don't talk
about their history and we don't integrate them into our history."
The Allentown room in the Allentown Public Library contains many
books that document the city's history. They tell us about the founding fathers, the growth of the city, its educational, civic, social, governmental,
cultural and charitable institutions. They document the histories ofAllentown's famous and not-so-famous men and women. But they are missing
some very interesting stories. Jesus Ramos could tell how the CEO ofGoya
Foods, now one ofthe wealthiest Latinos in the United States, used to supply his store free of charge, awaiting payment until after the goods were
sold. Francisco Francesqui could tell about his father, the first Latin American to sail a small boat from Puerto Rico to Spain. The voyage, which made
him a hero in Puerto Rico, was to demonstrate that a Puerto Rican could do
on a small raft what Europeans needed three boats to accomplish! Juan
Estevez has stories to tell about living under the dictatorship of Rafael
Trujillo. He was born in a small town in the Dominican Republic in 1932,
r
one year after the dictator came to power; thus his entire childhood and
young adulthood was lived under "una represiOn intensa que no tenia madre"
(an unbelievable repression). He remembers that when Trujillo's secret
service cars drove through his small town at night, the townspeople woke
to find dead bodies in the,streets. He tells how he owned two white suits to
wear to the required masses, parades and te deums offered in honor ofthe dictator. Because a terrible fear reigned over the Dominican Republic for the
thirty years ofthe dictatorship, everyone understood that no one was to miss
such events.
Journalist and local historian Dick Cowen once suggested that "if a few
scribes among the Hispanics would record what brought these latest groups
and what their early struggles have been, there would be a treasure for future
Allentown historians." Some have begun that process. As part of a project
sponsored by Muhlenberg College Drama Department and the Pregones
Theater ofNew York, some Allentonians came together in 1994 to write and
perform "Allentales-the Search for Luis Echevarria, the first Puertorican in
Allentown." It tells how a young boy in the village of Ponce, Puerto Rico,
with the smell of the sea in his hair and a treasure of seashells in his pocket,
came to be the adopted son ofa Pennsylvania Dutch couple in Allentown in
1898. The authors of that play hoped to make his past part of Allentown's
past. There are many other Luis Echevarrias in Allentown's hidden history.
The inclusion oftheir stories will greatly enrich Allentown's public history.
The survival ofa people is dependent on its written history, statistical indicators, contemporary newspaper reporting, secondary sources, and oral
history which gives individuals the opportunity to tell their own stories, to
claim their place in history. Those are the tools I have used. The purpose of
is to revise Allentown's history by writing Latinos into it.
LauU<os e'xner;en,-" are not monolithic, but their stories form a mosaic
<)fttJ."ttJ.0riies, a collective memory that is their history. The community is diof nationality, religion, socio-economic status and longevity
iJ'l.t\1ll"!,~()j",n La1Cm()S have come to Allentown for different reasons-politifamily. Mter two or three generations, some have as""rv;na degrees, while others continue to identifY themselves
C01tnf,let:ely as Latino. As such it might be said that there are
cotnlmtmities--Pue:rto Ricans, Colombians, Dominicans,
M.exicans, those of long-standing and recent arrivals, CathoM¥.tli()tlists,
There are also many different ways that Lati-
nos find community in Allentown-in their families, in their churches, in
social or political organizations, or work.
Each ofthese communities has some shared experiences and some common history. The overall picture of the Latino community can be found in
the individual stories ofits inhabitants and the communities they form. Earl
Shorris argues in his book, Latinos: Biography of the People, that "there are no
Latinos, only diverse peoples struggling to remain who they are while becoming someone else. Each of them has a history, which may be forgotten,
muddled, misrepresented, but not erased.'"
Those histories are part of Allentown's history and I believe that
an understanding ofthat history is imperative if the city is to move successfully into the twenty-first century. Furthermore, I believe that it may be a
mistake to assume that Latinos will follow earlier immigrant patterns ofassimilation in the second or third generation and to blame them if they do
not. Many factors such as race, time, historical relationship with the
United States, technology, and changed attitudes point to a different pattern for Latino assimilation than the one followed by turn-of-the-century
,European immigrants.
In the preface to his book, Growing up on the South Side: Three Generations of Slovaks in Bethlehem, PA, 1880-1976, Mark Stolarik writes, "I believe
that it is the responsibility of professional historians to also write the histories ofparticular ethnic groups for those groupS."lO This bookis intended as a
history ofand for the Latinos ofAllentown who have lived in the city for decades. Having said that, I also believe that, while the history ofthis particular
community is unique, it is illustrative ofLatino communities in the rust belt
of the post-industrial Northeast.
•
•
•
•
•
•
PART ONE
Introduction
Allentown's Latinos received national attention in May of 1994 in an article
by Lawrence Stains for the Sunday New York Times Magazine entitled "The
Latinization of Allentown, pA.,,11 Stains describes how Allentown has become host in the last decades to thousands of Puerto Ricans leaving New
York for places like Allentown in search ofcheaper housing and safer streets,
only to find "a whole new set ofdiscomforts." Stains' article featured the difficulties experienced by several recently arrived Puerto Rican families: lack
ofjobs, hostility from neighbors, police brutality, and scorn for the ways in
which they worship and socialize.
Allentown, whose Latino population increased 126 percent in the 1980s,
is not unique. Lawrence, Massachusetts, saw its Puerto Rican population increase by 156 percent between 1980 and 1990. Lancaster, Pennsylvania's,
population was 18.6 percent Latino in 1990, an increase of72.7 percent over
the decade. In Hartford, Connecticut, the Latino population jumped 55.1
percent to 27.3 percent of the population. 12 Allentown's experience reflects
that of smaller cities across the Northeast's rust belt, where economic decline is causing xenophobic feelings among the longtime Anglo natives who
identifY violenc~, noise and litter with the arrival of Latinos. Tensions between Anglos and Latinos, manifested in hostile acts such as English Only
laws, are common.
Like many other small northeastern cities that flourished in the post-war
1950s, partially because of cheap Puerto Rican labor, Allentown has lost
much of its manufacturing base. It is a deteriorating city. Many stores on
Hidden From History
1
once-thriving Hamilton Street are boarded up. Property owners pay high
taxes for which they receive little in return. Hundreds of houses are for sale
in the city-on some blocks several houses display "For Sale" signs. Recent
attempts at improvement, such as the addition offaux Victorian street lamps
and benches on the main street, have done little to revitalize the rlowntown.
It is a sorry-looking place where pawn shops, beeper stores and check-cashing establishments have replaced restaurants and retail stores. Resentful Anglos blame the latest influx of Spanish-speaking people who came here to
join their families, find work and provide a safer environment for their children, for the deterioration of the city. Most Allentonians know very little
about the culture and history oftheir Latino neighbors. But the city's leaders,
such as former city councilwoman Emma Tropiano, who publicly complained that "newcomers ruin downtown,"" ought to learn about them.
They should know that since the late 1940s Latinos have been living, working, worshiping and raising families in Allentown. They have opened stores
and restaurants, formed social and cultural organizations, founded churches,
and helped to build the city. Given that Latinos are the fastest-growing minority group, not only in Allentown but across the country, a knowledge and
appreciation of their culture and history could serve our cities well.
Celia Alvarado, a Colombian Allentonian, believes that whoever is going
to lead the city into the twenty-first century must be sensitive to the immigrant experience:
A leader must understand the needs ofthe people. In order to really
know the people, you have to have lived their experiences. Why
would a person cross all of Central America and Mexico to arrive
here? Why would one make those sacrifices? Why that desire to get
must understand that that person needs support, that he
rl()~,r"t understand English, that he is working hard and that he has
aco-mm' and that he doesn't have time to go to school to
Pizarro from Puerto Rico wants Allentown's leaders to unLa't1tl<:>s are not newcomers, nor are they a drain on the city's rethey have been working at the jobs that others reject,
saving in local banks, buying homes, shopping in the
6penllng their own businesses. And even the minority who
as,iisltanlce, Pizarro humorously points out, have ensured the
W,,(fire bureaucracy!
Anna Adams
Twenty-year-old Iris Matos has her grandfather Jorge's big blue eyes.
They spill over with tears when she talks about her mother, Nilsa Matos, and
her grandmother, Margot Ortiz. For Iris, family is everything and her
foremothers are her role models. Grandfather Jorge worked as a migrant
worker in the area for several years, returning to Puerto Rico after the harvest
season. In 1957, when he found more permanent work, he sent for his family
and they settled into a new life in Allentown. Today three generations of
Ortizes live in a three-family house in East Allentown. On Sundays, almost
all the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren gather there. For Iris,
who studied Spanish and education at Cedar Crest College, these gatherings
are a testament to the strength and real "family values" of her grandmother
Margot, who was honored as the madre ejemplar ofthe 1996 Puerto Rican parade. Families like the Ortizes have been living in Allentown since the 1940s.
Allentown
Allentown, Pennsylvania, is a typical American small city that has seen its
population change dramatically over the last several decades. Founded by
German settlers in the eighteenth century, Allentown attracted primarily
northern European immigrants as it grew from a farming community to an
industrial city. It is one of the so-called gritty cities of the northeastern
United States and is the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania. Allentown, located fifty-three miles northwest of Philadelphia and ninety- two miles
southwest of New York City at the confluence of the Lehigh River and the
Jordan and Little Lehigh creeks, and with rich deposits ofiron and anthracite
nearby, until recently had a thriving manufacturing industry, based on the
labor ofvarious immigrant groups, among them Puerto Ricans and other La-
tinos.
William Allen, former mayor of Philadelphia and chief justice of the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court, founded Allentown in 1762. In pamphlets
that described "land well-suited to German farming techniques-rich soil,
flat and well-watered, with streams for irrigation, meadows and wood,,14 Allen offered for sale 5,000 acres to Pennsylvania German immigrant farmers who needed a market town. These first settlers, who were escaping religious persecution in Europe, were an amalgam ofProtestants who
come from France, Switzerland and various German principalities.
spoke a dialect known as Pennsylvania Dutch that did not become a
Hidden From History
3
written language until the 1840s when the first Pennsylvania German society
was founded. German language and German culture dominated "Mr. Allen's little town." Until 1817, the only newspaper was published in German.
It was not until 1827 that a school opened in which English was the language
of instruction. The director of that school, a Mr. Hickox, "possibly finding
the Pennsylvania German climate inhospitable, left after a year..."!;
Allentown's growth as an industrial city was slow. The German farmers,
content with the small mercantile and agricultural nature oftheir town, did
not rush to develop transportation routes that would connect them to the
bigger markets of Reading and Philadelphia. Nevertheless, improvements in
transportation with the building of the Lehigh Canal in the 1820s and the
Lehigh Valley Railroad in the 1850s paved the way toward Allentown's industrial development. In 1860, Allentown had fifty-seven industries, including manufacturers of agricultural implements, foundries and machine shops,
brick works, planing mills, carriage works, railroad spike works, shoe factories, a woolen mill, distilleries and breweries, cigar factories, grist and flour
mills, iron furnaces, and a rolling mil!.!6 In 1866, there were five school
buildings in Allentown and in 1867, the town was incorporated into a city.
Despite the growth in industry, Allentown remained fairly homogeneous.
The census of 1870 shows not much change in Allentown's ethnic makeup
from ten years earlier. The population remained predominantly white and
Pennsylvania-born. In a population of13,884, 11 percent was foreign born,
mostly from Ireland and Germany. Two Italians and four blacks resided in
Allentown that year.
The high percentage of Germans in the workforce, with their reputation
and reliability, made Allentown an attractive prospect for new manufac:turer's. However, economic growth in the early twentieth century led to
div·ers,ifi"ation. Between 1900 and 1910, Allentown's population increased 46 percent, including a 23 percent increase in the number of fornew immigrant population consisted of Italians, French,
Russians and eastern-European Jews. The flood of immigraabiet,erc,gene,ous community completely alien to the northern Euethic and industriousness created the jobs the strangers
new groups threatened the cultural dominance of the
Ut:mlanlS who viewed them as stupid, shiftless and pugua1889 editorial in an Allentown newspaper expressed
group ofimmigrants that year was still from northern
Anna Adams
Europe, for they are "undoubtedly thrifty, honest and industrious...and would
rapidly settle down as good citizens ... " That same paper in 1882 described
Polanders as "sheep faced and stolid, smelling strong and sour and shining
with grease on their queer clothes," and Hungarians who "have brought
with them such filthy habits that they have lived in an atmosphere ofdisease
and death and have been treated as nuisances," and then the Turk "begins to
swarm along among the rest-picturesque, pilfering and polygamous." And
the Jews, whose "filth, bigotry and racial and religious bitterness are something indescribable." Yet it was the work of these new immigrants, despite
their un-German ways, that brought economic growth to Allentown. By the
early twentieth century, silk mills, clothing manufacturers and the Mack
Trucking Company were doing a thriving business. Between 1904 and 1914,
40 new plants opened, and capital investment was up 98 percent.
As it developed a diverse manufacturing base, Allentown continued to
grow and prosper. In 1928, a celebration marked the growth of the city to
100,000. (The celebration was somewhat premature as subsequent census
data indicated the population had been overestimated.) Immediately after
World War II, two major manufacturers, Western Electric and General
Electric, opened plants in Allentown, employing thousands ofworkers. By
this time, the number of foreigu-born Allentonians was decreasing; unlike
most urban areas where the foreign-born represented a substantial percentage of the population, in Allentown they were declining in numbers.
While it may have seemed to these Pennsylvania Dutchmen that their cultural hegemony was being threatened during the 1900-1914 period when
immigration to the U.S. was at its height, Lafayette College historianJames
Herbert Bossert, comparing Allentown with other industrial cities, wrote
in 1917:
Although Allentown has grown rapidly in recent decades, both as to
numbers and industrial importance, she has not done so like many
other American industrial centers, by virtue ofany unusual influx of
£
.
born. 18
lorelgtl
By 1940, Allentown's citizenry was only 7.3 percent foreign-born. Its
booming economy lasted to the 1970s when the manufacturing base began
to decline due to the availability of cheaper labor overseas and competition
from foreign manufacturers. General Electric, for example, sold its branch to
Black and Decker, which left in search ofcheaper labor in the late 1970s. Service industries in health care,· banking and governmental agencies are now
Hidden From History
5
the primary employers in Allentown. The city's population dropped from a
high of 109,527 in 1970 to 105,090 in 1990. During this time, the white population declined by 17,000.
between 1985 and 1990. As early as 1980, the m'\iority of Puerto Ricans on
the mainland lived outside New York City.20 Many came to Allentown to
join happily settled relatives.
Latinos came to Allentown in two major waves, the first ofwhich was pri-
marily Puerto Ricans like the Ortiz family, who were invited to fill the
post-World War II demand for cheap labor in the area's orchards and factories.
Most came from small rural villages in Puerto Rico at a time when the island
was converting from an agriculturally based economy to an industrial base as
part of a U.S./Puerto Rican initiative. Operation Bootstrap, initiated in 1948,
was the first planned rapid industrialization program and an early example of
the international flow oflabor. Although the rapid industrialization provided
50,000 new factoryjobs, the shift from agriculture created 120,000 lay-offs and
19
mass unemployment. A "surplus population" ofPucrto Ricans, who, under
the Jones Act, became citizens in 1917, was encouraged to migrate from the is-
land to alleviate unemployment and overpopulation at home and to fill labor
needs on the mainland. Billboards in Puerto Rico advertised jobs and homes
in New York. Between 1953 and 1967, some 50,000 people migrated to the
mainland in search ofwork. Today, as a result ofthat policy, over two million
Puerto Ricans live in the United States.
Margot Ortiz was a direct casualty of Operation Bootstrap. As an incentive to move their plants to Puerto Rico, American firms were granted
seventeen-year tax holidays. Margot worked in a U.S. munitions plant until the initial contract ended and the owners were faced with paying taxes.
Instead, they closed the factory, leaving Margot and hundreds ofothers unemployed. Migrants like Margot, who came to Allentown in the late 1940s
and early 1950s, found work easily. Many were employed within days, even
hours, of arrival. Bonifacio Cruz came to Allentown on a Saturday in 1953.
""Tt<'n working on Sunday for 55 cents an hour at Ralston Flowers.
Ftatl,ois,:o Vega came each summer between 1954 and 1960 to pick fruit or
"":orld wave of Latino migrants, who began to arrive in the 1970s,
part, not directly from Puerto Rico or other Latin Amerifrom crowded and dangerous NewYork City. Despite the
ofthe Billy Joel song, "they were closing all the factoAllerlto'wn and there was little work to be had, its cheaper
safer neighborhoods promised a better environhad an outmigration of 87,000 Puerto Ricans
Anna Adams
The Latino Face ofAllentown
(~llentolVnes como un cQrnaval-muchos (olores quejuntos se /len bonitos)J*
Elsa Vazquez
Recently, while shopping for plantains in a downtown bodega, I asked the
Asian-looking proprietor in English if she had maduros (the plantain bananas
which have turned a sweet blaek and are generally discarded by the suburban
supermarkets before they reach that state of culinary perfection). I pronounced maduros with a Spanish accent and she responded in Spanish, albeit
with a Korean accent, pointing out their location in the store. "Habla espahol
muy bien, " (You speak Spanish very well) I said to her. "Si, es '''eesario si uno vive
e11 Allentown," (Yes, it's necessary ifyou live in Allentown) she replied.
On almost any block ofAllentown's downtown, one can hear Spanish,
'buy Goya foods, Spanish sausage and plantains in a small bodega. On a
Tuesday or Thursday evening, the twenty storefront Spanish-speaking
Pentecostal churches emit lively tambourine-accompanied singing and
fervent testimonials to the Holy Spirit.
On a hot summer day on Sixth Street in downtown Allentown, young
shirtless men loll about listening to music and offering commentary in Spanish on the young women who wander by. Children run in and out of the
Happy Dairy Spanish Grocery with drippping icecreams, begging the hot
and tired adults to take them to the municipal pool. On this one block, there
are two storefront Pentecostal churches, a Christian Spanish bookstore, the
transmitting office of Radio Vive, a Christian Spanish radio station, and a
women's shelter for addicts run by the Vida Nueva Pentecostal Church.
It is 8 0' clock on a Tuesday morning at the Allentown Literacy Center. A
group of comIJ1Unity activists has gathered to discuss Allentown's growing
anti-Latino prejudice. Among them are a banker, a businesswoman, a social
w()rk:er. a community organizer, a college professor. They are Peruvians,
"Allentown is like a carnival-lots of colors that look beautiful together."
From History
7
Puerto Ricans, a Dominican, Colombian and New York Ricans, and they
represent various community organizations. The mission of this group, the
Alli",nc,,/!',li,m2:a Latina, is to bring the different Latino constituencies
to@~etllerto discuss the problems they all face as Latinos in Allentown.
weekday morning, a lively group of senior citizens comes to
(J'la,ialupe, a social services agency, for breakfast, arts and crafts, a good
of,:IOlnillOes, and lunch. The brightly painted activity room on the first
old downtown house is decorated with announcements in Spanand souvenirs from Puerto Rico. The seniors enjoy a good lunch
"'""""~({>nJ;~an,aules (rice with pigeon peas), Spanish music, and one another's
cbritlJatlY. In summertime, some work in the small garden plots behind the
""rkin" lot weeding and watering and looking forward to a good harvest
their cement-surrounded gardens.
Downtown on Third Street on the side of the P and B Minimarket, a
colorful mural featuring two portraits of Ben Rodriguez and the words RIP
serve as a memorial to the 26-year-old artist who accidentally shot himselfin
the head in February 1995. Sometimes flowers and candles rest against the
wall, placed there, as is the Latino custom, by Ben's friends and family.
"Dear Ms. Marshall, today my child is very sick. Please to excuse him
from the school." Four women on a welfare-to-work program struggle
through their English class at the Hispanic American Organization. As part
ofajob-readiness program, the women are required to take English classes in
which they learn practical "real life English." Their next project is to simulate
911 calls reporting accidents and fires. Their teacher, Sheryl Goldberg, playing the role of emergency dispatcher, asks them for descriptions of the inciand specific directions to the scenes.
Latino summer soccer league teams compete on Saturdays, weather
t>~rri,itlinl~,
in a city park. Hondurans, Nicaraguans, Colombians, Ecuadbtians, Puert:oRicans gather to cheer their teams to victory. In this party atm,jsF,here, the music is salsa, the language is Spanish, the food is spicy.
'-',lalJgu Botanica on Tenth Street displays candles, beads, herbs,
plaster statues of Catholic Saints, both black and white.
sar"erta priest from Connecticut, tells his clients' futures
cowry shells and cards, and sells herbs and lotions to
t>FiJ'.lile:rl:l.s """~~' .. and soul.
Ham,ilton Street, Allentown's main street, is festooned
Thousands ofpeople in straw hats and Puerto Rico
Anna Adams
T-shirts line the sidewalk to await the gaily decorated floats bearing 16-yearold queen Xiomara Rosado and musicians playing under potted palm trees.
Reigning over the festivities is Margot Ortiz, mother of the year. It is the
third annual Puerto Rican Day parade, and it is dedicated to all Puerto Rican
mothers.
The following week, a small group of Peruvians gathers at City Hall to
commemorate Peruvian Independence Day. They represent the 280 Peruvian families residing in the Lehigh Valley. Children in Peruvian national
dress wave flags, Ana Sainz de la Pena, the president of the Peruvian Culture
Society, speaks of Peru's accomplishments, and the flag is raised to the spirited singing ofthe national anthem of Peru. Representatives from the offices
ofthe mayor and the local congressman read proclamations.
On September 14, 1997, Muhlenberg College and the Latin Alliance
celebrate the third annual Latino Festival on the grounds ofthe college in Allentown's West End. There is Spanish food, Spanish music, dancing and entertainment. Latinos from the community and Muhlenberg students dance,
speak Spanish and party together. At the fmt festival in 1994, President Arthur Taylor announced the college's intention to grant continuing full
scholarships to deserving Latinos. The first recipients, who began their studies the following year, were Jackie Morales, Vivian Davis-Martinez, Ed Vega,
Elizabeth Flores and Paulina Collazo. Vivian graduated with honors with
the class of 1999.
At 10:00 on a Tuesday morning, thirteen ESOL (English for speakers of
languages) students meet in William Allen High School's computer
They are Puerto Rican, Dominican, Peruvian and one Vietnamese.
task is to outline on the computer their American history lesson about
conquest ofthe Incas and Aztecs. Their teacher speaks to them in English
they answer him in Spanish and English. They help each other in SpanOne young man really wants to stay, but is sent offto his study hall. "See
manana", he says to his teacher as he exits the room.
The diversity of Allentown's Latino face can be found at the former
'-'d'Nldi Restaurant on downtown Linden Street. Its owners are Chilean and
ArgeI1ti,ne, the cook is Mexican, and the waitress is from Ecuador!
From History
9
Allentown's First Latinos
Allentown's first Latino resident, Luis Chavarrias (or Echevarria or Lewi~
Sthavarin), arrived on board the ship City of Chester in 1899 as the house
boy of ColonelJohn Birkenstock, who was returning horne from his stint in
Puerto Rico during the Spanish American War. Within one year, Luis found
himself in juvenile court for assault and battery. The judge determined that
he was incorrigible and ordered him sent back to Puerto Rico."
Latinos did not appear in the pages of the local newspaper again until
1909 when a story, "Students at War," detailed the police breakup of a fight
between a Peruvian youth and a Puerto Rican youth. Puerto Rico was next
featured in the local newspaper in 1924 when the Allentown Dukes, a minor
league baseball team, journeyed to the island: "So far as good professional
baseball teams go, Puerto Rico is still in the dark ages ofbaseball, but the little
brown people are learning the rudiments of the sport fast."
•
STUDENTS AT WAR.
Porto Rican Captures a Snake.
Colonel John Birkenstock's adopted
Porto Rican yesterday caught alive in
the Jordan Creek a water snake meas-
uring nearly three feet in length.
•
(Chronicle and News, 5/27/1899)
•
Sent Back to Porto Rico.
E. Chavan'ias, Ule Porto Rican,
brclU~lllt to Allentown by the
re'UluIFlegiment upon its return from
was later adopted by
Birkc:nS'tock, was sent
yesterday. He was
Peru and Porto Rico Can't
Agree at Prep. School.
Officer Ward was called to the Allentown Preparatory School last evening to prevent a fight between F . Carreras, of PCIU, South America, and F.
Portugal, of Porto Rico, two students.
Carreras, is six feet two inches and
powerfully built, while Portugal
weighs 120 pounds. Can'eras declares
Portugal called him "nigger" and
other "bad" words, and that he
wouldn't stand for it.
