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David Grandison Fairchild was an American botanist and plant explorer. Fairchild was responsible for the introduction of more than 200,000 exotic plants and varieties of established crops into the United States, including soybeans, mangos, nectarines, dates, bamboos, and flowering cherries.

Actor Silvio Falcón was born on November 20, 1931, in San Juan de los Yeras, Villa Clara, Cuba. He grew up in a nearby small town, La Jorobada. When he was nine years old, his family moved to La Habana.

As a child he studied at La Empresa in La Víbora. He enrolled at the Academia Municipal de Arte Dramático in La Habana at 18 years of age. In 1953, in his last year as a student at the Academia, the director Julio Aparicio chose him for the role of Arlequín in Carlo Goldoni’s “La viuda astuta," which was presented at the Anfiteatro de La Habana.

As an actor, Falcón traveled extensively throughout Cuba with the theater company Las Máscaras, led by Andrés Castro. He joined the cast in the inaugural performance of Terence Rattigan’s “Mesas separadas” at Teatro Las Máscaras on September 27, 1957. A notable role at Las Máscaras was his performance in Arthur Miller’s “Las brujas de Salem,” where he played the role of Thomas Danforth. He acted in two plays by Cuban dramatists: “Lila la mariposa” by Rolando Ferrer and “Electra Garrigó” by Virgilio Piñera with the ensemble of Francisco Morín. His only film role was “Con el deseo en los dedos,” with Minín Bujones and Enrique Santisteban in leading roles. In the early 1960s, he played the doctor in the televised production of Tennessee Williams’ “El dulce pájaro de la juventud,” presented on Gran Teatro del Sábado with cast members Raquel Revuelta, Enrique Santisteban, Enrique Almirante and other colleagues.

Falcón worked alongside the leading figures of Cuban show business from the 1950s and to the mid-1960s: in addition to the aforementioned, he worked with Myriam Acevedo, Alejandrina Acosta, Georgina Almansa, Manolo Alván, Carlos Alberto Badías, Armando Bianchi, Roberto Blanco, Leonor Borrero, Gina Cabrera, Gabriel Casanovas, Andrés Castro, Roberto Cazorla, Nilda Collado, Sergio Corrieri, Julio de Carlo, Gaspar de Santelises, Rolando Escobar, Rosa Felipe, Ernesto Gallardo, Doris García, Miriam Gómez, Mayito Herrera, Elena Huerta, Albertico Insua, Millín Márquez, Berta Martínez, Eduardo Moure, Mirta Muñiz, Silvia Planas, Antonia Rey, René Sánchez, Hilda Soto, Héctor Tejera, Tony Torres, Raúl Xiqués and others. Julio Capote was a colleague and great friend.

On May 7, 1966, Falcón emigrated to Spain where he acted with Gran Compañía Lírica José de Luna. He acted in various theaters in Madrid, including Teatro de la Zarzuela, Teatro García Barbón, Teatro Principal, Teatro Losada and others. He traveled throughout the country bringing the company’s plays to Spain’s biggest cities.

In January 1968, he arrived in New York. He worked at the Sears warehouse for a year and then at Chase Manhattan Bank for the next 22 years. He never resumed his acting career in the United States.

On August 8, 1972, he met his future partner, Roberto Palóu, at a concert organized by the New York Philharmonic in Central Park.

Falcón passed away in New York on December 25, 2017.

Family Action Network Movement (FANM), originally called Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami / Haitian Women of Miami, is a private, non-profit advocacy organization that was founded in 1991 by Marleine Bastien. First conceived of as a resource for Haitian women living in Miami, FANM is primarily run by minority women and has always focused advocating for lower-income women of color in particular. They provide services and programming related to issues including immigration, housing, health and mental health access, education reform, gender equality, human rights, crisis and domestic violence intervention, counseling, job training, financial literacy, adult education, and after school programs.

FANM is a founding member of the Miami Climate Alliance, Catalyst Miami, Florida Immigrant Coalition, Haitian American Grassroots Coalition, Center for Haitian Studies, Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center, and many others. To date FANM has won the following campaigns: The Haitian Immigration Fairness Act (1998); Temporary Protected Status (2010); Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program (2015); Little Haiti Campaign (2016); Little Farm Mobile Home Campaigns (2016). As an organization they are currently pressing forward with the fight for Temporary Status Renewal, and Comprehensive Immigration Reform more broadly, especially pertaining to Haitian immigrants to the U.S.

Bastien’s desire to create an organization specifically for women was inspired by the philosophy that if women – more so the most vulnerable women – are protected and empowered then that means that everyone is/can be. Despite the centrality of women within the organization, FANM has long served people of all races, genders and ethnicities and for this reason FANM staff, community members, and leaders decided to rebrand in 2018. As explained by Bastien, FANM’s new name, “Family Action Network Movement,” was decided on to “reflect FANM’s expanded myriad of services to people of diverse backgrounds in Miami Dade County. FANM has had an impact in the lives of more than 10,000 children, women, and men and built a village network where immigrants and local residents feel welcome. We reach thousands weekly through our radio show, Vwa FANM, and our advocacy work inspires people to passionately organize around civic and other issues close to their hearts” (Bastien).

In excess of advocating for individuals, one of FANM’s most difficult battles to date is advocating for an entire community in the face of the rapid gentrification of Little Haiti. Due to Little Haiti’s location on a ridge that is approximately double the elevation of affluent coastal areas such as Miami Beach, local residents are being displaced as real estate developers attempt to buy up the land for when the inevitable time comes and Miami beach will be under the sea. Currently, SVP realty are trying to get approval for the Eastside Ridge Special Area Plan, which, if approved, will redevelop twenty-two acres of land on the edge of Little Haiti and displace many residents of the area through either the demolition of property or outpricing the locals. In 2018, Bastien commented on the severity of the situation: “We are in the last leg of gentrification, where developers basically come with a lot cash. We call them the ‘cash-empowered’ developers, with their suitcases full of cash. The fear is real. The pressure to sell is real. As a result of gentrification, Little Haiti is shrinking” (Wong). For an ever-precarious community, FANM is not only helping residents who are displaced find new housing and get compensation, but also behind efforts to convince the City to turn over some of the land to the community so that it cannot be bought by developers – an essential concession if Little Haiti is to survive.

Laura Bass
UGrow Fellow for the Department of Manuscripts and Archives Management, 2019-2020

Works Cited

Bastien, Marleine. “Miami advocacy group expands its mission to empower immigrants.” Miami Herald, March 5, 2020, https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op- ed/article240932251.html.

Wong, Brad. “Miami’s Little Haiti Organizes on Gentrification.” Marguerite Casey Foundation, July 4, 2018, https://www.caseygrants.org/who-we-are/inside-mcf/miamis-little-haiti- organizes-on-gentrification/.