The newspaper Al Día has long been a leader in improving our city, often by spotlighting people who are doing good work, and by stubbornly advocating for change when needed.
Erika Almiron, Juntos
Recently the paper published a beautiful coffee table book with photos showing the history of Latinos in Philadelphia. It is available for $39.95 from Temple University Press (and less from Amazon).
See photos from the book in this slideshow.
Then check out this fascinating WHYY Radio Times interview featuring:
- Sabrina Vourvoulias, managing editor of Al Día and author of the book.
- Victor Vazquez-Hernandez, a historian at Miami-Dade College and expert on Latino history in Philadelphia
- Erika Almiron, executive director of the South Philadelphia immigrant advocacy group Juntos (“Together”).
Here are some things I learned from the interview:
- Latin American revolutionary leaders embraced Philadelphia during the 18th and 19th centuries due to the city’s Quakerly tolerance of religious and political diversity.
- During World War II, Mexican “braceros*” came to Philadelphia on a guest worker program to work for the railroads. After the war, they returned to Mexico.
- The church La Miligrosa, in the Spring Garden section of the city, is affectionately known as “the Plymouth Rock of Latino Catholics in Philadelphia.”
- The newborn Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations issued one of its earliest reports on clashes between Latino and Anglo Philadelphians in the 1950s.
- Voting-rights advocacy by Latino Philadelphians has had national implications for other groups working to get full access to the polls.
Listen to the WHYY radio show.
*Bracero translates approximately as “strong arms,” and is the informal name for a US government program to bring manual laborers and other workers from Mexico to the United States on temporary visas. The program lasted from the 1940s to the 1960s.
BetterPHL 
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