CalTeras went to Officer ';Yard last
evening and told him that Portugal
was laying for him and made three
attempts to thrash him on Hamilton
street.
3/20/1900
Chronicle and News, 7/24/1909
Anna Adams
Post World War 11Migrant and Industrial Workers
The first wave of Latino immigrants came to fill the jobs created by Allentown's postwar manufacturing boom that brought local business gains of
15.4 percent in 1950. While Allentown was booming, in Puerto Rico thousands of agricultural workers were being displaced by Operation Bootstrap.
The island's high unemployment complemented the need for cheap labor
in the mainland's thriving manufacturing and agricultural industries, and
Puerto Ricans were encouraged to migrate.
The first groups of Puerto Ricans to corne to the Lehigh Valley came as
farm workers. Riding through the countryside in trucks and speaking through
bullhorns, orchard owners from the Lehigh Valley recruited Puerto Rican rural people's labor. Sometimes employers paid the airfare and deducted it from
wages. Later, the Pennsylvania State Employment Office took charge of recruitingworkers and supplying them to farmers who applied for extra seasonal
help. The summer of 1948 brought a bumper crop of apples, peaches and
grapes to Lehigh County and Allentown farmers. "Many days of bright sun
helped to arrest the potato blight and assured a good potato harvest and also
made for a bountiful supply of vegetables and raspberries," writes Emma
22
.Bausch. Economic indicators predicted that the net farm income, up 200
percent during the war, would hold that summer. Absent from Professor
Bausch's rosy economic picture ofprofits is the cheap labor of Puerto Rican
migrant farm workers who were first recruited in 1948 to work in the orthardswest ofAllentown. lnJuly, 1949, a headline in the Allentown Chroni¢le announced "Puerto Rican Farm Help will Again be Available Locally."
toeal growers wefe paternalistic toward the Puerto Rican migrant workers
pn whom they carne to depend more and more for their bumper crops. That
fnonth, farmer Allen Schwartzgruber was awaiting the return of "Pedro," a
beloved farm worker who "always had a song in his heart" as he dreamed
~bout his "senorita waiting for him in his native village." Unfortunately, the
lane carrying Pedro and his new bride to the U.S. crashed and she was faally injured. Pedro returned to Puerto Rico. Frank Mohr ofMohr Orchards
i1 Fogelsville told a Call-Chronicle reporter in 1950: "They are tops as farm
.orkers. No fighting or drinking. They are a fine class of people. Most are
hristians and although many are Catholics, they are happy to go to church
.th the farmer they live with."
idden From History
In 1951,325 men (three times more than the previous year) came to
pick potatoes, tomatoes and fruit. That year the Pennsylvania Council of
Churches assigned a chaplain to conduct services for the migrant workers.
In July of 1955, the rector of St. Catharine of Siena Church in Allentown
celebrated the first Mass for Catholic Puerto Rican migrant workers in
their barracks at Trexler Orchards. In September of 1953, after another
profitable harvest season, the Sunday Call-Chronicle featured a three-page
photo story on Puerto Rican migrant laborers. It explained how the men
were recruited and how their labor "enables farmers to raise the crops they
do and still keep solvent." Because tomatoes thrive in the heat, tropical-born Puerto Ricans made ideal tomato pickers, according to the article.
sold Goya products upstairs and had pool tables in the basement. When
Puerto Ricans began to congregate and socialize in the store, the police ac-
cused them ofloitering and arrested Mr. Ramos for running a gambling establishment. Mter clearing himselfofthose charges, he went to work in the
cutoff department of the Greif/Genesco Corporation, where he stayed for
twenty- eight years. He and his wife Carmen have raised nine children in
Allentown. As one of the pioneers of the Puerto Rican community, Jesus
tried to smooth the way for others. He lobbied successfully for Genesco to
hire more Spanish-speaking people and was one of the founders of Casa
Guadalupe. Despite his efforts, things weren't always easy. "As long as you
spoke Spanish, they looked at you different and you had to work three
. times harder than the others," he says in fluent, heavily accented English.
He recalls one occasion when a subordinate co-worker quit rather than
take orders from a Puerto Rican.
The 1950s: An Established Community
By the mid-1950s, Puerto Ricans had established themselves as part of the
Allentown community. For the most part, they lived downtown in an area
partially destroyed in the early 1960s by urban "renewal." In 1952, before the
establishment of a permanent bodega that sold Spanish foods, Francisco
Suarez used to go door to door selling fresh produce that he brought weekly
from New York. Amado Aguila picked up copies of the New York Puerto
Rican daily, El Diario, at the train station and delivered them door-to-door to
Allentonians who had no other access to a Spanish-language newspaper.
Juan Acevedo ran a small Puerto Rican restaurant and raised cocks in the
basement to enter in weekend cockfights in New Jersey.
Since most ofthe first arrivals came originally as single young men to do
migrant work, it was not uncommon for them to marry local women. Most
bf the children and grandchildren of those early bicultural couples (FranLillian Suarez, Marrin and Arlene Velazquez, Amado and Eva
Bonifacio and Linda Cruz) have non-Puerto Rican spouses and
grand,:hilldn,n speak Spanish.
t<almos, the oldest of nine children of a Puerto Rican migrant
New Jersey in the early 1950s to pick fruit. He worked in
sumlners, returning to Puerto Rico for the winters. Mter
PULerll"
friend who had settled in Allentown, Ramos demlnsen. He recalls that by the late 1950s there were apLal:tn,)S living in Allentown with no place to buy Spanish
iu,m,i\oev,:do opened La Famosa grocery store where he
Anna Adams
Another old-timer in Allentown's Latino community was Martin
V,:la:lqlJe:l, Jr. He came from Puerto Rico in 1951 as a young man to join
father, who had come two years earlier. At the time, Velazquez recalled,
were very few Latinos in the city, mostly single men living alone. Althcmgh there was discrimination (Mack Trucks had a policy, according to
Velazquez, ofnot hiring Puerto Ricans), he had no trouble finding ajob at an
ltallall-c'Wlled poultry slaughtering house where he worked for sixteen
He recalled that within six hours of arriving in Allentown, he had segainful employment. Finding housing was more difficult than finding
Velazquez and his Pennsylvania Dutch wife were told on several occathat an apartment she had inspected herself, by day, had suddenly been
when she appeared in the evening with her Puerto Rican husband.
Lillian and Francisco Suarez had a similar experience. In 1949, after
attempts to rent an apartment outside Allentown's "roach and rat in-
testecl"slums, Francisco and his Pennsylvania Dutch bride, Lillian, moved
Bethlehem. Several years later, through a private arrangement with the
they moved into a house in Allentown. As Lillian was hanging diato dry in ,the yard, her neighbor greeted her: "I'm so glad that white
moved in. Just this morning I tore up the petition signed by the
l1eigllb,)rs because we heard that Puerto Ricans were moving in."
The churches were not very welcoming either. Mr. Velazquez recalls
hostility of the members of the Sacred Heart Church in the early days.
John Bisek, a Spanish-speaking priest, confirms those impressions.
From History
F
When he came to work in Allentown in 1965, the predominantly Austrian
congregation of Sacred Heart Church told him that the fifty Puerto Rican.
members should go back where they came from. Lillian Suarez's husband
converted to Lutheranism and they attended her childhood church, St.
Luke's, until one of the deacons expressed to Lillian his reliefthat there were
no Puerto Ricans in their church.
Discrimination was present in the schools too. Blond, blue-eyed Eva
Aguila was waiting in the hall of her daughter's school for a parent-teacher
conference when she overheard the teacher say to a colleague, "I can't go
home yet. I have one more spic to do. I hope she can speak English.
These culture clashes prompted some ofAllentown's citizens to become
involved in mediation attempts. An article in the Call in 1950 featured a report ofan "interesting and unusual meeting" between fifty Puerto Rican residents of Allentown and civic representatives. Led by Victor Carmona, a
twelve-year resident ofAllentown, the group discussed ways to foster good
will and understandingbetweenAllentown's Latino and Anglo citizens. But
"j.
despite those efforts, anti-Puerto Rican sentiments, reflected in the national
mood and partially fueled by the actions of armed Puerto Rican nationalists
storming Congress in Washington, continued. Just one week after the goodwill meeting, an editorial in the Call stated:
It has not escaped general attention that a racial group new to this
area in origin, language and probably social patterns is growing in
numbers hereabouts and that not everything will necessarily move
smoothly in the adjustments which the newcomers will have to
make if they decide to reside here permanently....
ofthese weapons. It is unlikely thatjail and quite severe fines are going to cool them off.
This torrent was prompted by the arrest ofa dozen Puerto Ricans in two
"rookeries" on South Fourth Street, which were the "former mansions of
prominent Allentown families." Clearly hot-tempered Puerto Ricans were
not welcome even in Allentown's former swanky neighborhoods.
Not all of the news and views were negative. Churches continued to
send Spanish-speaking pastors to visit the migrant workers. In May of
1956, the Migrant Worker Committee of the Greater Allentown CounCIl
of Churches was preparing for the arrival of 300 Puerto Rican workers. In
of 1955, George Weida and Elmer Loch awaited the arrival of Carlo
Nelrion and Pedro Luciano Carlo from Puerto Rico, who had worked for
the previous year. Before they left for home, the newspaper reported,
prepared a native Puerto Rican dinner and served it to a group of
fri,endls. This is the kind of people-to-people friendship that pays off not
"rn,'rplv to those directly involved but to friendship between countries." An
edito:rial in 1956 cited an experiment in New Haven, Connecticut, to teach
police to speak Spanish and suggested that Allentown might do the
By 1958, when the Puerto Rican population was estimated at 400, The
Morn,inj! Call published at least ten articles on the "Puerto Rican problem"
various community efforts to deal with it. Sacred Heart Church atte,npted to organize the community at Spanish masses. The church hoped to
American history and "citizenship" classes. In February of that year, a
committee of the Lehigh County Community Council was formed
"discuss problems of the Puerto Rican element." In May, the committee
"""mTPn several problem areas and made recommendations. They cited dis-
The conclusion:
may they adopt some of the suggestions which were made by
officials, namely that they attend night schools for adults and
make every effort speedily to become assimilated with the
(;9m'"ri",nity in language, and social matters; that they become good
,i\JWIHc,riians and, therefore, good Americans as well.
tB'Ql1th' later, perhaps the same impatient editor cautioned:
of the Puerto Rican settlement that the police
in their vicinity just about all night long to
W¢'"rib<larlce oforder. There are all too many knife carriers
too many hot tempers which prompt the use
Anna Adams
#r;lmimLtic)fi based on ignorance and a lack of recreational facilities. They rec6nnrrler,d"d JEnglish classes, and a community center. The Reverend Gordon
of St. John's United Church of Christ, a member of the committee,
ipc,inted to another problem: expensive and substandard housing. "A few
ago I was amazed to find that the rent in the apartment I was payingwas
than that oharged on decrepit things in the 6th to 4th Street area. I found
hat one of the best apartment houses in town charged less than some holes
hlhat area." The report also stated that public opinion to the contrary, only
ur families were on public assistance. The Reverend Sperris experiences
int to the problems that ghetto inhabitants then and now know all too
l."1.1'aalm From History
welt They pay more for rent and groceries and receive less in the way of
publIc SetvKes such as decent schools, sidewalk repair, police protection.
Allentown's Puerto Rican community came together to try to solve
some ofits problems. A large headline in The Morning Call on May 12, 1958,
announced "Puerto Rican Society Formed in Allentown." On June 5, 1959,
The Puerto Rican Civic Association was granted a charter by the Lehigh
County Court. Its mission was stated as "the furtherance of the social cul-
tural, civic and educational well-being of Puerto Ricans in the Lehigh Valley." Approximately 200 people joined, paying one dollar per month dues.
Before 1958, Puerto Ricans used to go to Bethlehem to the Mexican Club or
the Puerto Rican Club.
By the end of the 1950s, the Puerto Rican community of Allentown
was well established and growing. While the newspaper published articles
about the "Puerto Rican problem," and some Puerto Ricans remember
overt discrimination, others have a different perception of 1950s Allentown. Bonifacio Cruz has lived in Allentown for more than 40 years and
says he has never had a problem. When he came here from Puerto Rico in
1953, he found a "quiet, friendly and beautiful city." He remembers sitting
on the front porch of the house where he rented a room, talking to his
netghbors about the old days in Puerto Rico. Before it was closed down he
spent leisure time playing pool in Ramos's grocery store.
Sonia Olivieri came to Allentown with her family in 1955. There they
found a warm, fnendly community. In those days her six children ran in
and out of friends' houses and no one locked their doors. Mrs. Olivieri remembers that they even slept with the doors open. "Adoro mi Allentowl1 de
antes" (I adore myoId Allentown), she says nostalgically. Despite changes
and the demise of the united community she remembers so
fOtldlv. Sonia Olivieri says she is here forever.
Ortiz's five children adjusted very well, learned English quickly,
in school according to their mother. Although most of
rnentor';es of life in Allentown are pleasant, Margot did experience
g~1¢ti')1Linati'Dn. Mter some probing, she remembered one incident in
Daftii'iilh'
and some co-workers were standing outside during a
<;alclo;td of young boys rode by shouting unrepeatable racial
became so accustomed to being watched carefully
she developed the habit, which is with her to this
linked behind her back whenever she walks
Anna Adams
through a store. Nevertheless she remembers fondly church-organized outings and picnics when all the Puerto Rican families ofa close-knit group met
to celebrate holidays.
Nilsa Matos, the youngest of Margot's children, was seven years old
when she came to Allentown. She, too, remembers an open, friendly community of mostly Puerto Rican families. "Allentown was the best place to
live." She grew up speaking English with her friends from school and Spanish at home. Nilsa and her siblings married Puerto Ricans from the community and most of their children married Puerto Ricans too.
Lillian Suarez, though Puerto Rican only by marriage, was the center of
Puerto Rican community in the old days. As a lifelong resident ofAllenand as the director of the Council of Churches' Fellowship Center,
later as a human relations commissioner, Lillian was often called upon to
rn"mare disputes and to provide services from translating, to finding houses,
raising bail. Lillian reports that one day, while conducting business in City
she came across an alderman questioning several Puerto Rican men
had just been brought in by the police. In a scene reminiscent ofa Three
$pOOI'105 movie, the alderman called each name and asked, "Guilty or not
Each reply of "Not guilty," was met with the verdict, "Guilty."
phoned the Human Relations Commission and the Council of
<.:!iulrdLes to send representatives to witness that kangaroo court procedure,
was never repeated. Almost every new Puerto Rican arrival in Allen-
was directed to Lillian for help that she readily gave-including housto however many would fit in the rooming house she and her husband
a while. Eva Aguila remembers that Lillian helped more than anyone
realized. "I saw her give needy people money from her pocket and food
her kitchen."
Despite strenuous opposition from her mother, who believed that "if
weren't Pennsylvania Dutch and Lutheran, you were nothing," Lillian's
rriage made her a Puerto Rican convert, although the complete conver# took some time. She remembers one painful experience shortly after
marriage. She prepared rice and beans, using canned baked beans, as a
Cial treat for her husband and his brother, who politely (and painfully!)
llowed two bites and claimed to be full. Now Lillian realizes that Puerto
an and Pennsylvania Dutch cooking are very different. Mter 47 years of
triage, nine grandchildren and nine great grandchildren, she cooks rice
beans like a native and means Puerto Rico when she talks of home. She
From History
identifies herselfas more Puerto Rican than her husband. Because ofher involvement with the Puerto Rican community, she was made an honorary
member of the Puerto Rican Club of Bethlehem.
These old-timers could not have envisioned then that years later Allentown would hold an annual Puerto Rican Parade, that Allentown's main
street would be decorated with Puerto Rican flags, and that thousands of
people would turn out to celebrate cultural pride. Velazquez could never
have imagined that his son, Martin III, Allentown's first Latino city councilperson and later president of city council, would be the parade's grand marshal and a candidate for mayor. Margot could not have predicted that she
would be honored by the parade committee as the "exemplary Puerto Rican
mother." And Jesus Ramos could not have imagined that at the thirtieth anniversary celebration of the founding of Casa Guadalupe the new Senior
Center would be named for him.
The 1960s: Decade of Change
The worldwide changes ofthe 1960s came slowly to Allentown. Although by
1960 there were, for the first time, more registered Democrats than Republicans in this traditionally conservative city, many ofthem must have crossed
over, because Richard Nixon won 58 percent of the city's votes.
According to Richard Krohn's article, "A History of Allentown 19531965,,,23 the powerful events ofthe civil rights movement had "little direct effect on life in Allentown," and the events that shook the rest of the country
were merely headlines to the citizenry ofAllentown. Krohn's supposition is
on the fact that very few black people lived in the city. The 1960 census
ret:onled only 745 blacks, less than one percent of the population. Yet the
Lann,os (and many whites), rendered invisible in Allentown's offi(;ij~!list<)1}' of
tumultuous decade, were actively part of a local civil- rigbts
the nation's changing conscience. Their efforts were far from
of the local newspaper. A three-part series of articles in
Facing a Crisis," byJohn Cathers, examined the
faced in employment, housing and education as they
and fair treatment in Allentown. The president of
Associatiion, Americo Morales, told Cathers:
"P',,~rtn Ricans
Anna Adams
We want Allentonians to know that many ofus were brought here to
help in critical labor shortage areas and that we fought and died in
World War II and the Korean War. Therefore we ask consideration.
Felix Puente had great difficulty finding housing in Allentown. As he reported to the newspaper in 1962 after seeing an ad in the paper for an apartment, "I called the woman and she asked me what nationality I was. I told her
and she said she would not rent to Puerto Ricans or Negroes."
"Puente's dilemma is not unique. It is shared by other Puerto Ricans and
Negroes living in the Lehigh Valley area," was the comment of Call staff
writer Dick Shurilla.
By 1960, it was obvious that the Puerto Rican community was a growing
and permanent presence. The school district hired a few Spanish-speaking
the Community Council drafted a handbook in English and Spanish
"how the Puerto Ricans can best fit in the community," and the Council
Uourclles offered spa~e to the children for recreation. Spokesman for the
Rican Civic Association, Victor Carmona, declared in a newspaper
The Puerto Rican colony in Allentown will not grow smaller. Many
other Puerto Ricans on the island are planning to come to this city.
They are coming in each week-a few here, a few there. They have
heard about Allentown and its farming lands where migrant help is
needed.
Scores of articles in The Morning Call in the early part of the decade are
(",;talm':nt to the presence ofPuerto Ricans in Allentown. The paper covered
ffillgr'UH worker camps, the efforts oflocal churches on behalf of Puerto Riand the problems facing schoolchildren without English-language
In 1961, a six-part series on Puerto Rico by John Cathers covered
Rican politics, religion, housing, education, and the industrialization
island. Another article told about sixty Allentown policemen who beSpanish lessons in 1963. In the second year approximately thirty-five
continuled their lessons.
Victor Carmona settled in Allentown in 1946. He appeared frequently in
pages of The Morning Call as an outspoken advocate for the Puerto Rican
t6mrnunity. As a founding member ofthe Puerto Rican Civic Association in
he served as its secretary and president. The Sunday paper featured
in an article in 1960 as a pioneer and quoted his view that Puerto Ricans
From History
19
suffered not only because of unemployment, inadequate housing and a language barrier, but also because ofbigotry, discrimination and prejudice. His
at 37, caused by a fire in his kitchen, was chronicled in two artiof the Call in June of 1962.
M,:Hu"h was not unaffected by the events of the '60s. He was
problems facing minorities as he prepared his doctoral
the role of school principals in U.S. cities. As the newly apP9itit~(jprincipal of the Horne School in 1961 when an unexpectedly large
ofchlildlren from Puerto Rico showed up for opening day in Septem"We weren't ready. We didn't understand the culture and we
the language." Not knowing what else to do, McHugh obpermlis>;ioltl to send to Puerto Rico for a teacher. Ramonita Sanabria
r~';pc,nsible for keeping many of those children in school because she
Jl'd... 'U, talked to their parents, took them on field trips, and made
they felt good about being in the school. It was Ms. Sanabria's phi"we must teach these children to appreciate their own culture as
as that of the people on the mainland." McHugh's recruitment of Ms.
according to him, the only positive step Allentown took to improve life for the children. "Allentown refused to prepare itself for a changing population in schools or in city government. There was no attempt to
hire minority personnel." In 1964, The Morning Call reported:
The failure of the community to understand, or even try to understand differences of Puerto Ricans' customs, creates hard feelings.
Puerto Ricans feel that whatever they did seemed to meet with disapproval of people in the community. That the Puerto Rican is an
intruder seems to be a general feeling among them.
lU16tlher testament to Allentown's involvement in the controversial is1960s was the formation of the Allentown Human Relations
in 1963 by Mayor John T. Gross. Its mission was to
~i.ljjc~ti'onal programs that would foster good human relations, to
h.(jrrtam t'elations, to study conditions in the city, to mediate grievgnievances to the proper authorities. The minutes of the
AHRC reveal a continual preoccupation with prej.s!i"i:riitttination in schools, housing and employment against Al§p,~tii~!lfspe;akingand Mrican-American communities. The 1968
tl92(jhJ."nl:ed several cases in which the AHRC mediated com-
AtlnaAdams
pliance agreements for Latino citizens. Cases such as the following were typical of the commission's work:
Tension developed between two families, one Puerto Rican and the
other a longtime resident. The families had not spoken to each other
about the problems but protests had been made publicly and a strain
developed in the community. Consultation and persuasion brought
about a better relationship.24
From its inception, the AHRC membership reflected concern for the
Spanish-speaking community. One of its early tasks was to form a research
committee to survey the status, movement and needs of residents of Puerto
origin.25 Lillian Suarez sat on the original board. For most of its existhere was at least one Spanish-speaking commissioner. Juan Acevedo, a
in the Latino community, was named a commissioner in 1969. Juan
Pi"arJro j,oi"ed the AHRC in 1971 as a fulltime staffmemberto deal primarily
the Latino community, helping them with job applications, translations,
pn,blelLls in schools, house purchases, immigration matters, and countless
small problems that arose day after day. Oftentimes investigations of
complaints of discrimination were inconclusive, yet Pizarro believes
even the inconclusive investigations and the mere presence ofthe AHRC
enough to keep tensions to a minimum in a potentially explosive atmowhere discrimination was fairly common. A long article, "Service to
Hispanic Community," highlighted Pizarro's efforts in the 1976 AHRC
l1IlnuaJ Report. An important aspect ofhis work was to assist Spanish-speakto purchase homes in Allentown. In 1976, seven Hispanic families
be,carnenew homeowners in the city." The AHRC also sponsored workshops
rap sessions in schools and public organizations. In 1973, for example, as
ofa police training school, it offered a workshop entitled "Spanish AmeriA Transition in Culture and Language.,,27
In 1965, FatherJohn Bisek, a Spanish-speaking priest, was brought to Allenlto'Ntlto minister to the community and to say Mass in Spanish. As head of
Spanish Action Committee of Sacred Heart Church, he saw the need to
prc,vi,le services such as translation, transportation, job placement and housassistance to the growing Latino population in Allentown. For many
rncmths, volunteers used their own homes and phones as bases oftheir operaOne night, Jesus Ramos, Sam McGovern and Father Bisek came across
abandoned laundry, filled with old voting machines at 226 North Second
On Good Friday, 1969, Casa Guadalupe, named in honor ofMexico's
From History
21
patron saint of the poor, opened its doors with one paid employee (Sam
McGovern at $50/week), an old kitchen table and chair, and a telephone. Volunteer workers provided services and recipients of those services often ex-
pressed their gratitude by sweeping the floors or cleaning the windows.
In the 1970s, Casa grew into a full social services agency under the direc~,
torship of Sister Vincent Paul. The ever-increasing Latino population of Allentown came to Casa for education, health and employment services. The
Allentown Kiwanis donated the funds to remodel the building, providing a i
community room named for Roberto Clemente. In 1976, Casa burned to the
ground. Its physical destruction, however, did not destroy the spirit ofa place
many had come to depend on, and within one year Casa reopened at its present site, 143 Linden Street, a former Volunteers OfAmerica orphanage. In order to serve a more diverse population, Casa became a separate entity from the
Catholic Church in 1977. That year it became a United Way agency and began
to receive funds from the State Department of Public Welfare and the Area
Agency on Aging. Hot meals have been provided daily to senior citizens ever
since. Today Casa Guadalupe offers an after-school community homework
program, a youth leadership club, GED classes and ESOL classes. It houses a
WIC (Women, Infants and Children) clinic and a toy library. Clients have
easy access in their neighborhood to a bilingual staffthat provides individual
counseling, interpreting, social security benefit assistance, and any necessary
referrals. The senior citizens plant vegetables and flowers in Casa's urban
garden. With a grant from the Area Agency on Aging, Casa expanded its
kitchen and dining area to serve the growing number of senior participants
in its programs.
