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Notable Hispanic Americans
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Notable Hispanic Americans
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Isabel
Allende Author
Born: 8/2/1942
Birthplace: Lima, Peru
The daughter of a diplomat,
best-selling author Isabel Allende spent her childhood in South America,
Europe, and the Middle East. As a teenager she returned to her family's
native country, Chile, where she became a writer and television host, but
fled in 1975 following a military coup. Allende published her first and most
acclaimed novel, House of the Spirits, in 1985. She has lived and
worked in the U.S. since 1988.
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Julia
Alvarez
Author
Born: 3/27/1950
Birthplace: New York, New York
The writing of Julia Alvarez
incorporates her vivid memories of childhood in the Dominican Republic, which
her family fled in 1960, and the subsequent adjustment to a new life in New
York City. Alvarez first made her mark as a poet but is best known for her
novels, particularly the award-winning How the Garcia Girls Lost Their
Accents (1991), In the Time of the Butterflies (1994), and Before
We Were Free (2003).
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Luis
Walter Alvarez Born:
1911
Birthplace: San Francisco, Calif.
Radio distance and direction
indicator-Alvarez was awarded the Nobel
Prize for Physics in 1968. He helped design a ground-controlled radar system
for aircraft landings and with his son developed the meteorite theory of
dinosaur extinction. (1978)
Died:
1988
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Rudolfo
Anaya
Writer
Born: 10/30/1937
Birthplace: Pastura, New Mexico
Rudolfo Anaya's evocative work
is steeped in the land and life of his native Southwest. The first of his
seven novels, Bless Me, Ultima (1972), a coming-of-age story set in
1940s New Mexico, is considered a classic of modern American literature.
Anaya has also brought his storytelling gifts to essays, children's books,
plays, poetry, and the 1998 mystery Shaman Winter. His 1999 novel Albuquerque
(the extra "r" reflects the city's original Spanish spelling) won
the PEN Center West Award-just one of Anaya's many honors. Anaya is professor
emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico.
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Baez, Joan
Baez, Joan(bīpstr;ez, bä'-) [key], 1941-, American folk singer and political activist, b. New York
City. Baez began singing traditional folk ballads, blues, and spirituals in
Cambridge, Mass., coffeehouses in a clear soprano voice with a three-octave
range. She made folk music, which had been largely ignored, popular. Baez's
records were the first folk albums to become best-sellers. Her later albums
include several of her own compositions, e.g., "Song for David" and "Blessed
Are." Among the first performers to urge social protest, she sang and marched
for civil and student rights and peace. Since the late 1960s she has devoted
time to her school for nonviolence in California and has performed at
concerts supporting a variety of humanitarian causes.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All
rights reserved.
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David
Barkley
Soldier
Born: 3/31/1899?
Birthplace: Laredo, Texas
Barkley, an enlisted private in
the U.S. Army, was the first Hispanic American to be awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor. During World War I he voluntarily swam the icy
Meuse River in France to gather information behind German lines. He drowned
on the way back from the Meuse mission and was honored posthumously with the
Congressional Medal of Honor. His Hispanic heritage was not known until 1989.
Died: 11/9/1918
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Franklin Chang-Dìaz
astronaut,
scientist
Born:
April 5, 1950
Birthplace: San Jose, Costa Rica
Chang-Dìaz moved to the United
States when he was in high school, and got a doctorate in applied plasma
physics from MIT in 1977. He eventually achieved his dream of becoming an
astronaut, entering space for the first time aboard Columbia in January 1986.
He was the first Costa Rican astronaut, and, as of 2004, he was one of only
two astronauts to have served on seven space missions, the other being Jerry
Ross. Chang-Dìaz is also the director of the Advanced Space Propulsion
Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center, where he has been developing a
plasma rocket.
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Cesar Estrada Chavez
Chavez, Cesar Estrada,
1927-93, American agrarian labor leader, b. near Yuma, Ariz. A migrant worker, he
became involved (1952) in the self-help Community Service Organization (CSO)
in California, working among Mexicans and Mexican Americans; from 1958 to
1962 he was its general director. In 1962, he left the CSO to organize wine
grape pickers in California and formed the National Farm Workers Association.
