Oscar Garcia Rivera, b.1900. The first Puerto Rican elected to Public Office in the continental United States. First Puerto Rican elected to public office in the continental United States.He was born in Mayaquez, Puerto Rico on November 6, 1900 to a well-to-do family. After graduating from high school in 1925, he visited New York City and was deeply affected by the plight of the poor and working classes. He returned the following year and worked at the Boerum and Pease Binder factory in Brooklyn. He later became a postal clerk at the City Hall Post Office, where he organized the Puerto Rican/Hispanic employees and was responsible for integrating them into the Postal Clerks Union of America. In 1930, Garcia graduated St. John's University, which had been founded only three years earlier, with a degree in law. He practiced in E federal and state courts, eventually establishing offices on Wall Street, mid-Manhattan and Spanish Harlem, home to 20,000 Latinos at the time who often received pro bono (free) legal services from him. The Great Depression hit Spanish Harlem harder than other communities in the city. Relief programs offered to other areas never reached the Puerto Rican community. Schools were overcrowded, housing was substandard and in short supply. Unemployment and high crime ravaged residents of El Barrio, while police brutality further enraged the community which had no voice Garcia Rivera ran for Assemblyman of the 17th Assembly District in the borough of Manhattan and was elected to the New York State Assembly. Drawing on his community and a broader city-wide base, Garcia became the first Puerto Rican to hold an elected office in the continental United States. His supporters included New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, New York City District Attorney Thomas Dewey, Michael J. Quill, President of the International Transport Workers Union of America, and George Meany, President of the AFL/CIO. Assemblyman Garcia pursued protective laws for children and labor. His Unemployment Insurance Bill was accepted by the Assembly on February 3, 1939. He served two terms in the New York State Assembly, leaving an outstanding record of service. In 1969 Oscar Garcia Rivera died in his hometown of Mayaguez.
	Nydia Velazquez The first Puerto Rican woman to be elected to the United States House of Representatives. Nydia Velazquez was one of nine children born to a sugarcane cutter in Yabuccoa, Puerto Rico. She was the first child in her family to receive a high school diploma. Graduating from the University of Puerto Rico with honors, she later won a scholarship to study at New York University where she received a Master's degree in 1976. Like Garcia, she was deeply affected by the conditions of the Puerto Rican community in New York City which has substantially grown in size since the 1930's, beyond El Barrio, but remains blighted to this day. As Secretary of Puerto Rican Affairs in the United States, an agency of the Puerto Rican government, Velazquez initiated a voter registration drive called "Atrevete" that signed up over 150,000 new voters in the Puerto Rican community. She also opposed attempts to deny basic health services to unregistered immigrants which would have had dire consequences for the fight against AIDS in her community. Elected to the United States Congress in 1992, as the representative of one of the poorest districts in the United States, Congresswoman Velazquez continues to defend the rights of the poor and disenfranchised. She was the leading sponsor of The Family Violence and Prevention Act, providing families with social and education services; and is a strong advocate for low-income housing. Now in her third term in office, Congresswoman Velazquez remains an active member in the Democratic Caucus, the Hispanic Caucus and the Women's Issues Caucus.
Know an influential Puerto Rican who has greatly contributed to the lives of the Puerto Rican and Latin American community through their work, art, activism? Please send your reccomendations and a brief biography of the Puerto Rican submitted to us at: profiles@PRdream.com. All submissions are subject to review.