Amidst much controversy, Casa, in partnership with the Lehigh Valley
HbsI,it,J, opened a perinatal clinic in 1994. It was named Vida Nueva (New
the clinic opened four members ofthe board ofdirectors had rethe Catholic Church had withdrawn its financial support ofthe or.ga;·(jiiaiioIl..
problems arose when the majority of the board decided,
t""chin~',S of the Catholic Church, that information on abortion,
~t"*iliz."tg)1'I
birth control should be dispensed at the new clinic.
ofthe original founders of Casa, the decision to resign
\Vtenchi.ng. Both sides of the Allentown community reacted
to The Morning Call applauded the board's action:
GiIadalllpe for reaJizing the importance of reproductive
,,<,,)men this community!" One woman's letter contained a
Anna Adams
Ramos handing aguitar to Father Bisek at hisfarewell party at Casa
Guadalupe in April, 1972. (Courtesy offesus Ramos)
c$YtIl.b,)lic check for $5.00 to help Casa compensate for the loss offunding from
church. Sacred Heart Hospital responded with an announcement of a
program, La [sic) programa Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe "to encourage ex~
tant Hispanic mothers to seek continued prenatal and postpartum care."
Francisco and Miriam Vega founded the first Latino Pentecostal church
lentown, the Iglesia Betania, in 1967. The Vegas came from Puerto Rico
NewYork, where they had studied for three years at the Instituto Biblico
·hoamericano. Mter completing their training as pastor and missionary,
d called them to the city ofAJlentown to bring the good news to a place
was without faith and without hope."" The Vegas started their church
eir home with seven members. Francisco Vega was the pastor, and MirVega went door-to-door as a missionary. As the membership grew, they
ed several times into larger quarters. Within a few years they were able to
chase an old church at Ninth Street and Liberty where they have been
·ying ever since.
found them a house on Thirteenth Street-far from the downtown area
most Puerto Ricans lived. !twas a very nice house, but Elsie, who didn't
much English, was lonely there. She lived for the weekends when they
pack into the car and go to New York. Dionisio remembers, ''Alli me
isveralba en la puetta con las malelas lislas rodoslos viernes." (She would be waiting for
at the door with the suitcases all packed every Friday.) And on Sunday
it was often not until 10:00 before he could get her in the car (which was
with Spanish food) for the return trip to Allentown. Now, almost forty
later, Dionisio wants to move to Florida where their two sons live and
the weather is warmer, but Elsie won't move from Allentown! She
to be near her daughters who live in the area. "Daughters will take care
in your old age. Sons are too busy."
At the height of the Cold War, Allentonians, like most Americans, were
to welcome the Cubans fleeing from the communist government ofFiCastro. The vast majority of Cuban refugees settled in Florida, but towns
cities across America fonned welcoming committees and sponsored refu-
Ligia Del Villar, Juan Estevez and Francesca Robles in the kitchen at Casa
Guadalupe during the 1999 Christmas holidays. (Courtesy of Gloria Negron)
Plentiful jobs, the growing Latino presence, and the establishment of
Latino institutions attracted more Latinos to the city. By the 1960s the communitywas no longer exclusively Puerto Rican. The 1960 census shows 411
Mexicans, 29 Nicaraguans, 36 Panamanians, 94 Cubans, 92 Brazilians, 45
Chileans, 107 Argentines, and smaller numbers from Guatemala, Honduras,
Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia in
Lehigh Valley."
Faux, son ofa Mexican mother and American father, moved to AIPuebla, Mexico, when he was ten years old. As a child, he
adjlusltm"nt to American life easy. At home his family spoke Spancelellrated 5 de mayo, but outside the home, he says, he grew up as a
F~fu(;ri(;an kid with little awareness of being Latino.
Santana and the first two oftheir four children came to
transferred by his employer in New York, Joy Knitting.
such a clean place, but after ten years in NewYork, they
In NewYork they always went out
Sundays. On their first Sunday in Allentown, they
cI'?'l/lfLtO'Wll streets only to discover that everything was closedwent to bed hungry that Sunday. The company
Anna Adams
families. No fewer than 59 articles in The Morning Call document the arIofCuban refugees to the Lehigh Valley from 1962 to 1967. In September
One ofAllentown's Latino business owners, Amado Aguila, in his
barbershop in 1967. (Courtesy ofAmado Aguila)
25
fice for cigar workers in Havana, Lopez found it difficult to find work in the
United States, but expressed deep gratitude to A1lentonians for taking him
and his family in. "Gracias, you must put that down. We are very, how do you
say, grateful." Alfred Olano, a former industrial accountant, also settled in
Allentown in 1963 and offered tales of the "Nazi-like regime in his homeland," the two years he spent in prison, and his dramatic escape from Cuba.
1967, Miguel Faria, a Cuban doctor, decided to set up a practic~ in A1lento serve the nearly 4,000 Spanish-speaking residents ofthe Lehigh ValThe story of his dramatic escape from Cuba in a small boat while being
at by Cuban military officials appeared in the Call. When asked ifhe was
SC"W~, he replied, "I was more afraid to stay in Cuba."
By decade's enel, the Latino community had grown more diverse, with
Norma Melendez and
Francisco Suarez display the flag of Puerto
Rico at a celebration in
1969 at the Puerto Rican Cultural Association.
own churches and social and civic institutions. Latino leaders were active
their community and in the community at large. They were visible in the
newspapers. It was clear that Latinos were in Allentown to stay.
(Courtesy ofAmado
Aguila)
1970s: A quiet place
"Allentown nos encanto. Nos pareci6 como un pueblecito de los que uno ve en
las tajetas de navidad.)J *
Elsa Vazquez
a citizens committee to represent Allentown in the Cuban Refugee
J}e:sel:tlem"nt Program was fonned. The national organization had asked the
area to take in 25-30 refugee families and advised them that the
bringing the refugee families would arrive later in the
Joat,,' th,>l nlotlth, 40 children were greeted in Allentown at St. Catharine
The children had been sent to the United States by their
want them to live under tyranny."
1963, fifteen Allentown church groups had agreed to
were accepting contributions of furniture, food and
the early 1970s things had indeed begun to change in Allentown. At that
e, approximately 3,000 Latinos lived in the city and several organizations
reflected the increase in their numbers: The Pan American Cultural Associa'i6n (PACA) was granted a charter by the city in 1970. Its mission was to pro'de recreational, social and cultural programs for its members and the
Spmmunity and to make a library available for research on Latin American
liistory and culture; Latino children participated in Spanish-speaking Cub
(out and Brownie troops. There was even a Spanish television show, "Panama Hispano" each Saturday morning on public television.
The Hispanic American Organization (HAO), which provides educanal programs and employment services, opened in 1976 under the leaderhip of Lupe Pearce, a native of Chile. In Chile, Lupe had worked as an
Heartwarming stories in The Morning Call told ofthe
i"fug,,.,,. One, Elipidio Lopez, "a fiery, intense Cuban refucarry the machine gun in any attempt to
tyrant Castro. As head of the Cuban pension
WIlla", ,to
"Allentown delighted us. It looked like one ofthose little towns on a Christmas
card."
elementary school teacher. She married John Pearce, a Peace Corps volunteer, and moved with him to Chicago in 1966 for his doctoral studies. Nter
graduate school in 1970 they moved to Nlentown where John began teaching at Muhlenberg College. As a believer in the power of education, Lupe
Pearce worked with PACA organizing English classes. In order to fund the
classes and other activities, she sought help from the private sector and found
that many people were willing to help. When she founded HAO with dona- .
tions from First Presbyterian Church, the mission was to enable Latinos "to
be productive and to have a better life through economic independence."
HAO, like Casa Guadalupe, began life on a shoestring budget with volunteer
labor. Today approximately 200 people graduate from HAO's program each
year, 70 percent ofwhom are hired into good jobs. Lupe Pearce believes that
the dual thrust of her programs that help Latinos and fill the needs of the
business world is what makes HAO successful.
Readers of Tile Morning Call were greeted on February 5, 1972, with "un
saludo cordial" and the assurance that "if you can't read the columns on the
left, don't worry. Most of our 110,000 subscribers can't read Spanish either.
But there are at least 10,000 people in the Lehigh Valley who can." In an effort to reach out to this growing community, the Call began "La Columna
Hispdnica," a weekly column by Dr. Anfbal Diaz, a native of Cuba. It was to
provide information in Spanish about community, church and social activi-
ties. The next morning publisher Edward D. Miller explained to his readers
who may have been jarred when they saw the lead story on the front page in
Spanish:
No community claiming allegiance to the principles ofjustice and
equallity can tolerate the existence of "second class" citizens in its
For too long the Spanish-Americans have been delegated this
rest of us. It's time to change.
of The Morning Call were filled with articles such as "Visit
~!!~dlaI('1je
Cultures Meet," a four-page photo article; "ASD will
.SJ!i(Iellts in Spanish," about a total immersion Spanish course to
study language and cultures of Latin America; "Puerto
Punches," the first of a three-part series on a dialogue
1'<.lCatlS and Nlentown police mediated by the Human Rela'~l\'!:\'lsi,jli;
m:#,k#4,
the first "confrontation" session, one policeman re-
are not enslaved there. But they don't want to get
their relief checks." By the last session, one
Mexican participant joked, "I recommend that all German Shepherds be replaced by Mexican chihuahuas. Ifwe have to be bitten, we want to be bitten
in Spanish."
In 1975, the Joint Planning Commission of Lehigh-Northampton
Coun'ties (now the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission) undertook a study,
"P,'rs,)ns of Spanish Origin and Descent in the Lehigh Valley." Of the 680
"S],an.ish households" in Nlentown in 1975, 145 had lived more than 10
in the city, 149 had been in residence for between 5 and 10 years. Most
been in the city for at least 2 years. Of those 680 households, 611 were
Puerto Rico, 9 from Cuba, 23 from the Dominican Republic. Other
(Olunltri,,, represented by 4 to 9 households were Colombia, Mexico, ArgenBrazil, Ecuador and Peru. 3D By 1975, the school population in the NlenSchool District was 5.6 percent Latino and, for the first time, Latino
Stu,dents outnumbered black students.
In 1978, the Allentown Area Lutheran Parish's (AALP) study ofthe appr,oxim:'teily 9,000 Latinos in Allentown concluded the following: Latinos
undereducated and untrained. They lived in the poorest housing and
3"c)rk"d at the least-sk.illedjobs. They were the fastest-growing segment of
population and nearly 60 percent were under nineteen. Approximately
perc"nt came from rural areas of Puerto Rico where agricultural work
more important than school. Most dreamed ofeventually returning to
Rico, and that dream, coupled with "a low esteem for learning, was
!4~ing greater uncertainties and burdens upon themselves than were faced
many immigrants in the past." The report claimed (erroneously) that
re were no social, cultural, or political organizations and that of the five
mmunity centers work.ingwith Latinos, four had opened within the last
() years. 31
Latinos continued to move to Nlentown, but the migration patterns beta change in the 1970s as Latinos who had settled initially in New York
other larger cities sought a more tranquil life in small cities like Nlentown.
y of these newcomers spoke English and had adjusted to life in the
ited States.
Polita Rodriguez moved to Nlentown in 1978 from Hartford, where she
spent her childhood. Her experiences do not fit the grim description of
AALP report. Neither she nor her husband had any difficulty finding eirworkor housing when they arrived. She began work as a bilingual secrewith the police department, and he found employment as a mechanic in
p
a gas station. They moved their family to Allentown because ofthe deteriorating conditions in Hartford and to join members ofher husband's family.
Mter they had lived for a year in their first house, her neighbor approached
her to apologize; "When I saw you move in, I said to my husband 'there goes
the neighborhood'."
Angel Rodriguez was following a girlfriend when he came to Allentown
in 1973 from NewYork where he was born and raised. With his high school
diploma, he found employment at PP&L where he has been working ever
since. His first impression was of a very quiet place where people left their
cars open!
Norberta Dominguez's Dominican family also moved to Allentown
from New York when Norberta was eight years old. Not interested in the
peace and quiet that his parents sought in Allentown, Norberta missed the
noise and the music of Brooklyn. "There I was, stuck with crickets and no
music." Nevertheless, his father found work with Bonney Forge and
Norberta adjusted.
The Allentown ofthe 1970s was beginning to operate as a suburb for already urbanized Latinos seeking work and peace.
The 1980s:
"And they're closing all the factories down"
In 1982, after the song "Allentown" became a national hit, Billy Joel was
given the keys to the city at a sellout concert in Lehigh University's Stabler
Arena. With that song, Allentown became a symbol ofAmerica as it entered
the post-industrial age with the resultant loss ofwell-payingjobs for the unskilled and semi-skilled labor force. The closing of Bethlehem Steel, the
General Electric and Black and Decker, the closing
and apparel factories left many jobless and offered little hope
.'tlJlpllgYlri'ent for new arrivals. Although there were more jobs in the
tJ.(1lJ,;!'tJ'\Ii\l[;'Sturi.ng sector, jobs in service industries such as hotels, and in
¢gltrit"neltci,,1 industry and information technologies all required Engad'~arlced training than many former factory workers could
qft!l()se.joIJS did not pay as well. Nevertheless, worsening conthe already well-established Latino community of
attract newcomers to join their families and to
lives for their children.
30
Dominican Elsa Vazquez was living in Puerto Rico when she came with
her family in 1979 to visit a friend. ''Allentown n05 encanto. Nos pared6 como un
ueblecito de los que U110 ve en las ta/jetas de navidad." (Allentown charmed us. It
fooked like a little town one sees on Christmas cards.) Within months they
had moved to Allentown where she felt happy that her children could go
safely to public school.
Bonnie and Luis Goyzueta came from Lima, Peru, to Allentown in 1979
t() escape Lima's dense smog that caused their children severe allergies. As a
student in the 1960s, Luis had been active in Peruvian politics. He believes
that because of his left-wing activities at the university, he was given a schol~ship by the Alliance for Progress to study for two years in Corning, New
York. It was, according to him, "a program to convince leftist students ofthe
b¢~uties of capitalism." At any rate, he remained in the States for two years
dreturned to Peru in 1965 with an American wife. When their children's
ergies forced them to consider moving to the United States, they chose Altown because Bonnie's father lived there. Luis's English, good education
community activity helped him to find work as an outreach social
iker for Family and Children Services. In 1982, as soon as he became a
•. citizen, he organized the Hispanic Political Caucus in hopes of involvLatinos in the political process through voter registration. Thus the first
110 political organization was founded.
he 1980s brought several other firsts for Allentown's Latinos. In August
, after some controversy, the police department hired its first Latino, Anantos. That year, five Latinos had taken the test tojoin the police force and
e had failed, because the passing grade had been raised from 75 percent to
rcent. Samuel Solivan, one of those who failed, brought his case before
OC, which ordered the police to restore the original passing grade. By
lid of the decade, there were seven Latino policemen in Allentown. In
Norberta Dominguez, by then adjusted to the sound ofthe crickets, was
d vice president of William Allen High School's student government,
st Latino with a leadership role in that school. That same year Dr. FranCastaneda opened the first medical center for Spanish-speaking people.
7 the Chamber of Commerce formed the Hispanic Business Council.
~o' Montero,
another Peruvian, was elected president of the newly
d Spanish Republicans ofthe Lehigh Valley, and the first Hispanic Girl
'Troop, #424, began meeting at Casa Guadalupe.
•
Luis Goyzueta and the Hispanic Political Caucus understood that Hispanics had tremendous power as the fastest-growing ethnic group in this
country. The caucus made the political potential of the rapidly growing Latmo community felt in the 1984 elections. Volunteers for the caucus distributed "Reclama d tuyo:-Votaf" (Claim what is yours-vote!) buttons during
voter regtstratlOn drIves. The Sunday before the election they handed out
2,800 election guides in Spanish and ran eight spots on Radio Vive (the
Spanish Christian station) encouraging people to get out and vote. On election day 100 volunteers provided transportation to and from the polls. Accordmg to Goyzueta, their efforts turned out 80 percent ofLatino registered
voters and the caucus elaimed that the Latino vote was responsible for the
VICtOry of Democratic State Representative John Pressmann.
Mayor Joesph Daddona realized the potential political power of Latinos ~nd discusse~ with members ofthe caucus the formation of a Hispanic
AdViSOry Counct!. When the caucus sponsored candidates nights at Casa
Guadalupe, most candidates turned out to meet the voters and to answer
their questions.
And this growing awareness was not limited to local politics. Walter
Mandale's son came to town to woo Hispanic voters at Casa Guadalupe,
Hanover Acres (a low-income housing project heavily populated by Latinos), and in a garment factory. In 1986, Coral Scranton, wife of the lieutenant governor, came to Allentown with the message "Bill Scranton cares
about the Hispanic Community."
The churches, too, responded to the increasing numbers of Latinos.
Most church-goers attended Spanish Mass at Sacred Heart Church. The
Pentecostal community attended the Iglesia Betania founded in 1967 by
and Mmam Vega. In 1984, St. Paul's Lutheran Church began its
SpallJish mlU1s1try, dedicating a chapel to San Martin de Porres, a black custochurch and a symbol in Latin America ofthe poor. Cuban
p."fbtPl!e:K C;arda Rivera led that ministry. Francisco Francesqui was sent by
Rico to begin a Methodist Spanish ministry, the TriniUn"p" Jv1."thodist Church, in 1985.
approximately 12,000 Latinos living in Allentown
de,cacle is well documented in the pages of The Mornil1g
;g!I#1:1~,,~
Allentonians read about Latinos. They read
schools (some ofwhich had Latino populations
to promote understanding of and pride in Latino
culture. One such project, Project Diguity, was part of a national intergenerational program to unite Hispanic youth and the elderly. Fifty participants between 10 and 85 years of age transformed a graffiti-covered inner
city wall into a bright and colorful mural that featured mountains and a
Puerto Rican flag. They read about how several churches in conjunction
with the Human Relations Commission sponsored a Hispanic festival "to
acquaint Allentown citizens with cultures ofthe various Spanish-speaking
countries." They read that the city planned a seminar on understanding
Hispanics and that Allentown proclaimed a week for Hispanics in 1987.
They read that the Association of Friends of Puerto Rican Culture was
rounded in 1985 to commemorate the 492nd anniversary of Columbus
landing on Puerto Rico and to promote better understanding between societies. Another purpose of the association was to work as an advocate for
Bilingual education. Readers ofthe Call learned that the Lehigh Valley Red
qross produced a phrase book in Spanish for emergency situations and that
e Lehigh County Chamber ofCommerce organized a forum "to integrate
ipanics into the mainstream of community life."
In 1988, The Morning Call featured a weeklong five-part series, "Hispans: A Culture in Transition." The various headlines read: "Lehigh Valley
ispanics: Some find success, others must struggle"; "How Hispanics carne
the Lehigh Valley-The Mexicans"; "Profiles of five artists who recycle
ir ethnic heritage"; "Hispanic Culture: The focus is on the family"; "How
spanics carne to the Lehigh Valley-The Puerto Ricans"; "The role ofthe
g~ch"; "Centuries of stereotyping die hard"; "The rocky educational road
ispanics";"Finding a niche in the American workplace"; "Health needs
ispanics challenge the system"; ''Where the salsa begins: the street
, "Rifts among Hispanics and other minorities"; "A non-Hispanic's
"; "From the mainland to the island and back"; "Mter retirement: Home
erto Rico"; "Profiles: Struggles and successes"; and even "Puerto Rican
ine," complete with recipes! For part of the series, the Call had sent a rer and photographer to Puerto Rico to interview families who had lived
ars in the Lehigh Valley, but had returned to their original communities
retirement.
a one could ignore that Latinos lived in their midst, but quite a few
tonians resented their presence and the "special treatment" they re-
, especially in light ofthe shrinkingjob market and the budget cuts of
From History
•
the Reagan Administration. One figure emerged as the spokesperson for
those resentments-Emma Tropiano.
La Emma
"It seems that every tilne you turn around a Hispanic has graffitied
something, stolen something or committed vandalism or assault
somewhere. ,,32
Emma Tropiano
Mfectionately and not so affectionately known as "La Emma," Emma
Tropiano has been a controversial figure in Allentown politics since the
early 1980s. An internet search through the morgue of The Morning Call with
key words Tropiano and Hispanics produced 627 articles! Ms. Tropiano
came to political promine~ce in 1983 as the leader of Citizens Against Historic Districts, a group of homeowners and landlords who resented the Old
Allentown Preservation Association deciding what they could or could not
do with their property. Born and raised in the area oftown newly designated
an historical district, Emma was well known in her neighborhood as the
owner of a grocery store who spoke her mind. Mter her husband died, she
decided to run for City Council. She had a devoted following ofAllentown
old-timers, who remembered fondly the Allentown of the 1950s. Many
other people believe that Ms. Tropiano was a key factor in the politicization
and uniting of the Latino Community.
Ms. Tropiano described herself as a loner and a maverick. Once in office,
one of her first campaigns was against the Human Relations Commission,
which she saw as a waste ofmoney. Despite the bureau's claims that its work
smoothed over some potentially dangerous confrontations in the city,
convinced that the money would be better spent on increases to
l()'iV"llncOnle city pensioners. Her next target was the city's dual-list hiring
minorities, whereby applicants for jobs in the police and fire
be hired from the tops of both lists. The stated purpose
minorities got jobs and to right past wrongs. She made
{)f Offi.cer James Ocasio, a minority-list policeman with poor
being tutored to help him write reports. "Someone
he has been given a gun and a police uniform has
procllailned in a council meeting. This remark, coupled
Anna Adams
with an earlier public warning to another minority-list policeman that she
was going to keep track of him, prompted calls for her resiguation.
.
After a year on the City Council, Ms. Tropiano announced her candidacy for mayor on Valentine's Day, 1985. Her bid, she said, was a call from
God, "akin to a man's entering the priesthood." Her campaIgn symbol was a
heart on the city's seal. Incumbent MayorJoseph Daddona received 6,000 to
Emma's 1,000votes, decisively winning the primary election. In 1987 Emma
sought and won her second four-year term on City Council, one that proved
to be as controversial as her first.
In 1988, Mayor Daddona, partially to fulfill a campaign promise to proLatinos in city jobs, submitted the name of Bianca Lopez to work for
Allentown Housing Authority. Ms. Tropiano, as head of the appointcommittee, led the fight to block her nomination. The Human RelaCommission believed it was important to have a minority member on
staff of the Housing Authority, a city agency serving primarily minoriTropiano countered by alleging that the mayor had made the appointpurely on ethnic grounds. Emily Mahr, a 75-year-old white woman
had held several positions in the city, was better qualified, according to
Tropiano, and she was approved for the job. The newspaper was filled
articles and letters to the editor criticizing Emma Tropiano. Alan
Jenning:s, executive director ofCommunity Action Committee ofthe Lehigh
wrote in a letter to the editor: "My feeling is it takes some courage to
up to what I consider a simple-minded prejudice. It seems Emma
on it..."
There is ample evidence to support the beliefs of many people that
'tnni,nn', outspokenness contributed to politicizing an otherwise fairly
community and to uniting the Black and Latino communities for the
time.
Her remarks aboutJames Ocasio led to a two-hour meeting offifty Hisics and blacks. Headlines appeared such as "Tropiano Target ofCriticism
many Fronts" and "Tempest over Tropiano has unified Minoritie~." Th.at
icle quoted Ricardo Montero: "Emma Tropiano, thank you for domg thIS.
e Spanish community was sleeping, but it's not sleeping anymore." Ms.
opiano defended herself against charges of racism for blocking the nomi.on ofBianca Lopez, trying to abolish the Human Relations Commission
questioning the qualifications ofJames Ocasio:
From History
I am not a racist. I don't have a problem with them. I would be the
first to help a Hispanic or a black if the need is there and they are
pulling their wagon. But I'm not going to give somebody ajob just
because they are Hispanic. Hispanics have not moved up the social
and economic ladder because they insist we learn their language.
This is America and you have to speak English.
Her attacks and inflammatory statements continued. At a meeting called by
her to discuss the deterioration of the downtown neighborhoods, Ms.
Tropiano claimed that the increase in crime, graffiti, trash and drugs was
"99% attributable to the influx of Hispanics." She also criticized a weekloug
Morning Call series on Latinos:
I read in one story where a youth said 'If! climb a tree in Allentown,
I get arrested.' Well, if you want to act like a moukey, go in the
woods and climb a tree. Trees cost money.