Using strikes, fasts, picketing, and marches, he was able to obtain contracts
from a number of major growers. In 1966 his organization merged with the
Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee of the AFL-CIO to form the United
Farm Workers Organizing Committee of the AFL-CIO. Chavez also launched (1968)
a boycott against the table grape growers, mobilizing consumer support
throughout the United States. In 1972 the United Farm Workers (UFW), with
Chavez as president, became a member union of the AFL-CIO. Chavez expanded
its efforts to include all California vegetable pickers and launched a lettuce
boycott, as well as extending his organizational efforts to Florida citrus
workers. His successes in California were sharply diminished, however, as the
result of a jurisdictional dispute with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters over the organization of field workers. In 1973 the Teamsters cut
heavily into UFW membership by signing contracts with former UFW grape
growers, but Chavez renewed the grape workers' strike. In 1977, the two
unions signed a pact defining the types of workers each could organize.
Membership in the UFW later fell, in part due to disputes between Chavez and
his followers, some of whom accused him of nepotism.
See J. E. Levy, Cesar
Chavez: Autobiography of La Causa (1975); R. Franchere, Cesar Chavez
(1988).
The
Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All
rights reserved.
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Henry
Cisneros
Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development, Clinton Administration
Born: 6/11/1947
Birthplace: San Antonio, Texas
Henry Cisneros served as Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development from 1993 to 1997, under President Clinton.
After working as a professor of environmental studies and a city councilor in
his native San Antonio, in 1981 Cisneros was elected mayor, becoming the
first Hispanic to serve as mayor of a major U.S. city. During his four terms
Cisneros was a popular leader who helped revitalize downtown San Antonio.
Cisneros pleaded guilty in 1999 to a misdemeanor count of lying to the FBI.
In his 1993 background check for his cabinet position, he lied about payments
he made to a former mistress. President Clinton pardoned him in January 2001.
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Roberto
C. Goizueta
Cuban refuge e who became chief executive of Coca-Cola Company,
strengthening company's global dominance in field.
Died: Oct. 18, 1997
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Scott
Gomez
Hockey
Center
Born:
Dec. 23, 1979
Alaska native and only Hispanic
NHL 1st-round draft pick (27th selection in 1998); scored 70 points in 2000
to win the Calder Trophy as NHL Rookie of the Year; won Stanley Cup with New
Jersey Devils in 2000.
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Joseph
Marion Hernandez
U.S.
Congressman
Born: 8/4/1793
Birthplace: St. Augustine, Florida
Joseph Mari on Hernandez was the
first Hispanic to serve in the U.S. Congress, as a delegate from the Spanish
territory of Florida. He served in Congress just over five months, from
September 1822 to March 1823. He later served the U.S. army in the war
against the Florida Indians, leading the 1837 expedition that captured Chief
Osceola.
Died:
6/8/1857
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Maria
Hinojosa
Journalist
Born: 1961
Birthplace: Mexico City
NPR correspondent Maria
Hinojosa got her start in broadcasting as the producer and host of a Latino
radio show at New York's Barnard College. An award-winning journalist,
Hinojosa began her career with NPR in 1985 but has worked also for other
radio and television stations, including CNN which she joined in 1997. She is
known especially for her reporting from Latin America. She is managing editor
and host of the radio show "Latino USA."
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Dolores
Huerta
Labor
leader
Born: 4/10/1930
Birthplace: Dawson, New Mexico
Huerta grew up in California's
agricultural San Joaquin Valley, where her mother owned a
restaurant and a hotel that often let farm workers stay free. Huerta received
a teaching degree from the University of the Pacific's Delta Community
College. After teaching elementary school for a short time, Huerta left to
work with farm workers. In 1955 Huerta was a founding member of the Stockton,
Calif., chapter of the Community Service Organization (CSO), which opposed
segregation and lobbied for better conditions for farm workers.
After founding the Agricultural
Workers Association in 1960, Huerta became a lobbyist in Sacramento. The
following year, she fought for legislation making non-U.S. citizens eligible
for pensions and public assistance. She also backed successful legislation
that allowed people to vote and take driver's examinations in Spanish.
