Tony Méndez
Tony Méndez (February 5, 1902 – January 8, 1982) was the first native-born Puerto Rican to become a district leader of a major political party in New York City. Early years Méndez (birth name: Antonio Méndez) was born in Puerto Rico. In 1927, he moved to East Harlem in New York City where he established a jewelry store. Méndez married Isabel Negroni, native of Yabucoa, Puerto Rico and with her had a son, Anthony. Political career A wave of domestic migration from Puerto Rico to New York City came after World War II. Nearly 40,000 Puerto Ricans settled in New York City in 1946, and 58,500 in 1952–53. Many soldiers who returned after World War II made use of the GI Bill and went to college. Puerto Rican women confronted economic exploitation, discrimination, racism, and the insecurities inherent in the migration process on a daily basis, however they fared better than did men in the job market. The women left their homes for the factories in record numbers. By 1953, Puerto Rican migration to New York City reached its peak when 75,000 people left the island (Puerto Rico). In 1954, a group of politicians close to Carmine Gerard DeSapio, then