It would be a long time before these remarks would be forgotten. Once
again, letters to the editor and editorials expressed their disagreement with
Ms. Tropiano and their fears that her comments would create further problems in the city. A crowd of150 people gathered to call for Emma Tropiano's
public apology and resignation. Instead, she blamed a police official for giving her wrong information. As it turned out, 61.3 percent of those arrested
for crime in the city were white and only 22.4 percent were Hispanics. Nevertheless, her response to the real statistics was far from apologetic: " I'm not
excited about the figures. What about the crimes that are not reported? The
figures don't tell the true story." And she went on to say: "It seems that every
time you turn around a Hispanic has graffitied something, stolen something,
committed vandalism or assaulted someone." These particular remarks led
formation of "Spanish-speaking Residents for Community Dignity,"
0flsar,iz"ticln of 60 people who hired a lawyer and threatened to sue Ms.
did not retract her statement about Hispanics and crime.
of all this, Fire Chief David Novosat reported that the fire
put a doorbell outside the station downtown because if
there, "some Hispanic would steal it." The 142gepartrnelnt did not have one Latino. The remarks of N ovosat
B#oipl;l!IP
gathering of hundreds ofpeople for the Great March
the Hispanic Political Caucus in July of 1989. The
Catholic leaders organized a group prayer meet-
Anna Adams
ingto counter Ms. Tropiano's words ofhate and to restore dignity to a group
of people who were maligned.
Despite all the criticism, or perhaps because of it, Ms. Tropiano announced her intention in 1989 to run again for mayor, this time as an inde-
pendent. There is no doubt that she has her followers, as the following
excerpts from letters to the editor demonstrate:
Mrs. Tropiano understands what you and your liberal cronies are up
to. She sees that you liberals' ultimate aim is to turn it into a mini
New York (with its slums, crack houses, small white elite dominating a black and Hispanic population) I think it is revolting how
blacks and Hispanics should be allowed to do anything they want
because they were oppressed by society.
Get offMrs. Tropiano's back for saying it like it is. Ifyou're a proud
Hispanic, black, Italian, Greek, etc., then go after the people who are
ruining this city and not a person who is trying to help return decency to all of us.
Mayor Daddona courted the Latino vote by appealing to their sense of
in maintaining their language and culture. In his kickoff of Hispanic
H,,,itag< Week, he praised the Latino community and the ethnic diversity
makes Allentown an All-American city. "You should not consider us a
l1eltirlg pot-in a melting pot ethnic groups would lose their identity," he
the gathering.
Meanwhile, at a press conference Emma told some heckling Latinos that
would have to shape up. Later she insisted that she was misunderstood.
Dadonna won the election that year with a two-to-one margin.
Ms. Tropiano has occasioned some humor too in her long political career.
)pl'Jm,ni,;t Bill White reviewed 1989 in his New Year's column in 1991:
In a press conference at Camelback Ski Area, Tropiano notes that
Hispanics are responsible for 99% ofPoconos ski rental damages....
Emma Tropiano holds a press conference on the banks of the
Lehigh River to announce that Hispanics are responsible for 99% of
the boating accidents in the United States.
certainly has remained in the limelight. "Allentales," the 1994 play by
Preg()n,,, theater project, featured her thinly disguised as the character
From History
37
Alma Tropicana. Except for Luis Echeverria, Allentown's first Latino, she
was the only character in the play drawn from real life. Over the last decade
many of her schemes to "restore decency" to Allentown have been
inter~
preted as prejudicial to the Latino community. For example, she introduced bills that would make it illegal to have indoor, upholstered furniture
on the front porch, or to wash or repair cars on the street. She attempted to
impose a curfew on all children under 18 years of age and to make English
the official language ofthe city. She has called for the citizens ofAllentown
to 'Istart worrying about native Allentonians who have lived here all their
lives, not the people who came here from New York and New Jersey." In
her third bid to become mayor ofAllentown in 1997, Ms. Tropiano lost the
Democratic primary to Allentown's first elected Latino, Martin Velazquez
III, by one vote.
Ms. Tropiano remembers fondly the Allentown she grew up in, the Allentown of the 1950s - "its best years" - but times have changed. Ms.
Tropiano clearly represents a nostalgic and devoted constituency that kept
her In office for 15 years. One citizen expressed that sadness in a letter to the
editor:
Allentonians yearn for the time when Allentonians' skin was white
and if there was a language besides English spoken on Hamilto~
Street, it was Pennsylvania German. Allentown can pursue that
memory no more than it can recover last winter's snow. The patterns ofimmigration that are changing cities across the nation (and
around the world) cannot be stopped or reversed by a vote of City
Councilor the wishes ofthe city's residents, whether their motivation is sincere good faith or hatred. The 1950s have been gone for
two generations.
the reality of city politics transcended the nostalgia for the
May 1999 primary elections, Emma was soundly defeated for a
Martin Velazquez was the overwhelming winner.
a double defeat for Emma, who also lost her bid for city
controversial political career came to an end after
two Latinos, Velazquez and Julio Guridy, won their
City Council.
The 1990s: "Allentown, PA, the Sanjuan of
Pennsylvania Dutch Country"33
Despite the moribund character of 1990s Allentown, Latinos continued to
relocate to the city. Allentown's problems, particularly those of the downtown first and sixth wards, are the problems of urban America: absentee
landlords, deteriorating properties, limited parking, dirty streets and rising
crime rates. In the first summer month of 1998, there were eight shootings
resulting in four deaths. Allentown's manufacturing base is almost comgone, its taxes are high, its real estate values sink monthly, its schools
have· a poor reputation, its leadership seems unable to develop a rescue plan
the city.
In 1990, the unemployment rate was 6.3 percent, among the highest in
state. Some 8.5 percent of households were on public assistance and 9.3
perc"nt ofAllentown's families lived below the poverty level." The numbers
siguificantly higher for Latinos, whose unemployment rate was the
hi\(hest of all groups at 11.5 percent. As many as 35.1 percent of Latinos in
AII[entmNtl lived below the poverty level. While the per-capita income for
Arlg!<,swas $15,920, it was $7,471 for Latinos. The average income for
households was $25,532 as compared to $48,680 for Anglos." And
Allentown continues to look good compared to the South Bronx, Camor Newark, New Jersey, and Latinos continue to relocate here." The
census indicated that the Latino population had more than doubled since
1980 census to approximately 12,000, but those numbers are judged to be
rn'n<P'rvo,ti"e At the same time cuts in social service spending meant that fewer
bro",,"." available to help more people. In 1990, the Community DevelopBlock Grants were reduced by 12 percent, which slashed the drug rehaI)ilitation program, Hogar Crea's budget by one third, and the Hispanic
erican Organization's allocation from $21,000 to $15,000. In the decade
etween 1980 and 1990, the city's overall population decreased by 4,500, with
,he white population declining by 17,000.
The growth of the Latino population of Allentown is visible beyond
eusus statistics. In the 1990s, almost daily articles in The Morning Call reinded Allentown ofthe Latino presence. The newspaper reported the forof the Lehigh Valley Hispanic Merchants Association by several
;btlsillesse, on Seventh Street to focus on problems such as parking, trash and
and to attract more businesses to the downtown area. In "Women
Anna Adams
idden From History
39
Counseled Near Home," Valerie Hildebeitel reported the founding of the
Lehigh Valley Council ofHispanic Women, a group that would meet weekly
at the Cumberland Gardens Housing Project to discuss their problems in
Spanish with appropriate social services representatives. In 1980, there were
no Latino policemen. Ten years later the force of167 had seventeen Latinos.
The first two Latino firefighters, Jesus Santiago and Hector Rivera, were
sworn in on May 2, 1990. Later that month, 2,000 children took part in the
first Hispanic Christian children's parade organized by several churches to
urge children to stay in school and away from drugs. The Sheridan School
held its tenth annual Puerto Rico Discovery Day that spring.
The growth of the Latino population was nowhere more visible than in
the city's schools. By 1995, the general school population was 34 percent Latino. This growth is explained by the increased numbers ofLatino families in
the city along with the white flight to the suburbs where the schools are
better and the taxes lower. And yet, the teaching and administrative staff in
the district was no more than 2 percent Latino. The Lincoln Early Childhood Center, a city school that has only kindergarten classes, had one Latino
teacher for a school population that was 50.3 percent Latino. At the Sheridan
School, a student body that was 62 percent Latino was served by only one Latino teacher. In 1995, Diane Scott, superintendent of schools, in an attempt
to address the problems caused by the lack of Latino teachers and administrators, traveled to Puerto Rico in search ofqualified teachers. No hires were
made as a result ofthat controversial trip, viewed by many as a waste of taxpayers' dollars.
The summer of 1990 saw mounting tensions between police and the
mostly Latino residents ofthe Cumberland Gardens Housing Project. Residents believed they were being harassed and accused of "loitering" on their
pr,op'eftv. They organized several demonstrations to protest what they
brutality. The police, in answer to charges ofbrutality, claimed
eritor'cirlg the laws and fighting drugs. The conflict settled down, but
l'e,;olve,~. Four years later, charges of racism were brought against
91A£:¥t j]'!iC)mllS Siteman, Jr. Residents of Cumberland Gardens accused
~<i,cas:tir,g racial slurs on his loudspeaker while on patrol and ar-
stated him. The decision caused such an outcry that two days later, the
council overturned its previous vote and called for public hearings into the
matter. Finally, in April of1995, two years after the initial suspension, council voted to fire Siteman. Nevertheless, the delays and ambivalence on the
part of City Council did not inspire much Latino confidence in the city's
elected officials.
Another unfortunate event involving alleged police brutality occurred
u,. I'"'' 10, 1993, when a Guatemalan mother and daughter were arrested in
Department Store. While shopping in the famous downtown store,
and her mother, MargaritaYerk, brought some merchandise
one department to another to try to match two items before making
purchase. When a store clerk tried to stop them, they refused to obey,
ac,:using her of discrimination. According to the store management, the
then became abusive, used foul language, grabbed and tore the
of the clerk's dress and spit in the face of another customer, a witness
the scene. The police were called and after much resistance, the women
arrested. They were charged with resisting arrest, aggravated assault on
simple assault, defiant trespass and disorderly conduct, and were reon $20,000 bail each. The incident quickly became a cause celebre for
leaders in the Latino community. Beatrice Ramirez organized the
;C')ff,mitt<,e for Human Rights to protest the way the two women had been
and to call for a boycott of Leh's. GnJune ]8, fifty people gathered
Leh's to protest the arrest and were confronted by an equal number of
do'wutmNll business owners and Leh's supporters who launched a spontanecounterdemonstration. The Committee for Human Rights also brought
of police brutality against officers David Shoemaker and Ronald
They saw the incident as indicative of the way minorities are treated
city. Beatrice Ramirez declared that such resistance would continue
some changes happened. Yerk and Aguilar made several appeals. Yerk's
ofpolice brutality ended with a $60,000 settlement in 1996. Her daughconvictions were upheld in Pennsylvania Superior Court and she was
pt"nc:ed to twenty-three months at the women's work-release center in
Council voted to dismiss the charges and rein-
Ile:'l!c)wn. The arresting officers were absolved.
Te'usior,s arose within the Latino community itselfwhen the Hispanic
Caucus published a position paper differentiating between Puerto
and other Latin Americans. The Puerto Rican migrants, the report
were generally rural and unskilled, with a background of poverty, fed-
Anna Adams
41
loitering on their own property. Siteman accused
and held a gun held to his head. The Human
~ttlmlissi()n brought charges against Siteman and he was sus-
eral welfare programs, and low educational levels. Other Latin Americans,
according to the paper, were more urban and skilled, had higher educational
levels, and were unaccustomed to governmental social welfare programs.
Puerto Rican leaders took great exception to those broad stereotypes.
Scandal broke out in the community in 1994 when Jack Lopezcepero
emerged as a Latino scoundrel and exploiter of the community. "Dr."
Lopezcepero came to Allentown as the bilingual coordinator at the Lehigh
County Vocational-Technical School. He claimed to have doctorate degrees
in psychology and education and quickly established himselfas an articulate,
educated spokesperson for the Latino community on his Spanish-English
radio show and weekly television program, "Contacto Latino." In the summer of 1993, he launched an educational drive and determined to visit personally every Spanish-speaking household in Allentown to talk about the
importance of education. Lopezcepero's credibility began to erode in 1994
when his proposed Latino center appeared to be in trouble. The owner ofthe
site rented by Lopezcepero claimed that he had been "stiffed for more than
$3,000 in rent and overdue bills." The city then revealed that Lopezcepero
had never secured the proper permits. As the year progressed, new problems
emerged: Robert Metz claimed that he was owed $2,000 for the production
ofthe 1992 television show. Channel 69 also claimed to have unpaid bills associated with the program, Contacto Latino. The Morning Call reported that
Lopezcepero owed tens ofthousands of dollars to area residents and companies and that he had been convicted ofembezzlement in Colorado and fraud
in Oregon. When last heard from, he had been evicted from his apartment
and was planning to move to Puerto Rico.
Politically, the nineties began to see involvement from the Latino community. The potential impact ofthe Latino vote was already well known. At a
I-li:,panic Political Caucus candidates' night before the 1991 general eleccaJ'UJ:aace for judge Ed Reibman attempted to deliver part of his mesSpanish. Beyond voting, it was time for Latinos to become involved
pr,oc(:ss as candidates. In 1991, Dino Melendez ran unsuccessfully for
Co>uncil. In 1993, Beatrice Ramirez ran, also unsuccessfully,
·1MI~Elto'wn school board. To support Ramirez's candidacy, a political
HaJ;lIll)S for a New Lehigh Valley, was formed. Although
~al'l1irez were not elected, Martin Velazquez III ran a suc~~""\.u?:~mpa.ig;tl
Council. He took office in January of 1994 as
Anna Adams
The Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Mfairs came to Allen-
town for two days in 1992 to conduct public hearings on the status ofthe Latino community. They heard testimony from forty community leaders on
housing, health, government, police, the legal system, the media, education
and employment. The commission published its report the followmg year,
making recommendations in all those areas. Some city officials resented
hearings conducted by outsiders. Emma Tropiano reacted in typical dramatic fashion:
I'm the culprit of the city. I do the shootings, I climb the trees, I tie
my window curtains up in knots, I throw chicken bones from the
window...my car has the biggest amplifier in the city...I'm involved
in all the drug selling.
Mayor Joseph Daddona, on the other hand, heeded the report and appointeda Mayor's Advisory Council on Latino Affairs "to make our commuas bigoted-free and as discriminatory-free as possible." The council was
shclft-.!lved, however. By the time they had elected a president (Jose L6pez, a
LAluauprofessor of Spanish at Muhlenberg College) and appointed various
cotTInaittees, a new mayor, William Heydt, had been elected. Heydt, who
promised in his campaign to abolish the council, thought better of that
in office, but the members found him unsympathetic and uncooperaThey began to resign one by one until they disbanded completely in
Several former members of the council founded the Alianza Latina!
Alliance that year.
With increased media attention to Latinos and the increased use ofSpan-
language and signage downtown, many Allentonians feared that their city
indeed becoming Pennsylvania's Sanjuan. The rising use of Spanish in
city's public spaces and the costs of printing documents in Spanish led
mma Tropiano to introduce an "English Only" bill to the city council, perthe issue that most served to galvanize the Latino community in the
From
History
43
English Only
Feliciano, responded to her logic: "Telling Hispanics the resolution is for
their own good is like breaking a person's leg so he can have some rest from
"If they understand how to commit a crime, they understand the
rest."
work." Once again, the councilwoman's efforts caused an uproar in the
community, resulting in angry demonstrations, packed City Council meet-
Emma Tropiano introducing the English Only bill to City Council.
ings, and letters to the editor. In order to keep the bill alive and to make her
In December of 1992, a local radio talk show host jokingly suggested on his
program that Allentown shopkeepers charge a five percent tax to non-Enghsh speakers or that the city designate an area oftown where goods would be
sold to Spanish-speaking people at regular prices. To his surprise, very few
point, one night Tropiano delivered her committee report to council in Ital-
people in his listening audience protested or even seemed to realize that his
suggestions were meant injest.
.America has always considered bilingualism an impediment to strong
natiOnhood. By the early twentieth century most states had outlawed private
"nationality" schools where children learned in the language oftheir parents
and grandparents. During World War I, a town in Ohio fined people
twenty-five dollars for speaking German in public. Eventually the Supreme
Court struck down the laws prohibiting private schools from teaching in
languages other than English, but in the Southwest schoolchildren were forbidden to speak Spanish for most of this century. Until the mid-twentieth
century, most immigrants wanted to learn English as quickly as possible to
blend into the melting pot. Ironically, it may have been easier back then to
survive without English, since many ofthe factory jobs that new immigrants
filled required only strong arms or mechanical responses. But the times have
changed and Allentown, like most other industrial cities of the Northeast
has lost much 0.£ its manufacturing base and converted to a service industr;.
economy. EnglIsh has become a necessary tool for success and in recent
we have witnessed a growing hostility nationally to foreigners who
c"Ptl()t
English.
ofthe effort to enforce the exclusive official use ofEnglish, CaliS6,at"r S.l. Hayakawa founded U.S. English, whose membership
",",,,weiH
by the end of the 1980s. Sixteen states went so far as to pass
Perhaps inspired by this organization, in 1992 Emma
1't,:>pi:riiiJ itiftod1uoed an English-only law to City Council that would forbid
ProViding services in Spanish or printing forms in ~panish. She
a way to save money (in fact the aw'bunt the city
~ln~if,at"iials m Spanish was negligible), and as a good-faith effort
,ritbiihi,,,
to learn English. One community leader, Raul
Anna Adams
ian. "If we didn't say that English is the only language of the city, what's to
prevent people from doing what I did tonight?" Although the bill was defeated at first, Tropiano persisted for two years until council passed the bill
on the eve of the opening of a new school year in 1994.
Not satisfied with her victory, one month later Ms. Tropiano intro-
"Son ofEnglish Only," a bill that would ask the school district, Lehigh
OJUllty, and the state and federal governments to declare English the official
lallg1Ja~~e of the land. Feelings on the issue ran high as scores of vehement
to the editor for and against the bill indicated. They ranged from "this
America. Learn English or go home" to "English Only is racist propaganda
to Nazi Germany's campaign against the Jews." Dorothy Oldham, a
sa,ld"ned citizen, wrote:
To the Editor,
"English Only" is proclaimed for my Allentown, my home of 50
years. So each day at 3 pm I will stand on Hamilton Street and say
something that isn't "English Only." For instance, yo te amo,je tJaime,
se agapo, fch liebe dich. And when I have spoken all the non-English
words I know, I will ask my brothers and sisters to teach me
more-until the only language in my town is love.
e bill was defeated 5 votes to 2, but Allentown's debate was news fit to print
The New York Times, an embarrassment to many of the city's residents.
The face of Allentown has changed dramatically since the end of the
cond World War as the Latino population has grown from several hundred
erto Ricans who came as temporary workers in the 1940s to 15,000 Latis from all over Latin America.
The previous five chapters illustrate the undeniable presence ofLatinos
the city. If they have not appeared in the pages of past histories, it is bese historians have overlooked the existing documentary evidence. In this
'm-iting ofthe past decades, I have woven Latinos into the existing histories
present a more complete (and more colorful!) picture ofAllentown's past.
From History
45
I have followed a chronological order, as historians tend to do, to show how
this communiry has grown and developed over the decades. In the next part
ofthe book I will turn from chronology to culture to examine questions such
as where and how Latinos find communiry, how they experience the ciry and
its institutions, to what extent the Latino presence has changed the city, how
individuals made their lives work in Allentown. In this section, I rely more
on personal testimony than on documents for evidence.
•
•
•
•
•
•
PART TWO
Allelllto'wn Schools
perusal of Comus, the Allentown (later William Allen) High School yearofthe 1950s and 1960s reveals a homogeneous student body and faculry.
occasional African-American student (2-3 per year) appears in its pages.
are no students with Spanish surnames among the graduates. Surprisperhaps, the Students' Pan American League, a student organization
fOtll1cled in 1942, was a popular club, with a membership at times reaching 50
through the 1950s and 1960s. Mr. Raymond Waller, a Spanish
i""b'f. was the faculry sponsor of this group that met twice each month to
about Latin-American culture through movies, speakers, discussions
lectures. The club also held social activities such as the 1954 Mexican-sryle
hristmas banquet featuring a pillata. The equivalent of the French and Gerclubs, the Pan American League held its meetings in Spanish. Allen High
chool students had the opportuniry for a little contact with a real Latin Amer'fan in 1959 when Adolfo Jose Crosa spent the year as an exchange student
rom Argentina. When Cuban born Anibal Diaz came to Allentown, the stunts had a native Spanish speaker for their teacher. In the 1970s, occasional
anish surnames begin to appear among the graduates and by 1976, it was not
usual to find Martin Velazquez, Ruth Vega, Maria Vega, William Rodriguez
Dennis Santana among the Kunkles, Schmoyers and Meyers. Ledal1llus,
yearbook of Louis Dierulf High School, which opened on Allentown's
t side (where the majoriry of Lat\tJ.o families lived) in 1959, generally rethe same trends although the Spanish surnames among·the graduates
fairly common there by 1970.
Anna Adams
From His/ory
47
Nilsa Matos was a student at Dieruffin the late 1960s and although there
were only six or seven Puerto Ricans then as she recalls, they were well inte-
grated. Her friends were Anglos and Puerto Ricans and she has kept up many
ofthose friendships to this day. Nevertheless, because of the changes in the
city and in the city's schools, Nilsa sent her daughter, Iris, to Catholic school.
Iris went very happily to Sacred Heart Elementary School where she played
on a basketball team with other Latino children who were the majority (approximately 80 percent) at the school. Later, at Central Catholic High
School, with approximately 12 percent Latino students, Iris felt more isolated and socially limited. She continued her interest in basketball, but found
that it wasn't the sarne. There were few Latinas on the team and she did not
feel part of it. "It's sad, but I guess mostly you stayed with your own kind
there." Ironically, perhaps, it was easier for her mother to make non-Latino
friends in school than for Iris a generation later.
At the public high schools today the students look very different from
the students ofthe 1950s and 1960s, but the faculty and staff/ook just about
the sarne. Approximately 37 percent ofWilliam Allen High School's student
body of2,500 are Latinos and one teacher, ESOL instructor Abe Karahoka, is
halfPuerto Rican and halfTurkish. Ten percent ofthe Latino students are in
the school's ESOL program that has 4 instructors in 13 sections. How has
the school changed to reflect the changing student body? According to Louis
DiLorenzo, former principal, not very much at all. The curriculum is the
same as it was 20 years ago. American culture is taught as United States culture as is American history. Literature classes hardly ever contain works by
non-white, non-English-speaking (or non-male!) writers unless a teacher
has made a special point of making his/her class materials more inclusive. If
we were to look at the yearbook, the names would be different, but, says
DiLolren.zo, most of the clubs would still have white faces in the photogr'lphlS, Very few Latinos join, perhaps because they are not comfortable,
I'erh:ips beca!lse their after-school obligations leave little time for extracuractivitie:,. There is one Latino student organization-a Pentecostal
A~)proXJimatelv30 members meet every day after school. The
public and Catholic schools seem to reflect the city's sois+..ctl1<",1
Latino kids do not mix with the Anglo kids except
:f~iri<:,graJl]Hic changes in the Allentown School District over the
civil rights survey for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, in 1968
the school population was 1.4 percent Latino. Today, the Allentown School
District's population is almost 40 percent Latino. Some 7.9 percent of students are enrolled in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
classes, 62.7 percent qualifY for free and reduced lunches, and the Latino student dropout rate is the highest, at 7.6 percent (versus 4.7 percent for African
Americans and 3.6 percent for others), though the Latino dropout rate is the
lowest it has been over the last five years. Latinos continue to receive the
lowest scores in the Metropolitan Achievement Exams.
37
Despite the growing heterogeneity of the student body, the faculty and
administratio,n are still fairly homogeneous. There are no Latino directors on
school board. In 1998, Elsie Martinez Pletz was the only Latino principal
of21 in the district. Of the 816 teachers, in the district only 8 were LatiAccording to Diane Scott, Superintendent of Schools, the district has
to hire minority professional staffwith little success. She cites the diffioftransferring teacher certification from other states, including Puerto
to Pennsylvania, the tendency oflocal college graduates not to want to
in the Lehigh Valley, and the scarcity of permanent jobs in the district.
Ne:itblerSacred Heart Elementary School nor Central Catholic High School
a Latino teacher.
The district has wrestled for years with the problems ofhow to meet the
of its changing student body, many of whom do not speak English.
ow to teach them English? Should they be taught in special classes or
hould they muddle through with everyone else? Should they be discourged from speaking their native languages? How should the school deal with
he high transient nature of many families?