In 1962 Huerta and activist Cesar Chavez founded the organization that later became
the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). In 1973 the UFW began a nationwide
consumer boycott of California grapes, lettuce, and Gallo wines. The boycott
resulted in the California table-grape growers signing a three-year
collective bargaining agreement with the UFW. Another boycott resulted in
passage of the U.S. Agricultural Labor Relations Act, giving farm workers the
right to organize and bargain for better wages and working conditions.
Huerta, who has 11 children, 14 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren, has
continued her political and social activism in support of rights for
immigrants and women.
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José Limón
Limón, José (José Arcadio Limón) (hōsā' limōn', lē-) [key], 1908-72, American modern dancer, choreographer,
and teacher known for powerfully masculine dancing and dramatic choreography.
He was born in Culiacán, Mexico, and his family settled in the United States
in 1915. He moved (1928) to New York City to study art, but was smitten by
dance and began studying with Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. Limón's talent was immediately
evident and he was soon performing (1930-40) his mentors' works. After
serving in World War II, he founded (1946) his own company with Humphrey as
artistic director. The influential Limón began choreographing in 1931,
continuing until the year of his death. One of his most celebrated works is The
Moor's Pavane (1949), a haunting dance based on Shakespeare's Othello.
His many other dances include La Malinche (1949), There Is a Time
(1956), and The Unsung (1970). In 1950 his company became the first
major U.S. modern dance group to perform in Europe; four years later it
traveled to South America, and subsequently it toured worldwide. Today the
José Limón Dance Foundation maintains an active dance company as well as
facilities for teaching, licensing, and other activities.
See his An
Unfinished Memoir (1999); D. Lewis, The Illustrated Dance Technique of
José Limón (1984); B. Pollack, Dance Is a Moment: A Portrait of José
Limón (1993).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All
rights reserved.
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Jennifer
Lopez
actress
Born: 7/24/1969
Birthplace: Bronx, New York
Film and television actress
best known for her portrayal of Selena, the murdered Tejano singer, in the
movie Selena (1997), for which she earned a Golden Globe Best Actress
nomination. Lopez started off dancing in stage musicals, and first appeared
on the Hollywood scene as one of the "fly girl" dancers on In Living Color
(1990). After several failed television series, she appeared in the
critically acclaimed film Mi Familia (1995), and has since appeared in
various other movies on the big screen. Television credits include South
Central, Second Chances (1993) and Malibu Road; film
credits include Jack (1996), Money Train (1997), Anaconda
(1997), The Cell (2000), The Wedding Planner (2001) and Angel
Eyes (2001). 2003 was not a good year, first, with the end of her
marriage with Cris Judd, then the universal panning of the movie Gigli
with then-fiancee Ben Affleck. She married singer Marc Anthony in June 2004.
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Nancy
Lopez
Golfer
Born:
Jan. 6, 1957
4-time LPGA Player of the Year (1978-79,85,88);
Rookie of Year (1977); 3-time winner of LPGA Championship; reached Hall of
Fame by age 30 with 35 victories; 48 career wins.
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Ricky
Martin
Latino pop singer, burst onto the
music scene in the U.S. after his hip-shaking performance at the February
Grammy Awards. His self-titled English-language debut album hit stores in May
and immediately shot up the charts. The single "Livin' la Vida Loca" sent
millions of women swooning. Martin was a member of Menudo, the Puerto
Rican boy band. He also did a stint on General Hospital.
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Mario
Molina
chemist,
Nobel laureate
Born: March 19, 1943
Birthplace: Mexico City
At the University of California
at Berkeley in 1973, Molina and Sherwood Rowland began researching
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), then widely used in refrigerators, spray cans,
and cleaning solvents. They discovered that the release of CFCs could destroy
the ozone layer in the stratosphere, allowing more ultraviolet light to get
through to Earth and potentially increasing the rate of skin cancer. Their
efforts led to CFC production being banned in most countries, and they
received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
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Ricardo Montalban
(Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Matalban y
Merino)
actor
Born: 11/25/1920
Birthplace: Mexico City, Mexico
A Mexican native with an
easygoing manner, dark-eyed intensity, and a lyrical Spanish accent, Ricardo
Montalban first gained fame for his "Latin lover" roles opposite 1940s and
1950s stars, such as Cyd Charisse and Esther Williams. Younger audiences know him as Mr. Roarke
from Fantasy Island (1978-84) or as Khan from Star Trek II: The
Wrath of Khan (1982). Despite these seemingly lightweight roles,
Montalban has earned high critical marks for his roles in such films as Battleground
(1949) and Sayonara (1957). He also earned an Emmy Award for his role as a Sioux chief in the 1976
television miniseries How the West Was Won. Montalban's unwillingness
to succumb to Latin stereotypes led him to found Nosotros ("Us") in 1973, an
organization that focused on improving the depiction of Hispanic performers
in the media.
