1957
Puerto Ricans separate from the Hispanic Day Parade
The 1950’s also saw unprecedented growth of the Puerto Rican population in the New York City. This was the beginning of what was called the “Great Migration,” with over 1 million Puerto Ricans coming to New York during this period. Perhaps because the population was growing so fast, or because of various pressures and internal battles within the organizations that produced the Hispanic Day Parade, some Puerto Rican groups decided to break off and create their own parade. During the first few years there were two parades held as separate, competing events. Then in 1958 The Puerto Rican Day Parade became the prominent parade of the summer. The Hispanic Day parade would re-emerge in NYC in September/October during Hispanic Heritage month.
1967
The Revolution Is Televised
Proving its power, popularity and reach. In 1967 the Puerto Rican Day Parade is televised for the first time on the Telemundo network (that’s channel 47 for old the old school folk). That year would begin a run over the next 29 years, where it then moved to English-language TV in 2007!