Famous Firsts by Hispanic Americans

By balancer03109
  • Member of US Congress

    Member of US Congress

    Joseph Marion Hernández was the first Hispanic to serve in Congress. He served until March 3, 1823

  • Philip Bazaar

    Medal of Honor recipient, Bazaar, a Chilean member of the US Navy, for bravery during the Civil WAr. He received his Congressional Medal of Honor

  • David G. Farragut

    became the first US naval officer ever to be awarded the rank of admiral.

  • Novel in English, written and published in US

    María Amparo Ruiz de Burton, "Who Would Have Thought It?"

  • Romualdo Pacheco,

    a representative from California, was elected to US Representative by a one vote margin.

  • Opera diva

    Lucrezia Bori, who debuted at the Metropolitan Opera

  • Oscar, Best Actor

    See the movie here!José Ferrer, for Cyrano de Bergerac

  • Oscar, Best Supporting Actor

    see him hereAnthony Quinn, Viva Zapata!

  • Star of a network television show

    Watch/listen to him performDesi Arnaz, in "I Love Lucy"

  • Rock star

    Watch and listen to him singRichie Valens

  • General Elwood 'Pete' Quesada

    Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency. He helped create this agency to manage the growing aviation field and improve airline safety.

  • Severo Ochoa

    Spanish born Ochoa, was appointed chairman of the department of biochemistry at NYU. In 1956 he became an American citizen. 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.

  • Oscar, Best Supporting Actress

    See her danceRita Moreno, West Side Story
  • Horacio Rivero

    Horacio Rivero

    First Hispanic American to become a four-star admiral

  • Luis Walter Alvarez

    Was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of a large number of residence states (subatomic particles that have very short lifetimes and that occur only in high-energy nuclear collisions), which was made possible through his development of the liquid-hydrogen bubble chamber.

  • Broadcaster of the Year

    Geraldo Rivera

  • Tony, Best Director

    José Quintero

  • Tony, Best Supporting Actress

    Rita Moreno, for "The Ritz"

  • Richard E. Cavazos

    inducted as General, US army. In 1982, he became the army's first Hispanic four-star general.

  • Oscar, Grammy, Tony and Emmy

    with The Muppet ShowRita Moreno became the first Hispanic American to have won all four awards

  • Edward Hidalgo

    became the first Hispanic Secretary of the Navy.

  • Franklin Chang-Díaz

    First astronaut from Costa Rica

  • Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

    Oscar Hijuelos, for his novel "TNY Times article"

  • Antonia Coello Novello

    First woman ever to hold the position of US Surgeon General
  • Ellen Ochoa

    Ellen Ochoa

    became the world's first Hispanic female astronaut.

  • Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee

    Sights and Sounds VideosCarlos Santana

  • Pulitzer Prize for Drama

    Nilo Cruz, for his play "Anna in the Tropics"