UN PUEBLO NUEVO: The New Boston – Beyond Black & White
Boston Latino A-Z

It’s the year 2057 and a group of young high school students are gathered around a table in the Boston Public Library. They are working on a photography class project. The assignment is to learn about Boston’s leadership during the first decade of the century through pictures depicted in books of that era.

After digging deep into the library’s archives, they wipe off the dust from a few books. They thumb through a number of books on the Bulger brothers, Bill Belichick, the 2004 Boston Red Sox, John Kerry, and others on the Boston Harbor and the Freedom Trail. The students come across two books that pique their interest: Boston, All One Family and Boston, An Extended Family. They learn that a well-known and respected photographer who at one time was the Boston Globe society photographer took the photos.

After laughing at the hairstyles and the-so-out-of-date fashion, they marvel at the quality of the black and white photos. Everyone in the books look so good and downright photogenic. Some are candid others are portraits. They read the names and titles of the powerbrokers, the movers and shakers of that period, the politicians, bankers, lawyers, CEOs, athletes, and entertainers. They are impressed with the significant contributions of the hundreds of leaders and personalities to their city of Boston. Truly a who’s who of the men and women who helped make Boston what it was in the early twenty-first century. They are duly impressed.

After a second and third viewing of the books there is a sudden silence. The students are somewhat perplexed. With surnames like Rodríguez, Serrano, Chau, Lee, Baptiste, and Jean-Louis amongst them, they listen as one of them, a sophomore, asks out loud…”Where are our people?” “Weren’t they around during that period?” “Didn’t they help make Boston what it was back then?” The student, who was known to be outspoken, was named Vionette, after her great grandmother a Puerto Rican author and activist. “What about the folks our grandparents tell us about?”

As she flipped through the pages she told the others, “We have to remember what our teacher, Ms. Kiya, told us….’Each picture is worth a thousand words’ and ‘each picture tells a story.’”

They once again pour over the nearly five hundred photos and on page three or four of the first book they find a picture of three Latino men posing in front of a mural in Jamaica Plain. The men include Felíx Arroyo, the first Latino elected to a citywide office in Boston and Jarrett Barrios the first Latino elected state senator. They see a photo of Marie P. St. Fleur, the first Haitian elected to public office in Massachusetts.

They move on to the second book. As they look from picture to picture they wonder if any of their ancestors knew or worked with any of the faces highlighted in such intimate settings, at home or at work. On page 65 they come across Pierre Imbert, a Haitian activist who headed the state office of Refugees & Immigrants and was a Barr Foundation Fellow in 2005.

A few pages later they find María Lopez, a Cuban-American former judge who would find national fame as a television jurist on her own syndicated show. In 1988, Judge Lopez made legal history as the first Latina appointed to the bench in Massachusetts when Governor Michael Dukakis selected her as a District Court Judge.

Before they finish they read the caption under the photo of Luis Tiant. “El Tiante”, a Boston Red Sox icon who in the 1970’s became one of the teams most beloved pitchers in its history.

And that was it. They closed the books thinking that there must have been more. So many more. How could there not be based on the oral history shared by their parents and grandparents.

Vionette led their journey back into the vaults of the library archives. Looking at every title. A few hours later one of them emerges with a number of books published in 2009 titled Un Pueblo Nuevo: The New Boston – Beyond Black and White. Boston Latino A-Z.

They quickly wipe off the dust and holding their breath their faces light up with astonishment.
Under the letter A they find a familiar face in Felíx Arroyo. He is surrounded by two of his sons, Felíx Jr. and Ernesto. Jr. was an activist involved in union issues for the SEIU and Ernesto a spoken word artist of that generation who inspired young and old through his work with The Foundation. There is another photo of Arroyo with three of his fellow city councilors, Chuck Turner, Charles Yancey and Sam Yoon. They were known as Team Unity and founding members of the New Majority Coalition in 2003. Yoon was the first Asian American elected to citywide office in Boston.

They flip back a few pages. There is a picture of a young woman surrounded by children in a public school classroom. Her name is Jasmine Acevedo. A graduate of Boston College 2001, she chose to stay in Boston to pursue her dream of working with inner city children instead of returning to her Island of Puerto Rico. There is another picture of her with her parents. Her father, Hector Luis Acevedo, served as mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico for two terms in 1988 and 1992.

They turn the page and find Nader Acevedo. A native of Colombia, in the mid 1970’s he moved to Boston. A successful business executive he served as the executive director of the Greater Boston Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce. There is another picture of him with his daughter Patricia, a graduate of Boston University and a successful marketing and sales executive.

They skip a few pages and find a photo of Chef Pedro Alarcon sitting at a table in his very successful restaurant, La Casa de Pedro in Watertown. A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Pedro personified the American Dream of generations of immigrants.
There are plenty of more names and photos under A. They come across Camilo Alvarez: Dominican, art gallery owner and curator. Luis Alvarez:Puerto Rican, Berklee ’83, founder of the celebrated Puerto Rico Heineken JazzFest. Alex Alvear: Ecuadorian, Berklee graduate. Performing Arts Manager, La Casa de la Cultura/Jorge Hernández Cultural Center in Villa Victoria/leader of Mango Blue music group. Brian&Rosi Amador: musicians, leaders of Sol y Canto music group. Sonia Andujar: Puerto Rican, media pioneer/Puerto Rican Chronicle. There are several more pages.

