Evelina Lopez Antonetty (1922−1984) was a Puerto Rican civil rights and education activist whose work primarily focused on Puerto Rican children in New York City. Antonetty started United Bronx Parents in

South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...

, New York which helped with bilingual classes, school lunches, and increased community involvement. Antonetty's work played a large role in why schools across the United States now have bilingual education. As of 2016, United Bronx Parents remains active in school systems and has spread throughout the U.S. Antonetty was greatly recognized as an organized and strong leader.

Early life

Antonetty was born on September 19, 1922, into a poor family in Salinas, a small fishing village in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

. She grew up as the eldest of three daughters. Her mother, Eva Cruz Lopez, sent her to live in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

with her aunt and uncle in 1933 when Antonetty was 11 years old. She went to public school in

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem, or , is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fifth Avenue to the west, and the East and Harlem Rivers to the eas ...

Wadleigh High School for Girls The Wadleigh High School for Girls was established by the NYC Board of Education in 1897 and moved into its new building in Harlem in September 1902. It was the first public high school for girls in New York City. At the time, public secondary ...

which was considered one of the best schools in the city. Her family moved around a lot within the Latino community. They were part of the working poor in Harlem but were relatively fortunate as Eva had a steady job. Her activism stemmed from her childhood of poverty growing up in Puerto Rico and then the exposition of the progressive politics of the Great Depression after her emigration to New York City. Her experience with rejection and discrimination in the public school district motivated her to reach out and want to help other children like her.

Career

In Antonetty’s teenage years, she worked for multiple political leaders, which drew her interest to political activism. She worked for Congressman

Vito Marcantonio Vito Anthony Marcantonio (December 10, 1902 – August 9, 1954) was an American lawyer and politician who served East Harlem for seven terms in the United States House of Representatives. For most of his political career, he was a member of ...

, an Italian-American man from Harlem, and

Jesús Colón Jesús Colón (1901–1974) was a Puerto Rican writer known as the Father of the Nuyorican movement. An activist and community organizer, Colón wrote poetry and stories about his experiences as an Afro-Puerto Rican living in New York. Early y ...

, a Puerto Rican born labor leader. With the experience of working for Marcantonio and Colón, she moved to

where she worked for District 65 of the

United Auto Workers The United Auto Workers (UAW), fully named International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico) and sou ...

, preparing people to enter the job force. Once she married her second husband, Donato Antonetty, she decided to stay home and raise her three children while her husband worked. When her daughter, Anita, started school in 1962, she decided to join the school’s parents association, which eventually led to her creating the United Bronx Parents.

United Bronx Parents

Founded by Evelina Antonetty and established in 1965, the United Bronx Parents encouraged parents in the South Bronx community to become more involved in their children’s education. The program provided training sessions to better inform parents on the evaluations of schools regarding the types of teachers and the types of educational programs that schools had to offer. Evelina Antonetty hoped that the United Bronx Parents would diminish the idea that poverty, rather than inequality, was why minorities were not able to get an education. In the late 1960s, the goal of the program shifted to trying to increase bilingual education, which was realized in 1968, when South Bronx implemented bilingual schools. The United Bronx program originally set out to help Puerto Rican parents become more involved in the New York educational system. However, due to its success, it also began involving African American mothers and expanding to other cities within New York and throughout the country.

Legacy

In 2011, a mural was painted in the South Bronx honoring her work and dedication for the United Bronx Parents.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antonetty, Evelina Lopez 1922 births 1984 deaths American civil rights activists Activists for Hispanic and Latino American civil rights People from Salinas, Puerto Rico American people of Puerto Rican descent Activists from New York City Founders of charities American education activists 20th-century Puerto Rican women educators 20th-century Puerto Rican educators 20th-century Puerto Rican people 20th-century American people Advocates for bilingual education