Benjamin Wayne: Facing Terror

By in Holocaust, Human Rights, Leadership, Staten Island History, Staten Island History

From the USSR to the U.S.: an argument in favor of the NYS Dream Act

By in Asian Immigration, European Immigration, Immigrant NYC, NYC History, Uncategorized

Some of the world’s most developed and prosperous countries, which incessantly boast about their tolerance, have come face-to-face with the “intensification of the national question”. And today, one after another, they have had to admit their failure to integrate outside cultural elements into society and ability to ensure a peaceful, harmonious interaction between various cultures, religions, and ethnic groups. The “melting pot” of assimilation continues to stall, unable to “digest” the growing migration flow. In politics, a reflection of this fact has been “multiculturalism”, which rejects the notion of integration through assimilation. It elevates the “right of minorities to be different” to the absolute and, at the same time, fails to balance this right with civil, and cultural obligations. More interesngly, these problems have existed and persist in our own backyard. New York...

Puerto Ricans, Politics, and Power: An Electoral History in New York

By in Immigrant NYC, Latin American Immigration, Leadership, NYC History

BBy Ryan Clinton History major, Wagner College  ’14 Ortega Family History “Look at my hands. I don’t want you to have these kinds of hands,” Manny Ortega’s father used to tell him, raising his calloused palms and drawing attention to his right hand, which was missing half of the middle finger. “He stressed [education for me]” (Ortega Interview). Manny Ortega, the 52-year-old law chairman of Staten Island’s Democratic Party and a practicing family law attorney, emphasized his family’s role in his pursuit of higher education and professional opportunities. Mr. Ortega’s father, an Ecuadorian immigrant to the United States, came to this country in the late 1940s seeking work. He came to New York and joined the merchant marines. An injury tying ropes on the docks sliced off part of his finger. His broken English hampered his ability to receive many distinctions and promotions that he...

Huguenot Staten Island

By in NYC History, Staten Island History

Vive Staten Island !: Huguenot settlers and other French connections Please do not cite without permission. This is a work in progress.  Further research on the Huguenot history of Staten Island has been commissioned by the New York Geneological and Biographical Society and will be available on their website in late 2013.  A Special thanks to Peter Kerr for his support and encouragement of this research project. Lori R. Weintrob, Professor and Chair, History Department Wagner College, Staten Island LRWeintro@wagner.edu 718-390-3309 Introduction The poet Henry David Thoreau, who lived for a time on Staten Island, wrote imaginatively of the Huguenots’ early settlement two centuries earlier: The hills in the interior of [Staten] Island, though comparatively low, are penetrated in various directions by sloping valleys,…gradually...