The 1968 Title VII Bilingual Education Act sought to help those school
ildren who did not speak English. According to Title VII, children who
uld not understand the language in the classroom did not have equal eduAcross the nation, schools implemented programs to ensure that
:UUUfe:u had equal access to education through bilingual education as deby the United States Office ofEducation:
The use of those two languages as mediums of instruction for any
part or all ofthe school curriculum. Study ofhistory and culture associated with a student's mother tongue is considered an integral
part of bilingual education."
enormous. According to the October 1997 annual
Anna Adams
49
p
According to Thomas Bruni, the Allentown School District antedated
the 1968 Title VII programs by five years. In 1963 Bruni, as head of foreign
language instruction in the district, applied for a state grant to teach English
to elementary school children at Sheridan School, attended by the vast majority of Spanish-speaking children. They spent approximately onc-third of
their school day in an ESOL class learning English and the rest ofthe day in
the regular classrooms. The classes were based on the immersion philoso-i
phy. They were taught in English to students who were all non-native speakers of English.
Fern Mann was the first formal ESOL teacher in the district. The students in her first classes in 1969 at Harrison-Morton Middle School stayed
in her class all day every day and, by the end ofthe year, almost all spoke English well enough to be mainstreamed. Ms. Mann recalls that it was the district's policy to place children with Spanish surnames in ESOL classes. Many
of those children had been born and raised on the mainland and spoke no
Spanish. Some stayed in the ESOL classes because they were easier. One
poor little girl stayed in ESOL for three years because she was too shy to say
that she did not speak Spanish. Today new students are tested to determine if
they belong in ESOL programs.
In 1972, when the Latino population in the schools had reached almost
five percent, the Title VII grant proposal included monies to add a bilingual
component to the ESOL program. The grant was to last seven years. Students continued in the ESOL programs, but were also taught some of their
subject matter, such as math and science, in Spanish. This program operated
in the schools with the highest Latino populations-Sheridan Elementary
School, Harrison-MortonJunior High School and DieruffHigh School. Afyears, the grant ran out, and the school district opted to go back to
ES;OLtlrc''''''''''I< By that time, the Latino population was no longer confined
schools, and the district did not have the personnel or the
cOtltirlUe the bilingual program. The recent defeat (June, 1998) of
billiiil~'ll
in California, where trends for the nation are often set
!hejlcate that bilingual education will soon be a thing of the past. '
B",'vclfid
ESOL and bilingual programs, Allentown schools have
have the curriculum reflect the changing demographics
~tl,q';U! p"potlatiOl'. In 1992, the coordinator of social studies invited
s9Y9'fa.'·'1.<!1I1J'Qf!oachers to prepare curriculum resources on Latinos for thirdThe 16-page document included vocabulary
Anna Adams
1
words such as "latino," "migrant," ''plena'' and "espiritismo"; oral history interviews with Latinos; a brief history of Latino migration to the Lehigh Valley; a
brief history of Puerto Rico; questions to ponder, such as "What have you
learned about the Latino conununity that is similar to other ethnic groups?";
things to do, such as "Prepare and share with class an art activity from a coun-
try of your interest"; an "identifY the personage" quiz; and a reading list. At
DieruffHigh School, ESOL teacher Judy Davison-Roth began the Mariposa
program to help Latina young women develop self-esteem through study of
their ethnic and national histories. One effort directed toward teachers, a
30-page booklet on Puerto Rico, was prepared by Assistant to the Director of
Instructional Support Services, Ana Sainz de la Pena.
When Evelyn Bayo Antonsen was a student in Brooklyn in the 1950s,
the few materials available to some Latino children in Allentown did not exist. Her childhood experiences led her to become an ESOL teacher. Evelyn
was thirteen years old when she moved to Brooklyn from Puerto Rico with
her mother and nine siblings. While her mother worked in a garment factory, Evelyn struggled in school to learn English and her other subjects. Her
teachers commanded her to speak English. She was in the USA. She says that
it took her years to learn English and she hated it. As a certified bilingual and
ESOL teacher in the Allentown School District, Ms. Antonsen wanted to
help students avoid her own unhappy experiences. But she was frustrated by
the lack ofresources and time devoted to the children. Typically she saw students for English lessons for half an hour each day. The rest of the time, she
says, they sat in classes understanding only the occasional word, getting discouraged and feeling stupid. Ms. Antonsen felt strongly that Latino students
need strong role models as well as ESOL or bilingual programs. To that end,
she applied for seven administrative positions within the district, hoping to
offer Latino students better opportunities, but she was turned down for all of
them. In 1997, Antonsen brought suit against the district, charging discrimihation for its failure to hire Latinos. Although the raw numbers of Latino
teachers and administrators would indicate the validity ofAntonsen's case,
she agreed to an out-of-court money settlement in return for an admission
that she did not have sufficient evidence to prove discrimination on the part
Of the school district.
Ms. Antonsen's concerns echo those expressed by John McHugh thirty
years earlier when he said that Allentown refused to prepare itself for a
hanging population in the schools by not hiring minority personnel. The
51
p
Latino school population has grown steadily since that sudden influx thatJohn
McHugh faced in the fall of1960. In 1975, the school population was 5.6 percent Latino. A decade later Latino school children represented 15.2 percent of
Allentown's public school students. The Allentown Area Lutheran Parish's
1978 study of the Latinos in Allentown said: "The educational system, which
is the traditional foundation for immigrant groups' hope for progress, does not
tailor its program in appropriate dimensions for the influx of Hispanic students, and a high rate of dropping out occurs."" In 1979, City Councilman
Anthony Muir wrote to the chairman of the Human Relations Commission
suggesting that members ofthe school board be appointed to the commission
because "Dr. Wilson's [superintendent of schools and a former Spanish
teacher] apparent disinterest in the high drop-out rate for Hispanic high
school students is disheartening." Muir continued:
It is my personal opinion that the Spanish-speaking community
needs all the help it can get from the city and from the school district. It is unfortunate that there are no Spanish-speaking counselors
within the district. 40
Disheartened by the poor education that many in the community believed Latino students were receiving, Lupe Pearce and the Hispanic Ameri-
can Organization proposed the foundation ofthe Roberto Clemente Charter
School to the Allentown School District in September 1998. The school,
which aimed to serve approximately 100 children, enjoyed wide support in the
Latino community, but some Latino educators opposed the school. In a letter
to members ofthe school board and at a public meeting ofthe board, they arthat the technical focus of the proposed curriculum would perpetuate
ha,:m()s in low or unskilled employment and would educate Latino youth to
entry-level jobs. Instead, they urged the development of
inllD'ratlive. multicultural, bilingual academic curriculum that would enSC\yt"ge rhiklren to pursue higher education rather than assume that the ultichildren is a high school diploma."41 Proponents argued
nurture pride in Latino culture and prepare students for
P~",111. business and technology. The school district ruled that the
~igriificantlvrevisedand resubmitted. The revised proposal was
Robetto Clemente Charter School will open its doors for
September 2000.
learnin" English extend to the adult community as
Anglos that Latinos refuse to learn English,
Anna Adams
there are very few Latinos who do not want to learn. All adult English classes
are full and have long waiting lists. Federal budget cuts have slashed the funds
for ESOL programs at a time when they are most needed and most in demand.
Tom Bruni taught the first formal English class to fourteen Spanish
speakers in 1958 as part ofthe school district's evening program held in Allentown High School. Bruni, who had never taught such a course, came well
prepared with written handouts, but he quickly switched his instructional
methodology when he discovered that some of his students did not read or
write in Spanish or English. Unfortunately, the course only lasted for one
term because ofa particularly harsh winter that made that longjourney from
downtown hard to endure for people who were not accustomed to cold
weather. In 1997, the school district offered four Adult Basic Education
classes that include ESOL and tutoring for the Spanish GED exam.
The Allentown Adult Literacy Center was founded in 1977 to teach
English to the adult community. According to Linda McCrossen, the council's executive director, there is a growing need for basic English classes. In
1997, the council offered 38 classes in 4 locations with 11 teachers. Some 670
students attended those classes (a 15 percent increase over the previous year)
and there are 200 people on the waiting list. At the center's 50th graduation
ceremony in June 1998, 128 students representing 28 countries-among
them Argentina, Syria, Puerto Rico, Morocco, Mexico, China, Vietnam,
Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Russia, Honduras, Chile, Ecuador, Pakistan and Peru-received diplomas and certificates. The ceremony,
~ttended by proud and enthusiastic family members, was followed by an international potluck dinner. "Where else in Allentown would you find all
these different nationalities mixing socially?" asks McCrossen.
Dominican Elsa Vazquez was fortunate to arrive in Allentown in 1979
efore major spending cuts. She spoke no English. At that time the Private
ndustry Council42 was funded to offer English classes and Elsa was able to
tudy there eight hours each day while her children stayed in an on-site
aycare center. Within one year, she was working and speaking English.
It was easy for us thanks to the support the government offered us.
The Carter administration understood well the problems of foreiguers and offered support. If I hadn't had that, I would not be
where I am today.
From History
53
p
Allentown forced that identity on her. As a result, she took ajob in social ser-
Welcome to Allentown:
Tales of Discrimination
vices as the executive director of Casa Guadalupe and became a community
activist.
"The Latino Community should be doing more for itself. There
are a lot ofpeople in that culture who aren't concerned about their
children,,43
The Pennsylvania Dutch ofAllentown, like residents of many small, established American communities, were never especially welcoming to outsid-
ers. In the late nineteenth century, the local paper described immigrants as
"filthy Hungarians," "sheep-faced Polanders," and "pilfering and polygamous Turks." The majority ofthe people interviewed for this book claim to
have felt some form of subtle or blatant discrimination in Allentown, and
many believe that the problem has grown worse in recent years. Some, like
Angel Rodriguez, who has lived in the city for more than twenty years, believe that the public pronouncements of Emma Tropiano have encouraged
some in the Anglo community to voice their heretofore hidden prejudices.
Others believe the most recent Latino arrivals from New York, many of
whom are unemployed and live in the high-crime area of center city, give a
bad reputation to all Latinos. Others point to New Yorkers who come in on
the bus for the day to sell drugs.
Many outsiders, not only Latinos, comment on the particularly conserva-
tive, unwelcoming nature ofAllentown society. Anecdotal evidence suggests
that there may be something unique to Allentown's closed Pennsylvania
Dutch culture that goes even beyond America's general hostility to newcomers. Linda McCrossen grew up in Allentown and returned to the city after she
had been away for fifteen years. Invited to speak to a local Sertoma club, she
by establishing herself as an expert in her field with a recitation of her
cr"denti.als such as her PhD. and work experience. As she was delivering her
notic"d that nobody was paying attention to her. Mterward, when she
'l"eriied
who had invited her to speak as to why this audience that had
interest in her topic appeared so uninterested in her talk:, he adh",,,it'h,,, the future she should list her birth in Allentown as an imporfrankly, people from Allentown are not interested in
list¢J:tjng(6(jutsidel:S," he told her.
N,,<irori. a completely bilingual Nuyorican, moved to Allentown
a professional adult. In New York and in the Midwest
id,iritift"d herself as Latina, but she says her experiences in
Anna Adams
!
Until their recent demise, the downtown department stores, Hess's and
Leh's, were, according to many Latinos, famous for following Latino custom-
ers, watching them closely as they shopped. One white Cuban professional reported that he was scrutinized carefully only after presenting h,s credIt card
with his Spanish surname. The Leh's controversy of 1993 partially stemmed
from this long-held perception. To this day, to avoid suspicion, Margot OrtIZ
shops in Allentown with her hands clasped behind her back.
..
Mter friends painted a mural to commemorate the life of theIr fnend,
Ben Rodriguez, who had shot himself by accident, an angry resident expressed her beliefin a letter to the editor of The Morning Call that there IS, only
room for one culture in Allentown-the Pennsylvama Dutch culture: 'You
don't do a mural like that. You go to people's houses, you offer them money,
you go to church, that's a memorial."
.
In 1992, perhaps in commemoration of the SOOth anmversary of Columbus's arrival, a letter was circulated in Allentown schools urging the for~ation of a white student union "to offer students of European descent an
opportunity to meet with like-minded students to celebrate western values
and their European heritage.""
Latino citizens would not feel welcomed by William Glase, advisor to
Emma Tropiano, who proclaimed: "Rather than Americans adapting to La-
tino lifestyles, Latinos ought to adopt the American lifestyle without dragging
it down."
45
Sonia Oliviera had to laugh when an Anglo woman plopped down next
to her on a bus, clutching her purse, and confessed that she was afraid Puerto
Ricans would steal her money.
Nor have the churches escaped Allentonian hospitality. Mter dozens of
complaints about noise) the Iglesia Pentecostal Misionera was fO,rced .to
tnove twice to a new location. Neighbors have demanded that the CIty eVICt
the church groups "unless they worship the way we do." Another citizen
called to complain to the police fifty times. "It's like a hootenanny...whlle
hey may enjoy that type ofservice, I do not." While it is true that the exuberce of the services tends toward the noisy, the belief that there is only one
ay to worship offends religious Pentecostals.
idden From History
55
f
Following the 1997 Puerto Rican Day parade, an angry Allentonian
wrote to the Morning Call editor:
The Puerto Rican parade went over big onJuly 27, according to The
Morning Call. Puerto Ricans were perched on our Soldiers and
Sailors monument. What's next? That's the first time since my years
living here in Allentown that these people showed no respect for
our monument.
Luis Campos, a Nicaraguan physician who set up a practice in Allentown in 1984, dealt with a reverse prejudice that came from his fellow Latinos. Campos's perception when he set up his practice was that Latinos
preferred to have Anglo doctors treat them even ifthey couldn't speak Spanish. They assumed, says Campos, that Anglos were better trained and more
competent than Latinos. Even though he was one of only two Spanishspeaking doctors in town at the time, it was difficult to establish his practice.
Finding Community:
Living in two Worlds
Given the closed nature of the host culture, perhaps it is not surprising that
the majority ofthe people I interviewed find their community within the Latino community. Most do not socialize with non-Latinos. When they do, it is
pnmarily at work or when non-Latinos have become part of their family.
Most of those who attend church attend a Spanish-speaking church.
Those who are involved with a community organization are involved with a
Latino organization like the Hispanic Political Caucus or the Hispanic Business Council. According to one study, Puerto Ricans in Allentown are
arrlbrlg the most geographically segregated Latino groups in the United
The largest concentration ofLatino residences and businesses is still
in the first and sixth wards ofdowntown Allentown. Some Latitheir way into the more suburban areas of the city, but it
even in the second generation, Allentown's Anglo and Las§#J.iri.ciriit:ies exist, for the most part, in separate worlds geographically,
s6'Ciallii
po'ssible to exist in an all-Spanish world in Allentown, eatconsulting with Spanish doctors and dentists,
sh,oPI~in,gin uoa~gas, w,on,hipirlg in Spanish churches, attending Spanish so-
Anna Adams
I
cial clubs, playing on a Latino soccer team. In the city's retail stores such as
K-Mart and TJ Maxx, announcements are made over the public address system in Spanish and English. Pamphlets in government offices are available in
Spanish. Gloria Ortiz lived in Allentown for eleven years before she decided
to study English at the Adult Literacy Center. Juan Estevez, an erudite
68-year-old retired schoolteacher from the Dominican Republic, came to
Allentown in 1993 to join family. Today he works as a custodian at Casa
Guadalupe. Although he would like to learn English, he gets a headache
whenever he tries. Since he lives with family, works at Casa, and attends a
Spanish-speaking Methodist Church, it doesn't seem worth the pain to him.
Language is not the only factor that determines which world people inhabit. In the Ortiz household, the grandparents, Margot and Jorge, speak
Spanish, their children speak English and Spanish, and their grandchildren
speak only English. All three generations understand both languages and communication is no problem. Many Latinos who speak English fluently still exist
in a primarily Latino world circumscribed for the most part by a cultural barrio.
Maria Marcano carne to Allentown when she was four years old speaking very
little English. Today she feels more comfortable in her second language and
prefers to speak English. Maria is a second-year student at Pennsylvania State
University, but her world beyond college is Latino. Her home is in the Cumberland Gardens housing project where most ofher neighbors are Latino, she
goes to a Spanish Pentecostal church, and works with Latino children at Casa
Gllad.alupe. Her husband and all her friends are Latino.
Twenty-six-year-old Jackie Morales is more comfortable in English alth(m~:h she speaks unaccented English and Spanish. She moved to Allentown with her parents in 1985 from Camden, New Jersey. As a child in
Camden, she spoke English with her mother and Spanish with her father.
She learned to read Spanish in order to sing in the church choir and considers it a second, learned language.
As the secretary ofthe Spanish Apostolate ofSacred Heart Church, most
her day is spent speaking in Spanish. Ironically, it is in Allentown as an
that she is beginning to learn about her culture and language. Lately,
feels more Puerto Rican than ever before. Through her job, where she
required to write in Spanish, she realized that much ofwhat she thought
good Spanish was actually "Spanglish." She began to study her language.
learned from new friends Spanish sayings that she never knew, and she
learned a lot about Puerto Rican culture and holidays from recent arrivals
who had been born and raised on the island. Now she listens almost exclusively to Spanish music, watches Univision on television and is learning how
to cook pasteles. Linguistically, Jackie lives comfortably in two worlds, but
culturally her world offriends, work, church and entertainment is all Latino.
Guillermo Lopez was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to Puerto Rican parents. He was raised in a tight Puerto Rican family speaking Spanish
and English, eating rice and beans, going to church. When he began working
at Bethlehem Steel after high school, he went by the name ofWilliam. His
co-workers called him Bill. As Bill, he married another second-generation
Puerto Rican and began a family. Years later, as he became active in the Latino community, he changed his name back to Guillermo. Today, when this
large, friendly Latino man introduces himself, he says, "I am Guillermo
Lopez," because being Puerto Rican is who he is. Curiously, his daughter,
who grew up knowing her father as William, is, according to Guillermo, the
most "American in the family." His young son, who knows his father as
Guillermo, wears aT-shirt with a Puerto Rican flag.
As a teacher of English as a Second Language with the Allentown Adult
Literacy Council, Carmen de Jesus is completely comfortable in English, so
comfortable, in fact, that she sometimes finds herself thinking in English.
She learned through immersion, that is, the sink-or-swim method, when
she came to NewYork from Puerto Rico as a ten-year-old child. She believes
that is the best way to learn and refuses to translate for her students.
Carmen, her husband and three of her four children came to Allentown from Puerto Rico in 1994. She found work almost immediately in
Los NiflOs Day Care Center and then at the Hispanic American Organiza-
the song all Puerto Rican children learn in schools-"uentana-window,
puerta-door, maestra-teacher, piso-floor." Today he speaks unaccented English and believes strongly that it is possible and necessaty to "walk both sides
ofthe equation." The Ramos children, who choose to identity themselves as
Puerto Rican, may not speak Spanish fluently, but they know their rice and
beans from childhood Sundays at their grandparents' house. And they know
their prayers in Spanish because they attended the Spanish-speaking Catholic church of their father's childhood.
tion as a casework manager. Her community in work, in church and in her
family is a Latino community. Simply put, she is more comfortable culturamlonlg Latinos. She explains: "No es 10 mismo yo ir al Giant que al Little
.lit'Pt"Nlar,ket." (It's not the same for me to shop at the Giant as in the Little
she is in public Anglo establishments, like the subS1.11DeIm,ark:et. she feels that she has to speak English so that
cOInfixt"bl,e. She thinks that Anglos feel frightened when
Latinos live comfortably in two worlds. Because of his
sweetheart, a woman ofirish and Ukrainian detwo cultures. He came to the Lehigh Valley from
six-year-old. The only English he knew was from
Lou Ramos and his bride Sharon, 1974.
(Courtesy of Lou Ramos)
Lou, who is equally at home at the Puerto Rican Club or the golf club,
takes issue with those who claim that they will lose their culture if they are
forced to learn English. Professionally, as the head of community relations
for the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company, and personally in his community activities, Lou works tirelessly to assist Latinos to succeed. As the
president of the Hispanic Business Council, he has been involved in educational endeavors that give scholarships to help youngsters attend college.
From his own experience, he knew that tuition money was often available to
minority youths, but money to buy books and clothes was harder to come
by. Each year the council awards several $500 scholarships that go directly to
the students "so they can present themselves well and make a good impression." Lou also understands the difficulties of filling out a college application, knowing how to apply for financial aid, involving parents in the
seemingly mysterious process. Sf, se puede (Yes, you can) is a step-by-step bilingual guide to applying for college preparedby the Business Council under
his direction. His marriage to a non-Latina woman andhis professional success in the Anglo world, coupled with his determination not to forget the
community he carne from have put Lou Ramos right in the middle of two
worlds-a place where he feels very comfortable.
Marty Velazquez III, who grew up in a bicultural family as the son of a
Puerto Rican father and a Pennsylvania Dutch mothet, says that only as an
adult did he realize that he was being raised with twO different cultures and
he, too, lives happily in both worlds. Since his mother had the primary responsibility for raising the children while her husband worked three different jobs, Marty grew up speaking only English, but fondly remembers the
parandas (Christmas festivities) at Christmas and the summer pig roasts in
the backyard. As an adult, Marty ran for political office, not to represent Latisp"cifically, but to oppose laws that punished poor people, such as Engthe law against repairing cars in the street. The people most
laws happened to be Latino. Velazquez, married to a
Pennsylvania Dutch descent, still does not speak Spanto Puerto Rico, but he is very much identified as Latm,m'ber ofthe Alianza Latina and was the grand marshal
Day parade.
The Family
"In the North American ethic the center is the individual: in Hispanic orals the true protagonist is the family."
Octavia Paz
Almost every textbook on Latin American culture stresses the importance of
the family. Kinship, not necessarily determined by blood, is central to Latin
American life. Women do not drop their family names when they marry and
children use the names of both parents. Latin Americans depend on family
for support, but it is also the source of their identity and prestige and the
most natural means of gaining contacts. Most of the people I interviewed
came to Allentown because a relative had already settled there, and most of
those people have maintained close ties with their families. When asked
where they found their community, the most frequent response was "en fa
familia." Many visit with their families daily, not just on birthdays and holidays. Every Sunday Margot Ortiz's entire family (with ten grandchildren
and ten great-grandchildren) gets together. Margot's granddaughter Pinky
says, "Cuando hacemos un party) no es necesario mandar invitaciones porque con
basta." (When we have a party, we don't have to send invitations because there's enough just with us.)
Absolute admiration and respect for la madre and, by extension, la abuda
(grandmother), are common features of Latino family life. As one observer
of Latin American family culture wrote: "In Latin America, grandmothers
are normally as close to living sainthood as any mortal can be."" When I
questioned a friend about the prospect ofher elderly grandmother coming to
live with her, she replied, 'We Latinos don't do nursing homes. That is unthinkable." Many interviews included observations such as: "My mother
was stronger than my father," (Anibal Diaz) or "My mom is the focus ofthe
family. She's the one that gets everything done," (Madeline Santos) and "In
our culture the mother plays the strongest role. The father is always a little
removed," (Margie Maldonado).
Elsie Martinez Pletz's mother passed away two years ago, but she is still
very much alive for Elsie, who has dedicated her life to fulfilling her
mother's dreams for her. When Elsie was born in 1956 in Caguas, Puerto
Rico, her mother was studying at the University of Puerto Rico to become a
teacher. Because she wanted a better life for her four children, the family
moved to Allentown in 1960 and Mrs. Martinez (whose degree from UPR
n050tr05
was not recognized here and whose English was not very good) gave up her
dream of being a teacher. "So many times I would see her cry because she
didn't have the certificate to teach." Elsie's parents chose to live where there
were no other Hispanics. They wanted their four children to be completely
assimilated into American culture and to grow up to be American kids. Even
though the parents spoke Spanish at home, her mother insisted that the children speak English among themselves. She hired tutors to help the children
with their English until they spoke fluently without accents. Mr. and Mrs.
Martinez took the bus to William Allen High School to evening English
classes.
Elsie was placed in the vocational-technical program when she entered
high school in 1971, despite the fact that she had been an A and B student at
Trexler Junior High and had not applied to that program. "My mother h,t
the ceiling" when the counselor told her that her child was not college material. Mter her courses were changed, Elsie stayed on the honor roll for most
ofher high school career. In 1975, she entered Kutztown University to study
education, but during her first year she became pregnant. "The hardest thing
was to tell my mom that I'd screwed up." But, reflects Elsie, I should have
known that my mother would stand behind me, and she did by taking care of
the baby. Mrs. Martinez's daughter was not going to be a college dropout or a
welfare mother. She told Elsie that for the next three years she would eat,
sleep and think education. She was not allowed to date until she graduated,
which she did a semester early by going summers. "She pushed me. If it
weren't for her, I don't know where I would be right now."
