Edgardo Vega Yunqué, Puerto Rican Novelist

Puerto Rican writer Edgardo Vega Yunqué, who founded the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural Center in the lower East Side, has died, his literary agent said yesterday. He was 72.

The author of 17 novels, who was born in Cidra, Puerto Rico, and lived alone in Brooklyn, died at Lutheran Hospital on Aug. 25, the agent, Tom Colchie, said.

It was not clear yesterday why it took so long to know of his death. The cause of death is not yet known, Colchie added. A spokesman for Lutheran Hospital couldn’t be reached for comment last night.

Vega Yunqué was “a great American writer as well as a great Puerto Rican writer,” said Colchie.

He added that Vega Yunqué’s best books, such as “Blood Fugues” and “Lamentable Journey of Omaha Bigelow Into the Impenetrable Loisaida Jungle,” “will become classics."

Click here to learn more about Edgardo Vega Yunqué

Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s Pioneering Vision
Leaves a Cultural Legacy

Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, Founder, Visionary and CEO of the National Black Theatre Inc, made her transition peacefully at home Monday, July 21, 2008. Dr. Teer was an icon in the healing art of Black Theatre. Leaving behind a lucrative show business career in 1967, she came to Harlem in 1968 and founded the National Black Theatre (NBT). This began a 40-year passion that changed the cultural landscape of the theatrical world. She created a new cultural art form by blending cultural appreciation, performing arts and community advocacy. In 1983, she expanded that vision with the purchase of a 64,000 sq ft building located at 125 Street & Fifth Avenue. There she created a thriving cultural and business complex housing the largest New Sacred Yoruba Art collection in the western hemisphere. Through a commitment to her vision and purpose, the National Black Theatre is a world-class institution that inspires cultural transformation, social change, human re-development, historic relevance, and futuristic innovation.

Throughout her life, she was always on the cutting edge as the world paced one step behind her trail blazing vision and
provocative stage productions. As a former dancer, actress, producer, director, writer, cultural entrepreneur, and more
recently officially an African Chieftain, she has won countless awards and received numerous Honorary Doctorate
Degrees. However, what mattered most to her was spiritual, self-empowerment. She was known for providing a cultural
incubator and training forum for artists in all walks of life. Her commitment through the National Black Theater was to offer
an alternative learning environment where she attracted people from around the world whose work she impacted and
showcased. Click here to read more from the July 21, 2008 National Black Theatre press release.

Rachel/Raquel “Rusty” Villegas
(January 16, 1933  - February 10, 2008)

There is an old but at times useful cliché that says “It takes a village to raise a child.” If that child grows to become one of our village’s elders – whose life was marked by a degree of dedication to the wellbeing and welfare of the village – and who upon passing away, we could add: “It takes a village to say farewell …” to that person. And so last week at Johnston Funeral home, family and members of the community of El Barrio/East Harlem said farewell to Raquel Villegas.

Click here to read the entire article by William Gerena-Rochet...

Julia de Burgos Day
Friday, March 16th, 2007

An initiative to rename East 106th Street in honor of the late Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos was approved by Community Board 11 on September 19th, 2006. The vote occurred after months of petitioning by supporters of the proposal jointly coordinated by El Museo del Barrio and Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito. East Harlem Preservation endorsed the initiative and collected hundreds of petition signatures in support of the effort. A street dedication ceremony and evening program was held on Friday, March 16th.

106 Street Is Now Julia de Burgos Boulevard (Tiempo NY, March 22, 2007)
Puerto Rican Poet Gets Her Own NYC Street (1010 Wins Radio, March 18, 2007)
Paying homage to our heroes (El Diario/La Prensa, March 17, 2007)
Julia de Burgos ya tiene su Boulevard (El Diario/La Prensa, March 17, 2007)
Councilmember Mark-Viverito and El Museo del Barrio Present 'Julia de Burgos Day' on East 106th Street (March 9, 2007)
Click here to read about Julia de Burgos (English)
Toque aquí leer acerca de Julia de Burgos (Español)
Las mujeres del Barrio: pieza clave en el movimiento para renombrar la calle 106 (Tiempo NY, November 2, 2006)
Letter of Support from the Community Association of the East Harlem Triangle (September 18, 2006)
East 106th Street: Julia's River Spirit Lives (Roger Hernandez, September 2006)
Naming East 106 Street After Puerto Rican Poet Julia de Burgos: An Opportunity to Affirm El Barrio-East Harlem’s Multicultural Unity and Solidarity (Gerena Rochet, Sept. 2006)
Endorsement Letter from Hope Community (August 29, 2006)
Lettter of Support from East Harlem Preservation (June 8, 2006)

Marie Dickson: The Eastern Star of Board 11

East Harlem mourned the loss of veteran community advocate Eulalia “Marie” Dickson, who died January 5 at the age of 83. Hundreds of local residents, friends, and colleagues of Ms Dickson attended a viewing held January 11 at the Johnstone Funeral Chapel in East Harlem.

The service was presided over by Father Mario Guarino and the Reverend Ill. Bro. Howard Breedy 33º and included scripture readings from the Old and New Testaments and reflections by a number of local officials and members of various civic, nonprofit, and fraternal organizations.

“We were all truly blessed to have had such a great person of her stature in our Order,” offered Sister Sheila Grant, Order of the Eastern Stars Grand Deputy of New York and the Country of Canada, a fraternal organization with which Ms. Dickson had been affiliated for over 50 years.

Click here to read more...

Julia Comes Home

On Friday, October 27, 2006, Iris Consuelo Burgos unveiled an historic mosaic by artist Manny Vega honoring her sister, Julia de Burgos, the revered Boricua poet. The ceremony took place in the heart of East Harlem’s “Cultural Corridor” on the northeast corner of Lexington Avenue and East 106th Street. The mosaic initiative was organized by Marina Ortiz and Debbie Quinones of East Harlem Preservation and funded by JPMorgan Chase, Congressman Charles B. Rangel, Hope Community, Inc., the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, State Senator José M. Serrano, Mt. Sinai Medical Center, and many local supporters. The event also marked the announcement by El Museo del Barrio and Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito of the re-naming of East 106th Street from Fifth Avenue to First Avenue in honor of Julia de Burgos, one of the few instances of a street being named after a Puerto Rican woman of high accomplishments (see details further below).

The Legacy of Puerto Ricans (El Diario/La Prensa, 6 de noviembre de 2006)
Un mural marca la presencia puertorriqueña en El Barrio (El Diario/La Prensa, 29 de octubre de 2006)
Honran a poetisa Julia de Burgos con mosaico, calle con su nombre (Hoy, 28 de octubre de 2006)
Julia De Burgos Mosaic Unveiled! (East-Harlem.com, October 27, 2006)
Mural In [East] Harlem Honors Poet (NY 1 News, October 27, 2006)
Julia de Burgos Remembered (New York Daily News, Oct. 24, 2006)
Barrio Plans Tribute to Julia de Burgos (Tiempo NY, Oct. 18, 2006)

Don Otilio Díaz, Executive Director of
La Casa de la Herencía Cultural Puertorriqueña

Don Otilio Díaz, executive director of La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña, died peacefully on Monday, August 21, 2006. He was 75. Mr. Díaz had no children, but is survived here in New York City by a sister, a nephew, and many nieces and cousins. A public memorial was held Wednesday, August 30 and Thursday, August 31 at the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center in East Harlem. Religious services were held Friday, September 1 at Saint Cecilia's Church. Mr. Diaz was then buried in his hometown of Guayama, Puerto Rico. For more information, call (212) 722-2600 or visit www.lacasapr.org.