They move on to other letters. B. José A. Barriga: Founder/festival director/curator – Boston Latino International Film Festival. Mili Bermejo: singer, Berklee professor. Joseph Betancourt: M.D.,MGH,racial/ethnic disparities in Health Care. Rubén Blades: Harvard Law School masters degree in International law, singer/actor/activist. Blanca & Josefina Bonilla: sisters, educator and journalist respectively. The honorable Issac Borenstein, Associate Justice. Fernando Bossa: independent television producer – El Show de Fernandito.

The students are engrossed. So many names. So many photos. C. Ric Colón: corporate executive/community supporter. Peter Cuenca: founder/owner La Semana Newspaper/Cuenca Communications. D. Alfredo de Jesus: radio pioneer. Johnny Díaz: journalist/Boston Globe. Fernando Domenech: Architect. Junot Diaz: author/MIT professor of literature. F. Jovita Fontanez: community activist. G. Frieda García: community leader, founder La Alianza Hispana. Digna Gerena: independent television producer – Boston Latino TV. Ernesto González: M.D., MGH – role model and mentor to medical students. Juan Luis Guerra: Berklee ’82, Merengue superstar/Grammy Award winner. Lucas Guerra: founder/principal/creative director – Argus Communications.

The pages go on and on with more photos and names. Dania Alexandrino. Julito Alvarado. Hortensia Amaro. Luis Aponte Pares. Jorge Arce. Gladys Aquino. Carmelo Ayuso. Tony Barros. Angel Bermudez. Freddy Blanco. Franklin Cabral. Yoel Camayd-Freixas. Nicolás Carballeira. Vanessa Calderon-Rosado. María Magdalena Campos-Pons. Egui Castrillo. Atty. Apolo Catala. Richard Chacon. Jenny Cintron. Janet Collazo. Carmen Colombani, Miriam Colón. Agnes Cornier. David Cortiella. Luz Cuadrado. Jaqui Cruz-Conrad. Luis Dávila. José Duran. Manny del Carmen. Alfredo de Jesus. Pedro de Jesus. Juan de los Santos. Tomas Dominquez. Martin Espada. Natatcha Estebanez. Carlos Ferre. Paul Francisco. Miguel Fuentes. Nobel García. Tania García, Yvonne García. Anna Giraldo-Kerr. Orlin Goble. Edsel Gómez. Marta Gómez. Bernardo Hernández. Jorge Hernández. Dr. Manuel Guillermo Herrera. Giovanni Hidalgo. Carmelo Iglesias. Rafael Jaime. Diana Lam. María Elena Letona. Alvaro Lima. Alberto Limonic. Eric Liriano. Juan Maldenbaum. Israel Maldonado. Javier Marin. Luis Marin. Armando Martínez. Claudio Martínez. Hemenegildo Martínez. Jorge Martínez. Josiane Martínez. Teresa Martínez. José Mateo. Gil Matos. Lucia Mayerson-David. Angel Medina. Raul Medina. Giorgana Meléndez. Nydia Mendez. Nelson Merced. Ricardo Millet. Celina Miranda. Greg Molina. Tony Molina. Oswaldo Mondejar. David Morales. Angel A. Amy Moreno. Margarita Muñiz. “Chico” Muñoz. Linda Nathan/Carmen Torres. Divina Nieves-Massó. Giovanna Negretti. Edgard Nevarez. Father Frederick O’Brien. Julia Ojeda. Alexandra Oliver-Davila. Raquel Ortiz. Felita Oyola. Los hermanos Pabon. Ana Perez. Don Juan Pimentel. Damaris Pimentel. Familia Pimentel. Franklyn Peña. Hector and Nivia Piña. Danilo Perez. Carmen Pola. Roberto Pomales. Jorge Quiroga. Rick Quiroga. Claudio Ragazzi. Gil Raldiris. Humberto Ramírez. Ismael Ramírez Soto. Evelyn Reyes. Zoila Riccardi. Hector Rivera. Veronica Robles. Alex Rodríguez. Bruno Rodríguez. Conchita Rodríguez. Jaime Rodríguez. Yvette Rodríguez. Willie Rodríguez. Angel Salcedo. Yaridris Nova Salcedo. Richard Salcedo. Efrain Salgado. Bobby Sanabria. Carol Sánchez. Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez. María Sánchez. Enrique “Quique” Santiago. Miguel Satut. Father Ernest(o) Serrino. Bobby Serrano. Eloy Sierra. Sofia Snow. Esmirna Soto. Micho Spring. Ilan Stavans. Inez Stewart. Sara & Essdras Suárez. Dr. Francisco Trilla. Johanna Buchholtz-Torres. Maximo Torres. Miren Uriarte. The Vassallo family – father/mother/son. Jerry Villacress. Tino Villanueva. Tommy Villariny. Miguel Zenón.

Just to name a few.

They read the credits. The International Latino Leadership Institute (ILLI) produced the book through its Center for Puerto Rican and Latino Leadership Development. A small independent publisher – The David Santiago Publishing House printed it. The publishing house was dedicated to the publication of short stories, narratives and poetry that celebrated the lives and experiences of Latinos. Latinos who are diverse in culture, color, ideas, and dreams, who share a common desire through the written word to make the quality of life better for themselves, their families, their neighbors, and their nation.

Before they close the books they read the preface.

“These books were inspired by the work of Bill Brett. A gentleman, a truly gifted photographer and consummate professional.”

“Somos fruto de nuestro ayer y semilla del mañana” - “We are the fruit of our yesterdays and the seed of tomorrow”