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Rita Moreno
(Rosita Dolores Alverio)
actress,
dancer, singer
Born: 12/11/1931
Birthplace: Humacao, Puerto Rico
Moreno first appeared in film
at the age of fourteen, in A Medal for Benny (1945). She played in
several movies (notably The King and I in 1956) until her role as
Anita in West Side Story (1961) brought her fame and an Oscar as best supporting actress. Her work in television
included appearances on The Muppet Show and The Rockford Files.
Moreno was the first actress to bag an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony. More recently, she appeared in Blue Moon
(2000) and in John Sayles' Casa de los Babys (2003).
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Carlos Noriega
Astronaut
Born: 10/8/1959
Birthplace: Lima, Peru
Astronaut Carlos Noriega had a
distinguished career as a Marine Corps pilot before venturing millions of
miles beyond planet Earth. A mission specialist and computer scientist,
Lieutentant Colonel Noriega has visited Mir and helped to assemble the
International Space Station.
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Antonia
Coello Novello
physician
and former U.S. surgeon general
Born: 8/23/1944
Birthplace: Fajardo, Puerto Rico
Novello served as surgeon
general under President George H. W. Bush from 1990 to 1993. She focused on
publicizing the dangers of smoking and teenage drinking, expanding AIDS
education, and improving health care for women, minorities, and children.
Novello was born in Fajardo,
Puerto Rico with a chronic colon condition that caused her severe pain until
it was corrected surgically when she was 18 years old. The experience
inspired her to pursue a career in medicine. She earned a BS (1965) and an MD
from the University of Puerto Rico (1970). Novello and her husband, Joseph
Novello, a U.S. Army flight surgeon, moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan. She
interned, did her residency, and completed a fellowship at the University of
Michigan Medical Center, specializing in pediatric nephrology.
The couple then headed to
Washington DC, where Novello fellowed at Georgetown University Hospital from
1974 to 1975. She took a position with the National Institutes of Health in
1978, eventually becoming deputy director of the National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development. She received a master's degree in public health
from Johns Hopkins University in 1982.
In 1993, she left her post as
surgeon general and went to work for the United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF).
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Ellen
Ochoa, Ph.D.
Astronaut
Born: 5/10/1958
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
Astronaut Ellen Ochoa first
left Earth in July 1991 and became the world's first Hispanic female
astronaut. A mission specialist and flight engineer, she has since logged
more than 900 hours in space on four flights, the last in 2002. Dr. Ochoa's
many awards include NASA's Exceptional Service Medal (1997) and Outstanding
Leadership Medal (1995). Besides being an astronaut, researcher, and
engineer, Ochoa is a classical flutist.
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Severo Ochoa
Ochoa, Severo (sāvā'rō ōchō'ä) [key], 1905-93,
American biochemist and educator, b. Spain, M.D. Univ. of Madrid, 1929. After
teaching at the universities of Madrid, Heidelberg, and Oxford, he came to
the United States in 1940. In 1954 he was appointed chairman of the
department of biochemistry at New York Univ. He became an American citizen in
1956. With Arthur Kornberg he received the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine for the synthesis of ribonucleic acid (RNA), an organic compound
that carries hereditary qualities in all reproduction.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright
© 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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Edward
James Olmos
actor,
producer
Born: 2/24/1947
Birthplace: Los Angeles
After a
short stint as a rock singer, Olmos gained critical attention for his role in
the musical Zoot Suit (1978-80). For his performance as the police
lieutenant in the TV series Miami Vice (1984-89) he won an Emmy (1985). His film career includes acting in and
coproducing the films The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1983) and Stand
and Deliver (1988); for the latter he received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a math teacher.