Mter Kutztown, Elsie taught in the Teachers' Corps and as an ESOL
teacher. She received an MA from Lehigh University, worked as the ESOL
coordinator for the Allentown School District and is currently the acting
prm(:Ip:al at the Lincoln School, the only Latina principal in the district. "I
mother is watching over me. She planned my life. It was like an
tvventv-th,·ee-v"ar.,old Olga Cosme, the family is everything and
a"te,'rrrin"d to continue the traditions ofher grandmother and mother.
gr:#l(IIl1()tl,er brought her eleven children to Allentown (where she
when the oldest child had graduated from high
go to college. It would have been unthinkable to her
alone, without the company of his entire family.
old, her mother, fearing that her children would
Ann~
AO:l.ms
lose their culture, moved them back to Puerto Rico for seven years. Then,
when Olga finished the 11th grade in Puerto Rico, the family moved back to
Allentown, so that Olga could attend the state college. Both ofthese women
planned their lives around their children, and Olga believes that that's the
way it should be in families. As the oldest cousin (of 35 on her mother's
side!), she takes her job as role model seriously. So far, three of her cousins
followed her to Penn State when they were ready for college.
Olga sees her mother daily. Mter work, she goes to her mother's house
to visit and to pick up the meal her mother has prepared for Olga and her
husband, who both work. On the weekends, they cook for her or take her
out. They also attend Pentecostal Church with her family three or four times
each week. Even their conversion from Catholicism to Pentecostalism is
rooted in family tradition. Since Olga's mother's oldest sister had converted
and the oldest served as the family role model, Olga's mother and next five
siblings also converted, followed by Olga and her brother. Now half the
family is Catholic and half is Pentecostal, "but that doesn't interfere in the
way we get together. We don't drink or dance when the Catholic side has a
party~
and they don't expect liquor or music when they come to our parties."
Olga insists that her "immediate family" includes her 35 cousins, but
that the notion of family goes even beyond blood ties to include neighbors.
She quotes a Puerto Rican saying: "Tufamilia es tu tlefino, pues cuando llega una
emergencia, son los primeros que estan aUi." (Your family is your neighbor, because in an emergency, they're the first ones there.) Olga loves Allentown
and that's why she returned after conege. But she also knows, "If! wanted to
live in Texas, my morn would go there."
Church
Since the Spanish conquest in 1492, the Catholic Church has been the most
powerful institution in Latin America. In less than 100 years, the Spanish
conquistadores, in the name oftheir Lord, Jesus Christ, physically subdued an
entire continent. Initially many of the indigenous people embraced Christianity if only to save themselves from slaughter, but the Catholic Church
became dominant and Catholicism was the official religion in the Spanish
colonies. Even after independence and the anti-clericalism ofthe nineteenth
century, the Church maintained, if not its economic power, its social and
cultural hegemony. The great majority of Latin Americans were at least
nominally Catholic and much of their lives centered around the Church.
Evety small village was dominated by the church building in its central
square; evety important event from birth to marriage to death was celebrated
in the Church. In most places the Church was the social center as well. But
the Catholic Church has faced strong competition ever since the mid-twentieth century. In most Latin American countries and among Latinos in the
United States, Protestant churches, especially Pentecostal churches, are the
fastest-growing churches. The central role of religion, however, has not diminished. The great majority of the people interviewed for this book found
their sense ofcommunity in their family and in their church. For many, particularly Pentecostals, the church and the family are almost inseparable.
Madeline Santos grew up in a Pentecostal family in Allentown. For a
while, the church was a family enterprise. Her grandmother, who worked the
streets ofAllentown as a missionary, founded several one-room churches. She
would preach, Madeline would sing and her uncle would play the guitar and
tambourine. Later, the family attended a more established Pentecostal church.
"I loved the church. The pastor was like my uncle; all my friends were there."
CI1Ul"Ch groups have been involved with Latinos in Allentown since the
the first migrant workers began to arrive. Protestant pastors regumeetings in the migrant camps. Headline news on August 19,
M,ornrnp Call read: "Seven Puerto Ricans are Converted at Camp
the Ministers League of Allentown's Lehigh County
MIPT,m' Workers had appointed the first Spanish-speaking
Sn£p!:i.!\t *~4"j'<it;1I1 S1:udent from the Rhode Island Bible Institute, to migrant
w¢;tJ<:'¥#~; @atJj()lic Spmiish-sp'ealcing priests also offered Mass in the camps,
ih,>re were
The majority of Latinos in Allentown identitY themselves as Catholic.
Of the 6573 registered Catholics in the diocese, 2200 families are registered
members of Sacred Heart Church. The Spanish Apostolate of Sacred Heart
employs two full-time priests, three Immaculate Heart of Mary sisters and
two deacons. Sacred Heart offers Mass in Spanish daily and publishes a
weekly bilingual newsletter besides conducting several programs such as
cursillo de cristianidadJ encuentro matrimonial, ministro de musica and renovaci6n
carismatica to its members. (Courses in Christianity, marriage encounters,
· · renewaI.)49
music ministry and chansmatlC
Father John Bisek offered Spanish Mass to a small congregation when
he came to Allentown in 1965 to minister to Latino Catholics. Today,
Sunday masses are standing room only, but Dionisio Santana and Margot
Ortiz remember that only a handful of people attended Father Bisek's first
Spanish masses held in the church basement. Before Father Bisek, Margot
Ortiz remembers, the entire Mass was in English except for the "Our Father," which the few Puerto Ricans were invited to recite in Spanish.
The Lutherans began an Hispanic ministry, San Marrin de Porres, in
1984. Pastora Ivis LaRiviere Mestre from Puerto Rico has been serving that
congregation ofapproximately 30 families ofPuerto Ricans, Guatemalans, Peruvians, Mexicans and Salvadorans since 1991. Pastora Ivis thinks she understands what it is to be without community after the culture shock she
experienced at the Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia. Everything she encountered there was northern European-the food, the music, the biblical
orientation. She missed her'iarge family, she had no warm clothes, and she
found herself in a coed dorm!
Francisco Francesqui was sent from Puerto Rico in 1985 to begin a Spanish ministry for the Methodist Church. Another Methodist Hispanic ministty
is the First Free Methodist Church begun in 1971 by Puerto Rican Juan
Pizarro. Curiously, the majority ofthe parishioners in this church are Dominican, many ofwhom were Catholic in their native country, but found a familiar community of Dominicans in the Methodist Church in Allentown.
Santeda, a Christian religion with roots in Mrican spiritism, was born in
Cuba in the seventeenth century when Mrican slaves, forced to convert to
Catholicism, secretly fused the two religions by assigning Catholic saints'
faces and names to their own gods. The secret nature of santerIa has survived
with the religion, and there are no santeria churches. The hundreds of
bottinicas (stores that sell religious items, such as candles, lotions, herbs and
no Spanish worship services in the city.
Hidden From History
65
statues) are the only public manifestations of the religion in the northeast's
cities that attest to its popularity among transplanted Cubans, Puerto Ricans
and Dominicans. Latinos ofall religions consult with santeros, or use the various herbs and potions sold in botanicas. Carlota del Portillo, Ph.D., niece of a
bishop, told Earl Shorris in an interview for his book, Latinos: Biography ofthe
People, "Of course I sec a medio (medium). Every Puerto Rican sees one."so
Allentown had two botdnicas until June 1998 when Lazaro Generoso
Castaneda died after a would-be robber shot him in the leg in his store on
Seventh Street. Castaneda bled to death on the sidewalk as his pleas for help
were ignored by passers-by. Help arrived too late to save him. In 1999, the
Chango Botanica also closed.
It is the Pentecostal churches ofAllentown, though, that are really flourishing. 51 The twenty or so Pentecostal churches have an average ofabout 100
members who attend services three or four times each week.
sisters, and the pastor is a warm and caring father. Strict rules provide struc-
ture that may be missing in the community at large. Church members cannotdrink, smoke or dance. In the more conservative churches women are
not allowed to wear pants, jewelry or makeup or to cut their hair. Some
eighty-three percent ofchurchgoers attend regularly at least three times per
week. For many, social life also revolves around the church and church activities such as evangelizing crusades, Sunday School teaching, retreats, and
the planning ofworship services.
Edwin Colon worked as an agent for the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation in Puerto Rico. Suddenly he experienced "un ardiente desea de
trabajar en misiones que caus6 un terrem.oto en m; hogar. (a burning desire to work
as a missionary that caused an earthquake in my home.) Edwin and his wife,
a teacher, gave up their jobs and began two years ofstudy at an American BiJI
ble institute in Puerto Rico in order to prepare themselves to become mis-
sionaries. In 1992, the Colons opened their First Corinthians church with
seventeen people. After two years of intense door to door missionary work,
their church membership had grown to ninety. The church, like most ofthe
Pentecostal churches, survives through donations and tithes. Pastor Colon
works as a night security guard at the Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital in order to support his family. Although less sophisticated work than his
job as an insurance agent in Puerto Rico, it allows him to minister to his
church members, attend church four times each week and occupy his mind
with religion.
No matter what the religion, the Latino churches of Allentown are
thriving. Catholic, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witness and Methodist churches have active congregations that demonstrate the importance of religion among Latinos.
bai'tis1", at one ofAllentown's Pentecostal churches.
(Courtesy of The Morning Call)
q!'1'lat,ely sixtee,n percent of Allentown's Latinos attend the city's
their exuberant services, held in Spanish, Latinos
Ch,jfCh where the prayer is spontaneous and intense, the
Fl1ytlim,ic;,l, the other worshipers are loving brothers and
Anna Adams
Hidden From History
67
Stories:
History is the collective memory of a people
The following stories, based on oral history interviews, are meant to illustrate the great diversity ofthe people who make up Allentowu's Latino community. Some were born here, some came as children, some as adults. They
are of different religions, nationalities, and socia-economic status. Allen-
towu is home to them all.
Miriam Rodriguez Reyes: From drug addict to church deacon
Miriam is the volunteer supervisor of a shelter and rehabilitation center for
drug-addicted women sponsored by the Vida Nueva Pentecostal Church.
She is a very intelligent, well-spoken and street-wise woman of about forty
who, until 1990, was a drug addict herselfwho had spent more than twenty
years on the streets, buying, selling and stealing drugs.
Miriam was born to Puerto Rican parents in New York. She spent her
childhood in various cities in New Jersey attending Catholic schools and
getting in trouble. By thirteen she was smoking pot and drinking. She married at age sixteen, dropped out of high school and had three children. Her
drug-addicted husband got her started on heroin and then left her. In 1980,
she wound up in Allentowu. She managed to find a job and an apartment,
register her children in school and was doing fine for a while until she began
meeting the "wrong people." Before she knew it, she was back on drugs and
involved with a man who beat her and stole her rnoney. For the next ten
years, she lived between Allentowu, Puerto Rico, New Jersey and Florida
following different men, running from others, trying unsuccessfully to
break her heroin addiction and "looking for something spiritual within me
feel God." For a while she practiced Islam. She managed to hold
VariousjolJS in social services for briefperiods-"-she even worked as a
a\coh.ol counselor while she was addicted to heroin. "I was taking
than my clients. I was guiding them right to hell."
AlJelltc'Wll, she encountered her former babysitter who invited
a¢,:ornp:my her to church. "I used to wear a lot ofjewelry, thick
every finger. This woman said to me, 'Jesus has been
(;;jlJipgY'§~'at1ldt6daYis
day. All those rings on your fingers will be taken
going to take my jewelry. I went to church and
he:it"iiigrh,e~ "/OT'O<, L""t:J[llI]l~to the preacher's testimony I began to cry
1*~lgpl(;c:!.'--.L1()IDO,:ly'S
Anna Adams
because it was like my own. Every time I tried to change, 1couldn't. He said,
'if anyone is feeling like this and you want to stop...' yes, I wanted that and
my hands got all swollen. One of my rings broke and 1 remembered my
words that nobody would take them. I opened my heart to the Lord and 1felt
so warm and peaceful."
The center that Miriam now runs is one that she says she envisioned be-
fore her conversion. She believes that the Lord was speaking to her by sending her visions and that her various jobs in the social work field were meant
as preparation for her present mission. She studied at a biblical institute to
prepare herself to teach Bible studies. She is a deacon in her church.
The women who corne to the shelter must agree to its strict rules and
tight schedule. They can have no communication with men except their legal husbands. They cannot wear any skimpy clothes. They may not leave the
shelter except to go to church. Miriam's new husband, a former gang memberwho met the Lord while injail in Puerto Rico, helps her with the center
and holds dowu two otherjobs. Having tried many other methods, they both
beheve that Jesus is the only way to kick the heroin habit.
Carmen Arroyo: An object lesson in determination
Carmen Arroyo sits at the computer in her office at the Neighborhood
Housing Office in center city. This attractive, confident, efficient 35-yearold woman has traveled a long and difficult road to her present successful life
in Allentowu. Ever since the violent death of her parents when she was nine
years old, Carmen dreamed of being independent. Shifted back and forth
among relatives, trying to be useful so they wouldn't send her away, Carmen
was determined to finish high school, get ajob and support herself Having
completed a secretarial course in high school in Sanjuan, Puerto Rico, she
began to work, moved into her owu apartment and was happy for the first
time since her parents' death. "I thought 1was set for life, but then 1 fell in
love (or so I thought), got married, had a child right away... ." While her husband was in Germany with the military for two years, Carmen trained as a
dental assistant and took care of their child. Mter his tour in Germany, her
husband was assigned to California-Carmen and the baby went with him,
but after two years and another child, the marriage was not working and
Carmen returned to Puerto Rico to start all over again. Fortunately, the dentIst for whom she had worked hired her back again. Life was good until her
22-year-old brother died ofcancer. "Life gave me another punch in the face."
Hidden From History
69
Soon she discovered that the constant illness of her youngest daughter,
which required frequent hospitalization, was caused by an allergy to Puerto
Rican weather.
In 1987, relatives in Allentown invited Carmen and her daughters to
stay with them until she could establish herself. Her determination to be
independent was not enough this time. With her poor Enghsh, she went
everywhere in search of ajob-McCrory's, Wendy's, factones. She even
voluneered to work for free for a dentist to keep up her skills and to get her
foot in any door. But after a luckless year, she had to accept welfare and
move with her daughters into Hanover Acres housing project. Three years
later Carmen found herselfwith another failed marriage and another ch,ld.
"I couldn't believe it. I had been the perfect wife and mother. Why does life
keep hitting me this way?" With Thanksgiving and Christmas approaching,
Carmen found herselfwith no money for food or presents and then "I met
the person who was the turning point in my life." It was Rafael Perez, the
community policeman in the housing project where she lived. He supphed
her with presents for the children and holiday dinners. One day he appeared at her door, "Stop crying. I have the perfect job for you.."
While working as an intern at the Neighborhood Housmg Office,
Carmen enrolled in a degree program to become a legal assistant. She
worked days, attended classes at night, and practiced her English in every
spare moment. Without the help and encouragement ofher neighbors in the
project, Carmen says she never would have been able to keep up the gruelmg
schedule of taking the bus to work, working all day, taking the bus home,
cooking and feeding the three children, taking the bus back to school, and returning home at 10:00 to study until 3:00 in the morning. But her old determination kicked in again. "1 didn't want to be adependent person anymore. I
wanted a better life for my children-provided only by me. I wanted to
and the world that hard work pays off."
graduation (with excellent grades), the agency turned Carmen's
a full-time job. She has saved money and leased a house w,th
but she misses the supportive community she had in the
goes back to visit whenever she can. Her three children
school and they are exceedingly proud oftheir mother.
I()"e,tlJlentmml. This is the place where I was reborn. This is
Anibal Diaz: "I have always had faith in people and good luck"
Anihal Diaz's faith in people and his good luck have brought him a long way
over the last eighty-two years from Cuba to Allentown. He grew up in
Matanzas, Cuba, one of seven children, studied pedagogy at the University
of Havana and was doing quite well in his career in 1960 when Fidel Castro
came to power. His sympathies were with Castro and the Cuban Revolution, however his brother, Oscar, a military man and a colonel in the army,
sat on the opposite side ofthe political fence and was involved in a conspiracy
to overthrow Castro. Because, as family, their closeness transcended political
differences, Anihal and Oscar often spent time together until one night they
were arrested because of Oscar's activities. They were held for two nights
and Oscar was tortured. Upon his release, Anihal realized it was time to leave
Cuba. His family, like so many others, was torn apart over the politics ofthe
Cuban revolution.
Through a Venezuelan friend, he got a job with UNESCO and left
Cuba with his wife and two young daughters for Venezuela. His sense of
good luck and faith in people paid offwhen his first paycheck was stolen and
some friends and neighbors took up a collection for him and his family. Nter
a brief sojourn in Venezuela, the Diaz family entered the United States as
refugees. For a teacher of language, the timing was right. At a time when
Americans were most interested in studying foreign languages, Diaz's talents
and training served him well, although one of his earliest terrible memories
of the United States was having to make a phone call in English.
A refugee placement program in Miami sent Diaz to Fair, South Dakota,
where he and his family saw their first snow and almost froze to death. Once
again, people were good to him. He remembers that when the snow drifted
so high that he could not open his front door his students came to dig them
out. A neighboring farm family brought milk for the children each day.
Having survived a winter in South Dakota, they moved to Atlanta,
Georgia, Trotsville, Alabama, and finally to Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, where he was to train Cuban refugees as Spanish teachers. Even-
tually, the Diazes wound up in Allentown where Anihal taught Spanish at
the high school from 1965 to 1986. Ironically he had visited Allentown
twenty years earlier when he was attending a summer school session at Columbia University. A two-page article in the Sunday Call-Chronicle documented that visit to the "America of dreams." Anfbal Dfaz's dreams have
been fulfilled in his more than twenty years of life in Allentown. He has
Anna Adams
Hidden From History
71
had a successful teaching career, watched his two daughters grow up (he
attributes their success in part to the fact that they are bilingual) and has
made many friends along the way.
Julio Guridy: "The most important thing is to give back to the community"
Julio Guridy has been giving back to the community, it would seem, even
before he "owed" anything. He began his commitment as a student at East
Stroudsburg University, working as a volunteer with the Upward Bound
program that had helped him when he was in highschool. As of1997, he had
worked with more than twenty-five community service organizations. He
was president ofthe Alianza Latina, and had served on the board ofdirectors of
Hagar Crea, Valley Youth House, Red Cross, Wiley House and the Spanish
Council, an Allentown task force on drugs and alcohol, and the Community
Action Committee ofthe Lehigh Valley. He also served as a commissioner for
the Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs.
Julio spent the first ten years ofhis life in the small town ofMiches, Dominican Republic. His grandparents raised him on a farm where they grew
all their own food. It was a poor farm without indoor plumbing or electricity.
He rode in a car for the first time when he was eight years old. 'We were
poor, but I didn't know how other people lived, so it wasn't bad." In 1970,
when he was ten, he and his two sisters moved to the capital where they lived
in a one-bedroom apartment with their aunt, uncle and three cousins. When
Through Upward Bound, Julio spent six weeks one summer at East
Stroudsburg University and was accepted there as a student after he graduated from high school. In 1980, less than 1 percent ofthe 3,000 students were
Latinos, but there was a Latin American student organization that promoted
interest in Latin America. Julio became the president of the club, which
sponsored a Latin American artists' exhibit, chartered a bus to go to New
York to see "Evita," brought in films and lecturers. It seems that he has always been an organizer at heart. He approached other student groups and
asked them to help with funding for the club's activities. "I found out that a
lot of people were willing to help." Julio also worked with Upward Bound
helping to recruit students like himself.
Nter college, Julio went to graduate school in sociology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He finished his M.A. in public administration in
1985 and went to the Dominican Republic to visit family. He returned with
$300 in.his pocket, no place to live, no job and nothing to eat. By this time,
hIS famIly had moved to Florida. A friend gave him some money to rent a
room and invited him to take meals with his family until he found work
.Although he was willing to work at anyjob and applied for many, it was a
whIle before he finally found a job as a probation officer at a Northampton
C~unty detention center. A friend overheard a conversation in which an apphcant confessed that he'd been hired for his job because his wife was the
judge's secretary. "I started noticing that there was a lot of politics to play."
he was thirteen his mother, who had been living in Puerto Rico and working
He became involved in voter registration drives and worked on a friend's
in a restaurant, sent for him and his sisters. He went to school and worked in
campaign for judge.
the restaurant for a year. Like many other Latinos who moved to the Lehigh
Valley, Julio wound up here because offamily ties. His mother's Puerto Rican husband had a brother in Bethlehem who had gone there because he had
a cousin who had moved there from New York Julio was fifteen and spoke
English. Fortunately, his family moved first to Bethlehem where a new
bilitlgualprogram helped him to learn English and keep up with his schoolaided further by the Upward Bound program, which provided
homework and help in filling out college applications. BelJr.w:.rdBound and his strong mother, he says he managed to stay
and alcohol that many of his classmates were involved
students at Freedom High School were white,Julio
bttri,en(js there, but "not the kind where I go to their house
Later Juho worked as a caseworker for Lehigh County Children and
Youth Services, as the executive director ofthe Council ofSpanish Speaking
OrganIzatiOns and eventually wound up as an assistant manager ofFirst Val-
ley Bank He describes the move as a transition from the world of human
services to the world of finance, but in the spirit by which he has always
hved~ as a banker he works to revitalize communities by granting loans to
low-mcome families. ThroughJulio's efforts, the bank (now Summit Bank)
sponsors community organizations such as the Spanish Council and the
Boys and Girls Clubs. His bank has sponsored a Latino program at Mayfair
and a Mundo Hispano television program. It supports the Hispanic American .Organization, grants low-interest mortgage loans with no points and organizes counseling programs and seminars for first-time home buyers.
"
72
Anna Adams
Hidden From History
73
In 1992, he married Mercedes, a Dominican woman whom he had met in
1985 on that trip to his homeland after receiving his M.A. They had their first
child in 1994. Mercedes runs the travel agency that they opened in 1993.
Julio Guridy firmly believes that "the only way we can survive as a society
is by being able to tolerate each other a little bit more and to help each other."
He lives by those words. OnJanuary 20, 1999,Julio announced his candidacy
for Allentown City Council. He won the primary election as an unopposed
candidate that May, but lost in the general election in November.
Miriam Rodas:
At Christmas time especially, Miriam remembers her family's Guatemalan traditions. She misses the typical feast of tamales after the Christmas
Eve service of misa de galla and the noise of exploding firecrackers at dawn
with which Guatemalans welcome all holidays, but she does her best to provide her children with that same sense of tradition. The walls of her living
room are decorated with brightly colored Guatemalan dolls and at holiday
tIme, the house is filled with typical marimba music. Her oldest son can't
wait to eat her tamales when they get together. Her 16-year-old son,Josue,
has been twice to visit his grandparents in Guatemala, and, even though he
was born in the United States, he says that he feels more Guatemalan than
"My inheritance from my parents is to raise my children well"
American.
Amidst the seeming commotion of a barking dog and chattering birds, there
reigns a sense of peace in Miriam Rodas's house. Miriam is a soft-spoken,
gentle religious woman who was born and raised in Guatemala City with her
five brothers and sisters. She remembers Guatemala fondly and misses its vibrant colors and beautiful countryside that she came to know traveling with
her fathe~ on his jobs as a government construction worker.
She came to the United States in 1978 with her husband and two children, a son and a daughter, hoping to provide more opportunities for her
children. She does not regret that decision. The Rodas family went first to
California where Miriam's brother-in-law lived and then to New Jersey to
join a brother ofMiriam's. Three more boys were born in NewJersey. One
day in 1989, Miriam's husband returned home from his truck drivingjob to
report that he'd found a wonderful place for them to live. "Yo Sf que te va a
gustar," (I know you'll like it) he told his wife and he was right. Since they
moved to Allentown, their three younger children have done very well in
school, and they have been able to buy their own house. Marlene, their
The family also has found a warm and loving community in the San
Martin de Porres Lutheran Church in Allentown. They were drawn to the
church after meeting Pastor Ivis Mestre while their daughter was still sick.
Every Sunday the entire family goes to church where they dedicate the day to
God. Miriam is sure that God has been watching over them and has restored
health to their daughter and brought them all their good fortune.
daughter who was diagnosed with leukemia, has been in remission, has mar-
has a daughter of her own. Miriam also speaks with great pride of
a policeman in Plainfield, NJ.
Miriam's siblings live nearby and they see one another often.
