Vito Marcantonio

Vito Anthony Marcantonio (December 10, 1902 – August 9, 1954) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the socialist leader of East Harlem for seven terms in the United States House of Representatives.

For most of his political career, he was a member of the American Labor Party, believing that neither major American political party supported the interests of the working class. For two years prior to his party switching to Labor, he was a New Deal coalition member of the progressive branch of the Republican Party as a supporter of Fiorello LaGuardia (the progressive, pro-New Deal Republican mayor of New York at the time). Marcantonio was a socialist and avid supporter of political causes and positions which he deemed in the interests of the working class, poor, immigrants, labor unions, and African-American civil rights.

Marcantonio represented the neighborhood of East Harlem in New York City (containing the smaller neighborhoods of Italian Harlem and Spanish Harlem), which was home to many ethnic Italians, Jews, African-Americans, and Puerto Ricans. He spoke Spanish, Italian, and English. Marcantonio advocated fiercely for the rights of African-Americans, Italian-American immigrants, and Puerto Rican immigrants in Harlem, as well as for unions and workers in general. Provided by Wikipedia