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Anthony Quinn
(Antonio Quiñones)
actor
Born: 4/21/1915
Birthplace: Chihuahua, Mexico
This Irish-Mexican actor first
appeared on film in 1936. After a long succession of bit parts, he won two Oscars (Viva Zapata! 1952; Lust for Life,
1956) and was nominated two additional times (Wild Is the Wind, 1957; Zorba
the Greek, 1964). He also made memorable appearances in Fellini's La
Strada (1954) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962). His more recent work
includes playing Zeus on the TV series Hercules (1994) and roles in
the films Last Action Hero (1993) and A Walk in the Clouds
(1995). Quinn was married to Katherine DeMille, the adopted daughter of Cecil B. De Mille (divorced 1965). He married twice more,
first to wife of 31 years, Iolanda Quinn (divorced in 1997), and then to
Kathy Benvin.
Died: Boston, Mass., 6/3/2001
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Bill
Richardson
politician,
diplomat
Born: 1947
Birthplace: Pasadena, Calif.
Richardson has spent nearly his
entire career as a public servant. A Democrat from New Mexico, he was elected
to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1983 and served until January 1997.
As a congressman he was chief deputy Democratic whip and sat on the Commerce,
Intelligence, and the Resource committees. In February 1997 he became the
U.S. ambassador to the UN, the first Hispanic to hold the position. Known as
a skilled troubleshooter, Richardson traveled to such hot spots as North
Korea, Iraq, Cuba, and Sudan, where he successfully negotiated the release of
American hostages. Richardson also mediated discussions between Zaire's
former president Mobutu and rebel leader Laurent Kabila, which resulted in
the fairly peaceful transfer of power in the country that is now known as the
Democratic Republic of Congo. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
three times.
In 1998, President Clinton
appointed him secretary of energy. In that position, in which he served until
2001, he set aside more than 20,000 acres for wildlife preservation, helped
to stem rising oil prices, and ushered in a program to remove from the
Colorado River 10 tons of radioactive material.
In 2002 Richardson successfully
ran for the governorship of New Mexico.
Richardson received a BA from
Tufts in 1970 and a MA from Tuft's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in
1971.
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Alberto
Salazar
Track
and Field
Born:
Aug. 7, 1958
Set one world and six U.S.
records during his career; broke 12-year-old record at New York Marathon in
1981 and broke Boston Marathon record in 1982; won three straight NY
Marathons (1980-82); qualified for the 1980 and 1984 U.S. Olympic teams.
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Carlos Santana
musician
Born: 7/20/1947
Birthplace: Autlan De Navarro, Mexico
The guitar-playing legend's
blend of blues, rock, and Afro-Cuban rhythms has kept him visible on the
popular music front for more than 30 years. After moving with his family to
San Francisco he became a founding member of the Santana Blues Band, later
Santana. A month after appearing at Woodstock in 1969-one of the band's first
gigs-Santana released its first album, Santana, which it followed with
a series of gold and platinum albums during the 1970s: Abraxas, Borboletta,
and Inner Secrets. Santana himself recorded many solo albums including
the jazz influenced The Swing of Delight (1980), featuring Herbie
Hancock and others, and the pop-oriented Havana Moon (1983) with
Willie Nelson and Booker T Jones. In 1986, he wrote the score for La
Bamba, the biopic of Ritchie Valens. In 1999, after a break of five years
from recording, Santana released Supernatural, which sold almost ten
million copies and won eight Grammy Awards.
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Selena
(Quintanilla
Perez)
tejano
singer
Born: 4/16/1971
Birthplace: Lake Jackson, Texas
Grammy Award-winning tejano singer who was gunned
down in 1995 by deranged fan Yolanda Saldivar. Her recordings include Live
(1993) and Dreaming of You (1995). Jennifer Lopez played her in the 1997 film Selena.