20llrllrlOInity revolves around her brothers and sisters, nieces and nephgrandchildren. The family maintains its Guatemalan herifh:'1u,ent gatherings where Miriam's wonderful food takes
hi/"C"'''. jocon, and pallo pipidn she prepares for her family
btiril!'cfobldjtjel.TIories oltbeautiful Guatemala.
74
Anna Adams
Gloria Alamos: "I like to remember because memories are life"
Gloria Alamos is confined to awheelchair because ofsevere arthritis. "Today
I admIre myselfbecause there's no way a kid ofthat age today could do what I
did." In 1946, 13-year-old adventurous Gloria Alamos borrowed some
money from a wealthy aunt, bought a plane ticket and came to NewYork all
by herself She left Puerto Rico where her father worked as a farmer and her
mother worked in a tobacco factory thinking that ajourney to NewYork was
like a trip to the next town. "When I got to La Guardia, I felt like screaming
untIl I dIed because it was so different. I was expecting something more
beautiful." What a surprise for a little girl who spokejust a few words ofEnghsh. She asked the taxi driver to take her to New York City, a place she had
seen in the movies and had thought to herself, "one day, I'll be there."
Although she knew nobody in NewYork, Gloria managed to meet people who helped her out. Soon she was being trained as a nurse's assistant at
Bellevue Hospital and living at Saint Vincent's shelter. With her nurse's aide
certificate, she found work and housing at a hospital, bought herself some
clothes and shoes and began to enjoy herself But, she thought, she needed
more security and a place of her own to live. She found what she saw as the
answer to her problems when she met and married a man 45 years her se-
Hidden From History
7<;
nior. Despite the lack oflove, Gloria remembers her 14-year-old self, thinking, '''Now I'm married, I have ajob, I have a home.' Ifhe died tomorrow I
didn't care. That was me," she says. The man had children whom Gloria was
expected to care for, but she was a kid herself. The youngest was older than
she was! After she'd had three children of her own and was pregnant with
twins, her husband died unexpectedly. But Gloria is a fighter. She found a
woman to take care of her children and got ajob in a hospital working two
shifts. She tried marriage a second time "and I flunked." He died too.
Gloria was living with her sister, also a widow with children. After a
friend told them about Allentown, the two sisters went there just to visit in
1975. Gloria didn't like it one bit. Even though you could leave your doors
open in Allentown, it was boring, no excitement. But her sister convinced
her that Allentown would be a good place to raise their children, so they
found an apartment and some jobs and stayed. It turned out to be a good
move for her children, who went to school in Allentown and loved the city.
In Allentown, Gloria met and married a man she had known as a little
girl in Puerto Rico. "He's the last one. He knew me at the beginning and
now at the end." Gloria still doesn't like Allentown and she dreams about going back to Puerto Rico one of these days. In the meantime, she finds her
community in her family with her 53 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren. She attends Bethania Pentecostal Church regularly and visits with
friends at Casa Guadalupe's Senior Center. She remains philosophical:
"Here I am stuck in nowhere. I never liked Pennsylvania. This is not for me,
moved to Allentown, una ciudad que parecia de las peliculas (a city from the movies), in 1963. Eduardo recalls that because ofAllentown's large textile industry there was a sizable Jewish community in the city and that is where the
Eichenwalds found their community. Eduardo served as the financial vice
president of the Jewish Day School and as the president of Congregation
Sons of Israel. After the demise of Allentown's textile industry, Eduardo
founded his own computer company, MicroAge Data System Technologies.
All the Eichenwalds speak Spanish, and they have maintained their Colombian heritage by traveling to Colombia frequently to visit family.
Margie Maldonado: Grateful to her mother
but I'm here."
Margie Maldonado thanks her mother for everything she is today. Her parents, both from Puerto Rico, met in New York in 1954. Margie's mother
taught her four daughters from the beginning to be independent. She told
them that getting an education was more important than getting married and
she had them all working from the minute they could get working papers.
She herself worked in a factory during Margie's childhood. Because they
spoke Spanish at home and lived in an Hispanic neighborhood, Margie's
mother also insisted that the girls practice their English every single day, and
she made them go often to the neighborhood Pentecostal Church.
Margie wanted to study psychology, though she had been raised in a culture that had difficulty accepting the idea of psychiatric problems. And, her
mother was opposed to her "working with crazy people." So Margie followed her sisters and studied nursing, but continued to study psychology at
Eduardo Eichenwald: From Colombia to Allentown
Long Island University. Her studies were interrupted by a serious car accident that caused a temporary loss of memory. Her subsequent marriage and
When Eduardo's parents were fleeing from Hitler's Germany in 1938, very
countries welcomed Jewish refugees. AJewish community had existed
Colombia, since the early part ofthe century whenJewish merchants
there to sell supplies to Panama Canal workers settled in that
community of2,000 to 3,000 provided a comfortable enviEdluardclS' family. He was born there in 1941.
ovmc:d a factory that made underwear and Eduardo and his
§i\l;Jitig:; Jr."",,,,,
Colombians. Later, as a student at Philadelp')lIi,ge qfTc:xtiIes and Science, Eduardo met his wife-to-be,Jeanette,
qcllom!,ia, to a family of German refugees. Eduardo began
{,"torv. and they settled into life in the United States. They
Anna Adams
the birth of her three children further postponed her education. But her
mother's ambitions for her daughters stayed with Margie. She went back to
college and finished at twenty-eight with her degree in psychology. She remembers her mother's proud letters to relatives in Puerto Rico informing
them that all her daughters had graduated from college. "She was so proudwe did itto make her happy. It was as ifshe had gone to college and done it."
In the meantime, Margie's older sister had moved her family and their
parents to Allentown where Margie and her family visited every weekend.
Soon her children didn't want to go home. In 1990, Margie and her husband
joined the rest ofthe family in Allentown. Margie looked for work while her
husband continued his truck-drivingjob in NewYork, commuting home on
Hidden From History
77
the weekends. The Maldonados were able to buy a nice house and to live
near family, but Margie did not find Allentown to be avery welcoming place.
She says that she experienced racism for the first time in Allentown. She believed that her education and previous work made her well qualified for the
jobs she applied for, but her impression was that her ethnic background
stood in her way. She finally made it to the interview stage for one job, but
discovered that her prospective boss, misreading Maldonato for Maldonado,
thought she was Italian. When he discovered his mistake, he told her that she
would not fit in. A campaign worker for Emma Tropiano, also thinking
Maldonado might be an Italian name, called her home to ask for a contribution. An angry Margie Maldonado responded, "Do you know who you are
calling? This is an Hispanic household."
Margie's experiences and those of her children made her feel like a minority for the first time in her life. She remembers sitting in a restaurant for
twenty minutes while other people who had come in later were being served.
Once, when speaking Spanish on a bus with her mother, the woman behind
them made derogatory remarks about Puerto Ricans as ifthey did not under~
stand English. Although Margie's children are bilingual, her middle son refuses to speak Spanish. Nevertheless, the school placed him in an ESOL
class. "Just because his name is Maldonado doesn't mean he can't speak English," she told the principal.
The Pentecostal church provides Margie and her family with their community. She and her husband are ordained ministers and recently opened
their own church, breaking away from the strict doctrine ofthe church they
attended where women were forbidden to wear pants, jewelry or makeup or
to cut their hair. The whole family attends church four times weekly and
their church is the center of their social life as well as their spiritual life.
Margie believes that the community should band together like the Latino family in times of difficulty. From her personal experiences and from
read in the newspaper, she decided to get involved with A11encommunity. She was a member of the Mayor's Advisory
Affairs and she is a member of the board of directors at
q1.lad~lupe. Professionally, she has done well for herself and has been
in psychology. Her first job was as a supervisor for
r.~1:#I~·<p.\jlit}ty·'sPl.Teal'",e.ncvonAging.She was the first Latina in a superviwent on to become a casework supervisor in the
M'~J:J.t'!!Ff§l1llJ/~4eTlt:,IRetardationDepartment. She has continually advo78
Anna Adams
cated for Latino citizens' rights. In 1997, she was appointed head of Lehigh
County's new Human Services Information and Referral Unit. Ironically,
the announcement in The Morning Call read, "Maldonado, of Allentown,
speaks Spanish, which was a plus for her candidacy for the position."
Ed DeGrace: "The model for success is the ballot box and school."
Though not technically Latino, Cape Verdian-born Ed DeGrace is certainly an honorary Latino. As the president of Latinos for aNew Lehigh
Valley, founded in 1993, Ed has been a most visible (he is 6'6" tall) activist
and advocate for the community. What led to Ed's involvement with the
Latino Community? He believes his identity with Latinos comes from his
wife's background (she is Puerto Rican), his own background and most
importantly his natural inclination to identitY with the underdog. After all,
he says, the Cape Verdians were the lowest social stratum ofPortuguese society. He also points to the legacy ofthe 1960s that led him to identitY with
oppressed and underrepresented minorities. In Allentown, they just happen to be the Latinos.
Ed was born in 1953 in the Cape Verde Islands, a former Portuguese penal colony off the coast ofWest Africa, into a family of twelve siblings. His
father, a former whaler, was working in Connecticut in the Cranberry bogs.
When Ed was five, the family was reunited in the Bronx where he grew up in
a housing project. A very bright student, he managed through loans, grants
and many jobs to graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy,
NY, with a degree in chemistry. As a star basketball player in college, Ed
managed to break through social and economic barriers. Courted by the
white and black student alliances, he joined neither finding the angry rhetoric on both sides offensive and unproductive. It was in college that he became a social activist and a coalition builder.
While in college, he met and married Madeline, an engineering student
of Puerto Rican descent. Jobs and proximity to family brought them and
their two children to Allentown in 1980. Ed was shocked and offended by
the popularity of Emma Tropiano, who was launching her political career
when the DeGraces arrived. A firm believer in political empowerment
through education, Ed quickly became involved with voter registration
drives, getting-out-the-vote efforts and programs for youth.
After almost twenty years here, Ed feels "mildly frusttated" with his efforts. The statistics involving Latino voter turnout and political involvement
Hidden From History
79
are discouraging to him. For example, in 1992, of 12,300 Latino citizens
living in Allentown only 562 voted. Yet, in spite of his discouragement, he
continues to struggle against a defeatist mentality, the feeling that nobody
cares, that voting doesn't really matter. Ed is convinced and dedlcat.es h~s
time to convincing others that every vote counts. The 1997 Democratic pnmary race for mayor, in which Marty Velazquez defeated Emma Tropiano
by one vote, bears him out.
Francisco Sainz de la Pefta: Chilean Refugee
Francisco Sainz de la Pena was studying law in Santiago, Chile, when General
Agusto Pinochet overthrew the socialist government of Salvador Allende in
September of 1973. After the coup, most Chileans lived in complete terro~,
according to Francisco, but students were particularly vulnerable. Pmochet s
forces made a clean sweep of the universities, kidnaping students and burning books. When his friends and classmates began tojoin the ranks ofthe disappeared, Francisco decided it was time to leave his homeland. He found
work as a sailor with a Greek shipping company. Between 1977 and 1986, hIS
home base was Athens and just as he was planning to move to Australia, a
friend invited him to accompany him to Allentown to visit relatives. Francisco never imagined, because of the role the Nixon Administration had
played in the overthrow ofAllende, that he would live in the United States,
but he found Allentown an attractive place with a large Latmo populatlOn.
He moved to the city in 1986.
While studying English at the Adult Literacy Center, he fell in love with
his teacher, Ana, a native ofPeni, and they were married. Once he had mastered English, Francisco returned to the education that had been mterrupted
so many years before. Mter completing a degree in business admmistratIOn,
he began work as a mortgage officer in a bank. Now he works as a real estate
helping Latinos to buy houses.
T()geth"r Francisco and Ana work to improve the lives of Latinos in Alworks for the school district as the coordinator for bilingual
they are both active in the community as members of the
A1laitz. Larma anu the Hispanic Political Caucus. Ana sits on the board ofd,Gl1.clahlpe and Francisco sits on the board ofthe Adult Literattend a Latino event where the Sainz de la Pefias afC
80
Anna Adams
Ana Sainz de la Pefta: "I try to be a bridge between cultures"
Ana Pareja speaks beautiful English with a slight lilting accent. Her face is
open and warm. She and her five sisters were raised in Lima, Peru, in a big
house surrounded by an extended family. Her teachers in her early years
were her mother, a schoolteacher, the nuns at the Immaculate Heart ofMary
bilingual school, and the family's various maids who taught Ana and her sisters quechua (the language ofthe Incas) and an appreciation for Incan culture.
Ana's mother was physically very small, but in front of the classroom she
seemed tall and commanding. Ana wanted to be like her.
After her first year in college, Ana was granted a Fulbright Scholarship to
study education at Maryville College in St. Louis, Missouri. Once her father
determined that she would be studying in an all-girls school run by Catholic
nuns, he gave his 16-year-old daughter permission to go, and Ana, excited
and scared, set off for the United States all by herself She returned to Lima
and completed her degree and a Masters degree in educational administration. After working in a bilingual school for six years as an administrator, Ana
decided that she wanted to teach. She applied to Immaculata College in
Pennsylvania to study bilingual, bicultural education. Once again, her father
was hesitant to let her go, but a map of Pennsylvania showed him that the
college was near Allentown where his old friend Luis Goyzueta had settled.
Knowing his daughter would have friends nearby, he again consented to let
her study in the United States.
Ana came to Allentown in 1981. While studying at Immaculata College,
she taught English to adults. Although her original plan was to return to Peru
after her studies, her marriage to Francisco and their involvement in the community have kept them in Allentown. As a bilingual, bicultural teacher, Ana
thinks of herself as a bridge between two cultures and dedicates herself to
helpingAilentown'sAnglo and Latino communities understand each other.
Celia Alvarado: The Queen of Second Street
Allentown's Second Street is like the Lower East Side of New York. Most
recently arrived immigrants have settled there first. The city's oldest synagogue, long abandoned, is on Second Street. Today the quiet, working-class neighborhood is half Latino and half Middle Eastern-there are
bodegas offering plantains, yucca, all kinds of canned beans, and frozen
Goya tamales. Down the street, from within the Soumaya Bakery wafts the
rich smell of freshly baked pita bread. In there, one can also buy big bags of
Hidden From History
81
pistachio nuts, fresh olives, home-made baklava, jars of grape leaves and
pressed apricot "shoe leather." The largest Latino Pentecostal church,
Asambleas de Dios, is on Second Street right down the block from the Syrian Damascus Restaurant. In fact, Allentown has the largest Syrian community in the United States.
Celia's grandfather traveled from Syria to Allentown around the turn of
the century. He was a peddler, and while some ofhis family remained in Allentown, he continued his travels until he came to Morales, a small Colombian town at the edge of a river. There he fell in love with a local woman,
married her and settled down. They had many children including Celia's father , who became the town doctor of Morales. Celia was born in 1956.
Morales was a tiny, rural town with no public electricity or running water.
Everyone knew everyone and Celia and her four siblings enjoyed an idyllic
childhood until their father died. The family could not survive without his
income in that small town, so they moved to a larger city where they had relatives. Celia finished high school in Colombia and began work as a secretary,
but money and opportunities were scarce. An uncle who had moved from
Colombia to Allentown to join the Syrian branch of the family convinced
Celia's mother to make the move. By the end of that year, 1979, forty-five
members of Celia's Colombian family had settled in Allentown and she
found a ready-made community. On the Syrian side were the sixteen aunts
and uncles and all their children.
Despite being surrounded by an enormous loving family, Celia was
pretty miserable. She cried almost every day because she couldn't speak English, which meant that she couldn't talk to anyone, get a secretarial job or
even watch television. Nevertheless, having arrived on a Thursday, the following Monday, through Manpower job training, she was learning how to
operate a sewing machine. "NuncQ imaginaba que iba a trabajaren una!dbricQ, " (I
never imagined myselfworking in a factory).
Sh,nrt'lv after she began full-time work in the textile factory, she heard
M'lI1f,o",erwas offering English classes, but since she had already been
in ajob (which required no English) she was not eligible.
pleaded. She promised never to miss one second of class
admitted. The program paid her to study English, gave
s&(:t'~lbil"1Laltra:lninJ(,and found her ajob. She has been working ever
to,"si,d""s herselffortullat".A little bit ofluck and a lot ofdetermi-
82
Anna Adams
Celia adores Allentown. ''Allentown e5 mi pueblo) me considero deAllentolVn."
(Allentown is my town, I consider myself a native." She feels very much a
part ofAllentown's community. Beyond her job as the lending-outreach coordinator of Keystone Savings Bank and her involvement with her approximately 100 Syrian and Colombian relatives, she is an active citizen. She is
involved in the Latino soccer league, a member of the Latin Alliance, and a
thoughtful citizen who takes her civic responsibilities very seriously. Since
becoming a citizen, she has voted in every election. For a while she and her
sister ran a Colombian restaurant (just off Second Street) that became a Latino social center every day at lunchtime. And today when Celia Alvarado
walks down Second Street, she is greeted at almost every step by a relative or
a friend. She is indeed the queen of Second Street.
Ricardo Montero: Mover and Shaker
Italian on his mother's side, Spanish on his father's, Ricardo Montero is a
great talker whose romantic spirit has led him on quite a few adventures
since he left his native Peru. Ricardo remembers fondly childhood in the
tropical, lively, colorful port of Callao. At fifteen, he went to Lima to study
electronic technology.
Nter graduation, he began to work with RCA Victor, Peru, bought himselfa car and thought he had really made it. One day, as he was driving by the
U.S. Embassy in Lima, it occurred to him to inquire about the possibility of
working in the USA. Two years later, he was all set with a resident visa and a
job offer with Sylvania in Buffalo, NY, but first he had to enroll in the RCA
institute in NewYork City to learn English. He never made it to Buffalo. To
support himselfin NewYork, he worked as a busboy at the Plaza Hotel earning around $70 a day in tips-more money than he had ever imagined. Soon
he was promoted to waiter and found himself serving famous people like
Elizabeth Taylor. The glamorous life went right to his head and he stopped
studying. He fell in love with a vacationing Puerto Rican nurse and quit his
Job to follow her home. The romance didn't last long, but he also fell in love
with Puerto Rico, which reminded him of his childhood in Callao. Puerto
Rico became his home for the next six years. In Sanjuan he supported himself by working in a restaurant until he fell in love again-this time with an
American tourist from Pennsylvania.
He arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 3, 1976. Confusing
Pennsylvania with Transylvania, he looked for Dracula on every street corHidden From History
83
ner. In 1977, having visited various cities in the area, Ricardo and his wife
and child moved to Allentown. "Yo no se que atractivo vi en Allentown, pero me
gusto." (I don't know what appealed to me, but I liked Allentown.) Nter
wotking for several years in a textile factory, Ricardo found work in a
foundry. "Seis alios en Puerto Rico era el para/50. Cuatro aFlOs alla era el injiernof"
(Six years in Puerto Rico was paradise. Four years there was hell!) Meanwhile, he was also getting involved with the Latino community. He organized a Latino festival, a Latino soccer league, and, after becoming a U.S.
citizen, founded with compatriot Luis Goyzueta the Hispanic Political Caucus. So much activity did not contribute to a happy marriage, however. Nter
his divorce, he joined the National Guard thinking it was time to change his
"bohemian, Latino don Juan" image. And, he figured, the military would be
a "piece of cake" after four years in the foundry.
Ricardo had found his niche. With his military background, he was inspired to begin a neighborhood crime watch whose first task was a campaign
against some noisy local bars. The group managed to close down two rowdy
establishments, and Ricardo carried on his war against crime. His next goal
was to move prostitution out ofAllentown's residential areas to an industrial
area "where they can work in dignity." In his typical flamboyant manner, he
claimed that prostitution provided a community service and organized a parade ofprostitutes (four showed up) who marched with signs saying "Hookers
shouldn't be ashamed." "I was in the paper every day. The church, the mayor,
the police, everyone was against me," he recalls. For his troubles, his crimewatch group was ousted from the city's crime watch organization.
But Ricardo enjoyed being in the limelight. Using his new-found orator
skills and his electronics background, he began Radio Latina, the first fulltime Latino radio station in Pennsylvania, which featured his own show, Radio Ole. Says Ricardo, not so modestly, "Yo soy la voz del pueblo. Yo soy
delmo,,,al~a, republicano, independiente, progresista-soy todD." (I am the voice ofthe
po,ep'''. I am a Democrat, Republican, independent, progressive-I am evhe has been extremely active. His activities are docucO'lmtJe,;s newspaper articles over the years. He is the head of
.f{ispajjilC Sug:gesti,on, a non-profit cultural organization that produces anSabado, and he organized a Peruvian soccer team
club. In 1993, he headed the Lehigh Valley chapter of
He persuaded local merchants to donate over 1,000
children in Allentown.
84
Anna Adams
In 1997, Ricardo founded Allentown's first completely Spanish newspaper, EI Torero. At the press conference he called to launch the new paper
(dressed in a bullfighter's costume), he explained the title: "When we Latinos
come to America, we are the bullfighters." And who are the bulls? "The system," he replied. His idea now is to fight the system by focusing on positive
stories about Latinos, lito take on tough issues like a matador takes on abull."
Conclusions
Future historians will not be able to ignore Allentown's Latinos. Although
they have been invisible in the city's written history until now, they are becoming more visible and making their own history. Through newspapers, radio stations, television programs, and organizations, Latinos are changing the
face ofthe city and making a valuable contribution culturally as well as in material terms. The 1998 Mayfair, Allentown's annual five-day music fest, featured eleven Latino groups whose music ranged from traditional folk music of
the Andes to jazz, salsa, tango and classical. Restaurants like La Mexicana EI
Tropical, Santa Rosa, La Cocina, and Amigo Mio invite Allentonians to e~oy
Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Chilean cuisines. La Mexicana grocery store offers a wide variety ofdried chilis and Mexican cheeses, sausages and spices. In
the Dominguez markets, el Coqui, Happy Dairy and countless other bodegas
one can buy yucca, plantains, guava paste and mangoes. Until 1999 the
Chango Botanica offered fortune telling or a cure for spiritual ills with herbs,
lotions and candles. Norberto Dominguez, founder ofthe Hispanic American
League ofArtists, provides an opportunity for Latino youth to learn the traditional songs and dances of their countries and to share that culture with the
greater community through their public performances. The "Blue Pages of
our Community" is a guide to the various skills ofthe inhabitants ofthe first
and sixth wards. Its pages list businesses, churches, services, restaurants as
well as hundreds ofindividuals willing to sell or trade work such as baby-sitting, plumbing, furniture restoration, tutoring, translating, transportation,
cooking, gardening, interpreting or roofing. The guide, developed by Casa
Guadalupe and funded by a MESH (Measurably Enhancing the Status of
Health in the Lehigh Valley) grant, is a testament to the talent, versatility and
spirit of the community.
Various organizations that serve primarily Latinos, such as Casa Guadalupe, the Hispanic American Organization, the Hispanic Business Council,
Hidden From His/Dry
85
the Adult Literacy Center, the Hispanic Political Caucus, Hogar Crea, and
Neighborhood Housing Services provide Latino arrivals with the tools to
become active and productive citizens. Through these organizations, newcomers can acquire job training and placement, English skills, social services,
advice on starting businesses and buying houses, drug and alcohol counseling, and health and educational services. Latino churches are providing
many of the social services that shrinking federal funds used to supply. Almost every church, no matter how small, makes sure its members have
warm clothes and enough to eat. Radio Vive, a Spanish Christian radio station founded in 1983 by Angel and Nidia Ramos and staffed by volunteers,
hood for fifty years. On the other hand, I believe that several factors militate
,against this view and point to a different trajectory, or at least a slower one,
for the Latino community as a whole.
Allentown's particular hostility to this community as perceived by the
majority of Latinos and as evidenced by the continued popularity of Emma
Tropiano may mean that Allentown's Latino and Anglo cultures will continue to inhabit separate worlds for many years to come. One study indicates
that Allentown's Latino community is among the most geographically isolated Latino communities. 52
Most Latinos are not white and do not blend in as easily as the northern
Europeans who came earlier. And, for various reasons, Latino culture may
brq~dcasts twenty-four hours a day.
, ''Worlds of Business," an ethnic business directory developed by the
Hispanic Business Council, lists Latino doctors, dentists and lawyers practicing in Allentown. There afC Latino-owned grocery stores, restaurants,
furniture stores, florists, financial services, video rental establishments, shoe
stores, entertainment services, and beauty salons. Latinos in Allentown earn
their livings as party planners, contractors, notaries, and real estate brokers.
