Don Pedro Cano
Today it is hard to imagine that we lived like that in those days. Central Falls has changed and now we have so many [Latino] markets, restaurants, record stores and people in the street can be heard speaking Spanish every day ...
Osvaldo Castillo
Today, the community has changed a lot because it is larger. I see more bilingual people working in government offices, and back in the early days there was none of that. I also speak better English, but I still feel bad for the people who are just arriving to this country because they still have to go through what I went through ...
Angel "Tato" Cosme
In 1955, Angel “Tato" Cosme quit school after the ninth grade to help his mother earn money for the family. He left the poverty of his home in Puerto Rico and traveled to New England, and eventually settled in Rhode Island.
Juan Francísco
In the 1985 Juán Francisco was one of the founders of the first Hispanic Political Action Committee (HPAC) in Rhode Island, which launched a political awareness among Hispanics.
José González
My main goal then, was to give back to the Latino community by going into social work. But I had a moral dilemma. In social work you sometimes provide too much support, and don’t educate people into becoming independent. And you have this realization that the best way you can help the Latino community is by educating them ...
Roberto González
Roberto González moved to Rhode Island from New York City in 1969 with his brother, José. After being invited here to visit, their mother decided to bring the family (including a third brother) to raise them in what she felt was a safer environment. Roberto eventually became the first Latino Judge in Rhode Island - sworn into the Providence Housing Court in 2004 ....
Francisco Litardo
In the summer of 1974, Cuban minister Rev. Pedro Ortiz walked the streets of Rhode Island, knocking on the doors of local churches. He was there on behalf of the American Baptist Church, tasked with finding congregations willing to host Spanish-speaking services. It was Calvary Baptist Church that opened its doors to him.
Olga Noguera
I think that we have done so much with the Hispanic community that people who come now should be very proud of the people who opened doors … I think that we made a lot of strides and I think that we need to encourage young persons to participate in the Hispanic community ...
Doña Fefa Rosario
I remember when we would drive to New Haven in our blue station wagon to buy platános, yuca, café Dominicano and other food for the Hispanic people who lived in Providence in the mid-to-late 1960s ...
Miriam (Salabert) Gorriaran
Tessie Salabert and her sister, Miriam, were born in Cuba. The two girls and their brother, Eduardo, were sent to the U.S. on April 10, 1961 as a result of “Operación Pedro Pan (Operation Peter Pan).” Tessie was 11 years old , Miriam was 14 years old and their brother was eight. ....
Nerino Sánchez
Nerino Sánchez arrived penniless in Miami in 1969, fed up with the rationing and communism of Castro's Cuba. Soon he joined relatives in Providence. Many early Latinos remember shopping at a small market that he owned on Douglas Avenue.
Nerino Sánchez
Nerino Sánchez arrived penniless in Miami in 1969, fed up with the rationing and communism of Castro's Cuba. Soon he joined relatives in Providence. Many early Latinos remember shopping at a small market that he owned on Douglas Avenue.
© All Rights Reserved | Nuestras Raíces: Latino History of RI © | When using materials from this website, please acknowledge by stating the name of the URL of the webpage on which it is displayed. Citations should include full bibliographic information as follows: Courtesy of the Latino Oral History Project of Rhode Island, Central Falls, RI.
The History of Latino Community Activism
When Latin Americans first began to arrive in Providence in the 1950s and 1960s, the very small community was met with minimal recognition on the part of the bureaucracy...