Died: 3/31/1995
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Richard Serra
Serra,
Richard,
1939-, American sculptor, b. San Francisco; grad. Univ. of California, Santa
Barbara (B.A., 1961), Yale (B.F.A., M.F.A., 1974). Many of his early works
(1960s) are cast in rubber or lead. Later, using metals, concrete,
fiberglass, and other materials, he created large-scale abstract sculptures
that were usually intended for specific outdoor sites. His Tilted Arc
(1981) achieved notoriety when nearby office workers demanded its removal
from a site in lower Manhattan. Perceived as menacing, the elegant 120-ft
(37-m) curving sheet of rusting steel was dismantled in 1989. In the ensuing
years Serra's huge, curved, torqued, space-enclosing, and space-defining
steel sculptures, best experienced not by simply looking at them, but by
wandering through and around them, have become extremely popular and are
widely thought to be among the most significant abstract sculptures of the
late 20th and early 21st cent. His pieces are included in many major museum
collections; an eight-part, more than 430-ft-long (131-m) assemblage of his
massive, rust-patinated steel sculpture was permanently installed (2005) at
the Guggenheim Museum's Bilbao branch.
See Richard
Serra: Writings/Interviews (1994); C. Weyergraf-Serra and M. Buskirk,
ed., The Destruction of Tilted Arc: Documents (1991); K. McShine et
al., Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years (2007); studies by R. Krauss
(1986) and H. Foster, ed. (2000).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All
rights reserved.
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Geraldo
Rivera
talk-show
host, journalist
Born: 7/4/1943
Birthplace: New York City
In 1997 Rivera cut a $30
million six-year contract with NBC as a news journalist, capping a career in
journalism that has mixed serious investigative reporting with tawdry
talk-show fare and the downright bizarre. After reporting for New York's
WABC-TV (1970-75), Rivera became a host and correspondent for Good Night
America and then Good Morning America (1973-76). During 1978-85 he
worked for 20/20; his report on Elvis Presley's drug use is the
highest-rated in 20/20's history. His syndicated special on breaking
into Al Capone's vault became TV's highest-rated special ever. In 1987 he
began hosting the Geraldo show (which continued as The Geraldo
Rivera Show until 2001) punctuated in 1988 with a brawl on the set that
landed Rivera with a broken nose. In 1994 he joined CNBC on Rivera Live, a
more serious venue in which he delivered well-received coverage of the O. J. Simpson trial. In 2001, Rivera moved to the Fox New
Channel as a war correspondent. Both admired and lampooned, Rivera knows how
to make the ratings roar.
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Jimmy
Smits
actor
Born: 7/9/1955
Birthplace: New York City
Emmy Award-winning television and film actor who played
Hispanic lawyer Victor Sifuentes on L.A. Law (1985-91) and Bobby
Simone on NYPD Blue (1995-1998). His films include My Family: Mi
Familia (1995), and Price of Glory (2000). He is set to play in Star
Wars, Episodes II and III.
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Sonia
Sotomayor
U.S. Supreme
Court Justice
Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, was born
in Bronx, New York, on June 25, 1954. She earned a B.A. in 1976 from
Princeton University, graduating summa cum laude and receiving the
university's highest academic honor. In 1979, she earned a J.D. from Yale Law
School where she served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal. She
served as Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney's
Office from 1979-1984. She then litigated international commercial matters in
New York City at Pavia & Harcourt, where she served as an associate and
then partner from 1984-1992. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush nominated
her to the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, and she served
in that role from 1992-1998. She served as a judge on the United States Court
of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 19982009. President Barack Obama
nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on May 26, 2009,
and she assumed this role on August 8, 2009.
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Nydia
Velázquez
U.S.
Representative
Born: 3/28/1953
Birthplace: Yabucoa, Puerto Rico
In 1992 Nydia Velázquez became
the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress (Democrat, New York).
Velázquez was an activist as a teenager in rural Puerto Rico and came to the
U.S. to earn a master's degree in political science at New York University.
She has taught university in both Puerto Rico and the U.S. As a U.S.
Representative she has been outspoken about voter registration, health care,
and family violence.
Fact Monster/Information
Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Raquel
Welch
(Raquel
Tejada)
actress
Born: 9/5/1940
Birthplace: Chicago
Welch's early films, such as One
Million Years B.C. (1966), Fantastic Voyage (1966), and Bedazzled
(1967), established her as a sex symbol, an image she has never shaken. Her
other movies include Myra Breckinridge (1970), Mother, Jugs and
Speed (1976), and Chairman of the Board (1998). She has also made
numerous television appearances, including guest spots on Mork and Mindy
(1978), Seinfeld (1990), Spin City (1996), and as a regular on
the PBS dramatic series American Family (2002-2004).
Fact Monster/Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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