Latinos have not as yet had a significant political impact on Allentown
and some Latino activists, such as Ed DeGrace, worry about the apparent
apathy in the community, but the potential is certainly there. Latinos for a
New Lehigh Valley, founded in 1993 to support the candidacy of Beatrice
Ramirez for school board, claims responsibility for registering 2,000 new
voters. The organization even offers transportation to the polls on election
days. Marty Velazquez III won a seat on city council again in 1999. Julio
Guridy also ran, but lost his first bid. Elizabeth Rodriguez ran for the office
of sheriff. Latinos will not be invisible in Allentown's political future. The
Morning Call made the commitment to coverage of Allentown's Latinos in
September 1998 when it invited Erika Chavez, a Mexican AmericanjournalLos Angeles, to establish the Call's first Latino beat.
La'm"n,:e Stains concludes his 1994 New York Times article, "The
LatmizationofAllentown, PA," with a marriage celebration between an Ana Puerto Rican man. Following an assimilationist model,
even in old-fashioned Allentown, Latinos eventually will
ass,imlilate as immigrant groups always have. A stroll down
thlrOt,gh the First Ward might confirm this view. The synclc)se,d; the relatives of the Irish people buried in the
2~ifi,!#~rY.§tr!!Jltii"¢11IateConception Church haven't lived in that ncighborAnna Adams
not blend in as easily as European cultures have in the past. Most social scientists do not believe that Latinos arejust another group in the U.S. assimilation process. 53 As early as 1948, C. Wright Mills predicted a possible growth
of Spanish consciousness among Puerto Ricans in New York that could involve the adoption oflifestyles different from middle-class America's. There
is strong evidence to suggest, according to sociologist Rosa Estades, "that a
feeling of Latino identity rests first of all in a common language and in a
community feeling maintained by the Spanish tradition in the New World."
These feelings cross lines ofnationality and establish a kind ofpan Latinoism
that rejects things American. 54 "Because of their long colonial relationship
with the U.S. mainland, Puerto Ricans [who are the mejority ofAllentown's
Latinos and the earliest of the Latino settlers] have been resisting American
colonial domination since their independence from Spain in 1898. This
struggle manifests itself in the insistence on retaining their own culture and
language, despite many years ofAmericanization. ,,55
Timing is another important factor to consider. Today, there are fewer
well-payingjobs and they require different skills with more advanced training.
It is no longer possible to arrive on Saturday and start working on Monday
morning. Nor can the labor of unskilled new arrivals make a contribution to
the growth of a dying city. The move "up and out" is unthinkable for many
new arrivals. The old three-generational paradigm for immigrants' upward
mobility, "peddler, plumber, professional," does not apply in a world where
jobs at the first two levels scarcely exist anymore. Furthermore, the majority of
Latino new arrivals lack the educational skills necessary to survive in post- industrial America. This is generally not true of recent immigrants from Asian
nations, by contrast.
Hidden From History
87
Technological advances in transportation and communication make it
possible for immigrants to visit their native countries periodically and to stay
in touch daily or weekly with the world they left behind. For Puerto Ricans
especially, because they are American citizens and because the fare is relatively inexpensive, visits to the island have always been frequent and have
served to reinforce and strengthen cultural identity.
Perhaps most importantly, attitudes have changed. A multicultural model
has replaced the assimilationist model as we cease to believe that to be western and white is the natural end of historical development. Since the 1960s,
national and cultural pride have replaced the newcomers' eagerness to cast
their identities aside in order to blend in with the dominant culture. Latinos,
particularly Puerto Ricans, have been portrayed in Allentown's histoty as resistant to incorporation into the larger community,56 a resistance much resented by many previously assimilated Allentonians, but characteristic of
newer post-1960s immigrant groups.
Times have changed since 1956 when Elsie Martinez Pletz's father arrived. He was determined to raise his family in a neighborhood where no Latinos lived. His children were going to live with "traditional Americans and
be acculturated to the American system." Forty years ago it may have been
possible for Latinos to become assimilated as the white Europeans before
them had. Many of the children and grandchildren of those early arrivals,
such as Elsie Pletz and Marty Velazquez, Jr., have indeed been assimilated;
they have married Anglos, do not speak Spanish at home, ifat all, and no longer live downtown. But many have remained downtown, continue to speak
Spanish, and live, for the most part, in an all-Latino community. Until the
summer of 1998, when they bought a three-family house in East Allentown,
three generations of the Ortiz family lived together on North Third Street.
Spanish is the lingua franca in their home, where the first generation speaks
Spanish and understands English, the second generation speaks and underand the third generation speaks English and understands SpanSpanish Mass at Sacred Heart Church together and eat
food at the weekly gatherings of the entire family.
cOlmrnunity grows, it becomes easier to live in an all-Latino,
§V'' BfsJr+#pe:aking; worlld in Allentown. And, while many may not choose to
the way up and out is a harder one to follow these days.
rfi"jdl,ity ofne'iVc,orrlers may want to learn English, find work and
they find few incentives and overwhelming ob-
Anna Adams
stacles, such as long waiting lists for English classes, little assistance with
chtldcare, scarce affordable housing and shrinking social services. As jour~ahst Roberto Suro pomts out, "There are too many Latinos who are 'poor,
Illegal, and dark-skinned' for that path to serve as a useful model.,,57 The economic opportunities are far fewer than they were in the post-World War II
years when Latinos began to arrive in Allentown.
The early-twentieth-century assimilationist image of the melting pot has
been replaced WIth another culinary metaphor-the salad-in which each ingredient maintains the integrity ofits own flavor while contributing to the dehClousness ofthe whole. The Latinos ofAllentown have certainly changed the
cuhnary face ofthe city's markets, restaurants and festivals where Allentonians
eat empanadas, tacos, platanDs and pinches. Allentonians should also learn to savor
the spiritual and cultural values that Latinos bring with them, such as the importance offamily, respect and care ofelders, the centrality ofreligion in daily
hfe: and the sense of a WIder community. Allentonians must understand that
Latmos who reject the assimilationist model are not necessarily rejecting U.S.
culture, but trymg to hold on to their own culture in the face ofopen hostility
toward them. The CIty IS not well served by citizens like Helen Shiffert who
recently wrote to The Morning Call:
To the Editor,
I have subscribed to the Morning Call for the last time! I am tired of
reading about Puerto Ricans, their heritage and the low-price housmg that is given to them, not to mention the way they have taken
over the Lehigh Valley! If they love Puerto Rico so much, why are
they here? It's not even safe to go into Allentown anymore, for fear
ofbemg shot! But you go ahead and glorifY everything they do. I will
not be reading about it anymore.
Sadly, having canceled her subscription to The Morning Call, Ms. Shiffert will
not See the letters written by Puerto Ricans in response to her hate mail. She
WIll not know about Puerto Ricans such as Guillermo LOpez, Jr., and his
famIly who "represent over fifty years of tax-paying, law-abiding citizenry
and community activism." Lopez writes:
'
It is with pride and honor that our parents taught my wife and me
and it is with pride and honor that we teach Our children about wh~
we are-Puerto Ricans in the Lehigh Valley. The truth is, we can all
be proud ofwho we are and it should not offend anyone.
Ms.
Ofcou rse it is not easy to erase the prejudi ces ofpriva te citizen s like
contri'
Latinos
the
Shiffer t, but official Allento wn must begin to recogn ize
ating their
butions by acknow ledging their place in the city's past, appreci
future.
city's
the
in
them
for
contrib utions to the presen t and creatin g a place
Espafiol,"
Latinos were encour aged recentl y to read "La biblioleca liene libros en
book seca story in The Mornin g Call, announ cing the beginn ing ofa Spanis h
tion in the Allento wn Public Library.
e to
Positiv e steps such as the library' s notwith standin g, Latinos continu
effort
real
a
make
be under- represe nted in all areas. The school system must
s who
to hire more Latino teachers and administrators; it must hire teacher
ts for
studen
resent
who
s
are able to appreci ate differe nce rather than teacher
ng studen t
being differe nt; it must modifY its curricu lum to reflect its changi
not only
body. The city should offer tax incenti ves to small, local busines ses,
peocome
large corpora te interest s; it should expand its progra m for low-in
g for
ple to purcha se houses in the downto wn area and should seek fundin
adto
board
y
such program s; the mayor should form anothe r Latino advisor
which has
vise him on the commu nity's needs. And even The Morning Call,
Allengreater
the
into
been in the forefro nt ofthe effort to integra te Latinos
e, "Latino
town culture , occasio nally slips up as it did in a recent headlin
ions must
institut
city's
the
short,
In
Doctor Charge d with Medica id Fraud."
than
rather
take the lead in creatin g a city plan which include s and celebra tes,
ignores and denigra tes its largest growin g popula tion.
ecoA politica l agenda aimed at bringin g Latinos into the mainst ream
rants,
nomic life ofthe city would serve several benefic ial objectiv es. Restau
would
r
corrido
Street
on
craft shops, small busines ses along the main Hamilt
of life on its
help to revitalize the city's downto wn econom y. restore a sense
bring
deserte d streets, increas e the tax base, and, perhap s most import antly,
and
buyers
1\.rlgl<)S and Latinos together as service providers and custom ers,
ity and Anglos would
'~JJel'. Thus Latinos might lose their sense of insular
no longer
li¢C01Ue eXJpo,;ed gradual ly to Latino culture , sights and sounds ,
alien (or hostile) , but as new compo nents oftheir own changi ng
city will
culture , Wiith()ut some kind of inclusiv e vision, it is likely that the
increas ing polarity , impove rishme nt, and white flight.
Jjal:m()S have been include d in Allento wn's written history , it
into the city's future.
No tes
1.
2.
3.
4.
.
' " h"
I use the term "Latino" rather than "H"
dtsi~aa;CI~nt
~n
IS
V;h~cI~
rha~l~as
Ernpir~s
Roman
tion. for that part ofthe
enan enmsu a. HlSs'
pamc refers to inhabitants of Eur
}ortug al, while Latino
refers to the mixed Europe an .n'J'ean pam dan~
peoples of Latin
rurlcan
an
1genous
,1
America.
.
.
"H"
United States Census Bur
lspalllcs-Latmos: Diverse People in a
Multicultural Society," 199~au,
. .
.
Robert Suro, Strangers Among Us· How L . I
ming
America (New York: AlfredA . Kn~ £ 1998)tl~O mmlgratlOn" TransfOr
. ;, ~h'l d h··la Inquirer Magazine, 3 Aug
Dick Polman ' "Nuest ra Am enea,
I a ep
1997,6--11.
i
5.
~~f~,~~~~):~verything lim Need to Know about Latino History (NewYork:
6.
7.
8.
"HispanicS-Latinos: Diverse People. "
Edward Hallett Carr, Wlwt is History (New York: Vintage 1967).
" .
Mahlon Hellenc h, ''A History of Allentown: 1987 A S~mmin
'~
U(A11
g
Histo
r
Mahlon H. Helleri eh, ed.,AlIentown 1762-1987: A 225-Yea
en
ryh
S·
618
2
vol
1987)
Society,
al
town. LehIgh County Hlstonc
. Ince t e mass
"
d"
mIgratIon of Puerto Ricans to the m .
195~s, ~o~ial scientists
have thought that the insistence ofP al~ ~. In the
uer 0 leans on mamtammg their cuI
. b
ture d I
betw:~n t~~~:f~l~nda:~~ ~~eai~f:~sJ~nce to the long colonial relationshi~
i
9.
Earl Shorris,Latinos: Biographyofthe People (NewYork: Avon 1992) 12-13
, .
Mark Stolank, Growing Up on the S ths"d Th GeneratI'
Slovaks in
of
ons
'p"
e:.
.'
o~
II
Buckn
urg.
(Lewisb
Bethlehem PA
.
6.
1985),
ress,
y
mvefSlt
e
.
.
'
11
PA"
nto
ofA1le
ation
Latiniz
. Laurence R. Stams, "The
,New York lImes
wn,
Magazine, 15 May 1994,56--62.
.
e and Pu
12. Michael Hugh Carlin, "The Produc tion ofWhit
erto RIcan IdentItles and Places in Allento wn PA" MS h . Pennsylvama
State Univer " t eSIS,
sity, May 1997, 59.
10.
13.
The Morning Call 14 July 1991, B3.
n From llistorv
14. Jean S. Hudson, ''Allentown: 1762-1810," inAllentown 1762-1987, vol. 1,3.
15. JohnJ. Reed, "Allentown, 1811-1860," inAlIentown 1762-1987, vol. 1,60.
16. Ibid., 63.
17. Karyl Lee Kibler Hall and Peter Dobkin Hall, ''Allentown: 1874-1900," in
Allentown 1762-1987, vol. 1,306.
18. The Morning Call, 26 Dec 1993, B3.
19. For a history ofOperation Bootstrap see Alfredo Lopez,Dona Licha's Island:
Modern Colonialism in Puerto Rico (Boston: South End Press, 1987).
20. Elsa Cheney and Constance Sutton, eds., Carribbean Life in New York Cit'
Socia-Cultural Dimensions (New York: Center for Migration Studies efN
York, 1987),4.
21. Call and News, 20 March 1900.
22. Emma S.R. Bausch, ''Allentown: 1945-1952," in Allentown 1762-1987, vol.
2,321.
23. Richard D. Krohn, ''Allentown: 1953-1965," inAllentown 1762-1987, vol. 2,
393.
24. AHRC Annual Report, 1968.
25. AHRC Annual Report, 1964.
26. AHRC Annual Report, 1976.
27. AHRC meeting minutes, May 1973.
28. "Despedida pastoral del Reverendo Francisco Vega," pamphlet (translation
mine).
29. Unfortunately the census then grouped Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton
as one unit. (1960 Census of the Population, U.S. Department of Commerce vol. 1 part 40 (PA) table 99, country of origin of foreign stock.
30. "Persons ofSpanish Origin and Descent in the Lehigh Valley."Joint Planning
Commission Lehigh-Northampton Counties, Dec. 1975.
31. Dick Cowen, ''Allentown 1976-1986," inAllentown 1762-1987, vol. 2, 548.
32.
33.
The Morning Call, 7 Jan 1989.
T-shirts sold at Allentown's 20th annual Super Sunday Festival.
County and City Data book, 1994.
Pennsylva:nia Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Mfaris Report,
not keep inter-census statistics, but the increases in the school
1990,28.7 percent was Latino and in 1997,39.2 percent was
",auu'o) i,hdilca'te that the Latino population is growing steadily. Annual Civil
and PDE 4035 Pupil Enrollment, 10/97. Pennsylvania Gov#,;;;;',i',j\d',iSiorv Commission on Latino Mfairs Report, 1993,4.
District ofthe City ofAllentown, "Toward aWord-class Ed. System:
nf,cidt'~<i,
to the Board of School Directors," 13 Nov 1997.
"Bilingual Education and the Law," Bilingual Education
k;:r~a;~~~~~~'~,~~)~
Indiana: Center on Evaluation, Develop-
, ,
39. Cowen, ''Allentown 1976--1986," 548.
40. AHRC minutes, 27 April 1979.
41. Letter ofopponents to Superintendent ofSchool District and the members
of the Allentown School District Board, 5 Sept 1998.
42. The Private Industry Council began in 1983 as a non-profit employment and
trammgprograrn. It IS funded and ad~inistered by the Pennsylvania Depart-
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
ment of Labor and Industry and PublIc Welfare under the Job Training Act
and the Family Support Act. Prior to 1983, it was called Manpower.
The Morning Call, 3 May 1994.
Ibid., 29 May 1992.
Ibid., 3 June 1992.
Carlin, "White and Puerto Rican Identities," 17.
The LIttle Apple Market at Seventh and Allen streets is patronized primarily
by LatInOS.
Randall Hansis, The LatinAmericans: Understanding their Legacy (NY: McGraw
HIll, 1997), 94.
Parish data compiled May 1998 by Jackie Morales, secretary to Spanish
Apostolate.
Shorris, Latinos, 366.
The ~nfor~ationon Pentecostals comes from my research done in 1994 and
publIshed In.At:naAdams, "Brincando el Charco: Pentecostalism's]ourney
from ~uerto Rico to New York to Allentown, PA." in Hannah StewartGambmo and Edward Cleary, Powet; Politics and Pentecostals in Latin America
(Boulder: Westview Press, 1996).
52.
Allentown is listt;,d as. sevent~ in this category according to William Frey and
Reynolds Farley,. LatInOS, AsIan, and Black Segregation in U.S. Metropolitan
Areas: Are Multlethmc Metros Different?" Demography Vol. 33(1), 35-50.
53. See, for .example, Clara E. Rodriguez and Virginia Sanchez-Korrol, eds.,
Puerto RICan Struggle: Essays on Survival in the United States (Maplewood: Waterfront Press, 1984).
54. Rosa Estades, "Symbolic Unity: The Puerto Rican Day Parade" in
Rodrfguez and Sanchez-Korrol, Puerto Rican Struggle.
55. Cheney and Sutton, Carribean Life, 17.
56. Hellerich, ''A History of Allentown: 1987 A Summing Up" in Allentown
1762-1987: A 225-Year History, vol. 2, 618.
57. Suro, Strangers Among Us, 8.
Index
A
Acevedo, Juan 12,21
Adult Literacy Center 53, 58, 80, 86
Aguila, Amado 12, 25
Aguila,Eva 12,14,17
Aguilar, Claudia 41
Alamos, Gloria 75-76
Allentown Area Lutheran Parish 29,52
Alvarado, Celia 2,81,83
Casa Guadalupe 8, 13, 18,21-22,23,
24,28,31-32,55,57,76,78,80,85
CasMar Restaurant 9
Castaneda, Francisco 31
Castaneda, Lazaro 66
Cathers, John 18-19
Central Catholic High School
Chango Botanica 8, 66, 85
Chavez, Erika 86
Amigo Mfa Restaurant 85
Collazo, Paulina 9
Antonsen, Evelyn 51
Colon,
Edwin 67
Arroyo, Carmen 69~70
Columna
Hispanica 28
Asambleas de Dios Pentecostal Church
Committee for Migrant Workers 64
82
Association of Friencls of Puerto Rican Cosme, Olga 62
Culture 33
Council of Churches 17,19
Council
of Hispanic Women 40
B
Cowen,
Dick
x
Bausch, Emma 11
Cruz, Bonifacio 6, 16
Betania Pentecostal Church 76
Cruz,
Linda 12
Birkenstock, Col. John 10
Bisek, Father John 13,21,23,65
Botanica ChangO
Bruni, Thomas 50, 53
OA
Anna Adams
D
Daddona,Joseph 32,35,37,43
Damascus Restaurant 82
C
Davis-Martinez, Vivian 9
Campos, Luis 56
Carmona, Victor 14, 19
Davison-Roth,Judy 51
Dejesus, Carmen 58
DeGrace, Ed 79-80, 86
Del Villar, Ligia 24
department stores 55
Diaz, Anfba128, 47, 61, 71
DieruffHigh School 47,50-51
Dominguez Market
Domfnguez, Norberta 31
E
EchevarrIa, Luis x, 10
Eichenwald, Eduardo 76, 77
Eichenwald, Jeanette
EI Coqui Market 85
EI Torero 85
EI Tropical Restaurant 85
English classes 8~9, 22, 49, 53, 62
English Only 44-45
ESOL 9, 48~50, 53
Estevez,Juan ix, 24
F
Faria, Miguel 27
Faux,Jaime 24
First Free Methodist Church 65
Flores, Elizabeth 9
Francesqui, Francisco ix, 32, 65
G
Garda Rivera, Alex 32
Generoso Castaneda, Lazaro 66
Harrison-Morton Junior High School
50
Hess's Department Store 55
Heydt, William 43
Hispanic American League of Artists
(HALA) 85
Hispanic American Organization
(tLAO) 8,27,39,52,58,73,85
Hispanic Business Council 31, 56, 60,
85-86
Hispanic Merchants Association 39
Hispanic Political Caucus 31,32,36,
41~2, 56, 80,86
Hagar Crea 39,72, 86
Human Relations Commission 17,20,
28,33-35,40,52
I
Iglesia Betania 23,32
J
Jennings, Alan 35
Jimenez,Jorge 8
JonesAct 6
K
Karahoka, Abe 48
Kiwanis 22
Krohn, Richard 18
L
La Famosa Grocery 12
Goldberg, Sheryl 8
La Mexicana Grill and Grocery 85
Gc,vernclf's Advisory Commission on Latin Alliance 8-9,43, 83
Affairs 43,72
Leh's Department Store 41,55
Gt,yzl.ll:t:a, Bonnie
Lincoln School 40, 62
Literacy Center 7, 53
Lopez, Bianca 35
74, 86
L6pez, Elipidio 26
L6pez, Guillermo 58,89
L6pez,jose 43
85
Lopezcepero,Jack 42
Louis DieruffHigh School 47,50
Lutheran Parish 29,52
Ortiz family 3, 6, 57, 88
Ortiz, Jorge
Ortiz, Margot 3,6,16,55,61,65
M
Mack Trucks 5, 13,30
Mahr, Emily 35
Maldonado, Margie 77-79
Mann, Fern 50
p
PanArnerican Cultural Association 27
Pearce, John 28
Pearce, Lupe 27, 52
Pentecostal church 7, 23, 32, 55, 63, 64,
6&-67,77,78, 82
Marcano, Marfa 57
Mariposa program 51
Matos, Iris 3
Matos, Nilsa 3,17,48
McCrossen, Linda 53~54
McGovern, Sam 21-22
McHugh, John 20, 51 ~52
Melendez, Dina 42
Melendez, Norma 26
Mestre, Ivis LaRiviere 65, 75
Migrant Worker Committee 15
Miller, Edward D. 28
Misionera Pentecostal Church 55
Mohr Orchards 11
Mohr, Frank 11
Montero, Ricardo 31, 35, 83-84
Morales, America 18
Morales, Jackie 9, 57
Muhlenberg College x, 9
Muir, Anthony 52
Peruvian Culture Society 9
Pizarro, Pastor Juan 2,21,65
Pletz, Elsie Martinez 49,61,88
Puente, Felix 19
Puerto Rican American Cultural Society ix
Puerto Rican Civic Association 16,18-
19
R
Radio Vive 7, 32, 86
Ramirez, Beatrice 41 ~2, 86
Ramos, Angel and Nidia 86
Ramos, Carmen 13
Ramos,Jesus ix, 12-13, 18, 21~22
Ramos, Lou 58-60
Red Cross 33,72
Reibman, Ed 42
Reyes, Miriam Rodriguez 68
Olivieri, Sonia 16
Rivera, Alex Garda 32
Rivera, Hector 40
Roberto Clemente Charter School 52
Robles, Francesca 24
Rodas, Miriam 74~75
Rodriguez, Angel 30, 54
Rodriguez, Ben 8,55
Rodriguez, Elizabeth 86
Rodriguez, Polita 29
Rodriguez, William 47
Operation Bootstrap 6, 11
Rosado, Xiomara 9
N
National Heritage Corridor
Negr6n, Gloria 54, 55
Novosat, David 36
o
Ocasio, James 34-35
Olano, Alfred 27
Hidden From History
IX
97
S
Sacred Heart Church 13-15, 21, 32,
57,65,88
Sacred Heart Hospital 23
Sainz de la Pena, Ana 9,51,81
Sainz de la Pena, Francisco 80
San Martin de Porres Church 32, 65, 75
Sanabria, Ramonita 20
Santa Rosa Restaurant 85
Santana, Dennis 47
Santana, Dionisio 24,65
Santana, Elsie
T
Taylor, Arthur 9
Torero, el 85
Trexler Orchards 12
Trinidad United Methodist Church 32
Tropiano, Emma 2,34-38,43-44,5455,78,87
U
United Way 22
V
Vazquez, Elsa 31,53
Vega,Ed 9
santeria 8, 65, 66
Vega, Francisco 6, 23, 32
Santiago, Jesus 40
Vega, Maria 47
Santos, Angel 31
Vega, Miriam 23,32
Santos, Madeline 61,64
Vega, Ruth 47
Scott, Diane 40, 49
Velazquez, Arlene 12
Sheridan Elementary School 40, 50
Velazquez, Martin, Jr. 12, 13,18,88
Shurilla, Dick 19
Velazquez, Martin, III 18,38,42,47,60,
Siteman, Thomas 40
86
Solivan, Samuel 31
Vida
Nueva Clinic 22
Sperry, Rev. Gordon 15
St. Catharine of Siena Church 12,26 Vida Nueva Pentecostal Church 7, 68
St. Paul's Lutheran Church 32
W
Suarez, Francisco 12, 13,26
Suarez, Lillian 12, 13, 14, 17,21
White, Bill 37
William Allen High School 31,47-48
y
Yerk, Margarita 41
Anna Adams