-
Period: to
1940's World / Local Events
1945 - United Nations founded
- U.S. drop atomic bombs on Japan
- WWII ends
1946 - Puerto Rican Independence Party founded
1947 - Partial self-government granted, enabling Puerto Ricans to elect their own governor
- Operation Bootstrap industrialization plan begins, prompting mass emigration to the U.S.
1948 - Luis Muñoz Marín becomes first elected governor of Puerto Rico.
- Racial Segregation Ends in U.S. Military -
Born in Gurabo, Puerto Rico
Miguel was born in a small town in Puerto Rico to Miguel Angel Gómez Ramos and Adelina Piñero More about Gurabo -
Miguel moved to NYC
At four years old, Miguel moved with his parents and sister Elizabeth to Loisaida (the Lower East Side) of Manhattan in New York City, from Puerto Rico.
The Lower East Side housed Beatniks, Hippies, and Chinese immigrants, as well as Jewish and German residents. -
Period: to
1950's World / Local Events
1950 - President Truman signs the Puerto Rico Commonwealth Bill, paving the way for a Puerto Rican constitution
- A nationalist revolt in the mountain town of Jayuya is suppressed by the US Air Force; in response, two nationalists in Washington DC try unsuccessfully to assassinate President Truman
1951 - Puertoricans vote overwhelmingly in favor of US commonwealth status
1953 - Immigration - 75,000 Puerto Ricans move to New York City. Almost one in 10 New Yorker residents are from Puerto Rico. -
Father left Miguel's family
Miguel's father Miguel Angel abandoned the family when his wife was pregnant with their fifth child in New York City. They experienced a bout of homelessness thereafter, and eventually they moved to a basement and his family got on welfare. Pinero began stealing to help provide for his family during this time. He was incarcerated for the first time at age 13, and went to juvenile detention various times. -
Period: to
1960's World / Local Events
1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis
1963 - Kennedy Assassinated
- Civil Rights March on Washington - Equal Pay Act
1964 - Civil Rights Act
- Riots break out in Harlem in protest over the killing of a 15-year-old by a white NYPD officer. One person is killed and 100 are injured in the violence
1965 - Malcolm X Assassinated - Voting Rights Act
1967 - Thurgood Marshall 1st African-American U.S. Supreme Court Justice
1968 - Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
1969 - Stonewall Riot -
Miguel goes to Rikers
Convicted for robbery of a jewelry store -
Period: to
1970's World / Local Event
1970 - Kent State Shootings - LGBT Pride March begins in NYC
1971 - Pentagon Papers Published
Anti-War Rally in Washington
1973 - Roe v. Wade
1975 - U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam -
Piñero won award for a Poem, Starts his career
While in the New York State Penitentiary at Ossining (Sing Sing), directors Clay Stevenson and Marvin Felix Camillo held a theater workshop, where Piñero enlisted Camillo’s aid as a mentor. Piñero entered his poem, “Black Woman with a Blond Wig on” in a contest and won $50.00. -
Sing Sing & Short Eyes
At 25 years old, while in Sing Sing prison for second-degree armed robbery, Piñero wrote Short Eyes in the inmates' playwriting workshop. The first play written by a latino to be performed on Broadway is about a middle-class white man who goes to a prison of mostly Black and Latino men, after accused of child molestation. New York Times theater critic Mel Gussow attended the first showing in Sing Sing praised the play. Opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on Broadway on May 23, 1974 -
Co-founded Nuyorican Poets Cafe
Founded in 1973, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe began in the East Village apartment of writer, poet, and Rutgers University professor Miguel Algarín with assistance from co-founders Miguel Piñero, Bimbo Rivas, and Lucky Cienfuegos. The Open Room was held the cafe as a space for poets and other kinds of artists to present their work to an audience. It has become a weekly event since at the Cafe, attracting all kinds of poets who sign up on a first come, first go basis. -
Best American Play, New York Drama Critics' Circle Award
In 1974 Miguel was awarded the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play. This award is the second oldest theater award in the United States (after the Pulitzer Prize). -
Best American Play, Obie Award - Short Eyes
In 1974 Short Eyes won the Obie Award for Best American Play. Also known as the Off-Broadway Theater Awards, these annual awards were originally given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. -
Outstanding New Playwright - Drama Desk Award
In 1974 Miguel won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Playwright, an award that recognizes excellence in New York theatre productions. -
Period: to
More Plays by Pinero
Sideshow (1974): shorter version of Playland Blues (1980)
The Guntower premiered at the 1976 New York Shakespeare Festival. The Sun Always Shines for the Cool (1976) about players, operators, drug dealers, and thieves in a bar owned. Eulogy for a Small-Time Thief (1977) was set in Philadelphia. Two act plays Paper Toilet and Cold Beer, around 1979. -
Short Eyes opens on Broadway
On May 23 1974, after having 54 shows at the Joseph Papp Public Theater, Short Eyes opens on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Joseph Papp was the biggest supporter to move the play from the smaller theaters to Broadway. -
Short Eyes Feature Film - "Jesus, help me, 'cause man won't."
Pinero's play "Short Eyes" was made into a feature film by Robert A. Young. Miguel wrote the screenplay. He did not attend the opening because he was incarcerated for armed robbery. He gave away the $40,000 he made from the film to homeless friends and friends from prison. He played the supporting role of Go-Go in the film. Onward he also appeared in various films and TV series including "The Jericho Mile" and "Miami Vice". -
Married to Juanita Lovette Ramirez
Miguel married Juanita Lovette Ramirez in 1977. They were divorced 2 years later. They adopted a son, Ismael Castro, in 1977. -
1980's & Martin Wong
Throughout Miguel's life he battled addiction, homelessness, and crime. He also wrote plays, appeared in films, and collaborated with other artists and leaders in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Lover and friend Martin Wong was a Chinese-American artist from the West Coast that Miguel served as a benefactor for. Even though he experienced success, he often slept in the street and robbed for money and drugs. Miguel portrayed many characters and stories that talked about imprisonment and crime. -
Period: to
1980's World / Local Events
1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor First Woman U.S. Supreme Court Justice
1982 - Institute for Puerto Rican Policy headquartered in New York
1984 - Macintosh Computer
1989 - Tiananmen Square Massacre
Berlin Wall Falls
World Wide Web Server and Browser -
AIDS Epidemic
The history of AIDS epidemic in NYC began with rumors in 1981 of a "gay plague." AIDS first emerged among populations considered marginal, including prostitutes, drug users, and men who had sex with men, early responses to the disease were uneven and underfunded. Federal government delayed a response and wider recognition of the problem. At 1986, the Reagan administration continued to discourage panic by saying that AIDS primarily affected gay men and intravenous drug users. -
Death
Miguel dies on June 18, 1988 at 41 years old in New York City of cirrhosis, an end-stage liver disease. He was working on a new play to premiere at the New York Shakespeare Festival. Piñero's ashes were scattered across the Lower East Side of Manhattan. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/18/obituaries/miguel-pinero-whose-plays-dealt-with-life-in-prison-is-dead-at-41.html -
New York State Writers Hall of Fame Induction
He was inducted into the NY State Writers Hall of Fame posthumously in 2013