On January 23, 1940, my grandfather was born under the torrid sun of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. The photograph presented is his first passport photograph taken so that he could travel to Puerto Rico in 1963, Aruba in 1965, and then on to New York City in January of 1967. He arrived without a place to live and just $20 in his pockets. Within several months of his arrival in the "Big Apple," he found employment, but I am unaware of the specifics of his work. Still, he endeavored to accumulate enough money to fund the immigration of his wife (my grandmother) and his two sons (my two uncles) to join him in an apartment in the Bronx, New York. They lived in the Bronx for about a year until they were robbed of all of their possessions, and forced to move to Harlem in the winter of 1968.

– Terrence

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant