Edward Mercado Papers

Edward Mercado has distinguished himself in the area of public service and civil rights. He is also a prolific and capable photographer who has been documenting Puerto Rican subjects for over forty years. Mercado has held government positions at the state, city and federal level. He worked for the Equal Economic Employment Opportunity Commission and was Director of the New York City Commission on Human Rights and the New York State Division of Human Rights.

Born on July 18, 1937 in the South Bronx, Edward Mercado was one of three children. Both his parents, Pedro Mercado Más and Genoveva Pagán Acevedo were from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. They migrated independently to New York City in 1925 where they met and married in 1934. Mercado went to P.S. 52 in the Bronx and 186 in East Harlem, (El Barrio). At Metropolitan Vocational High School he studied photography which became a life-long passion.

Working life began for him at the age of fourteen in a grocery store on 138th St. and Broadway. From 1959 - 1961 he and a friend, Leon Sadoff, ran a candy store on Columbus Avenue and 75th St., but in the summer of 1961, while in Puerto Rico, Mercado joined the United States Army. He was shipped out to San Antonio Texas and trained as a medical corpsman. While on leave in Mexico City, he met Emma Cardoso who became his wife. After his discharge in 1963, Mercado returned to New York and in 1965 worked as a salesman for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

While working for R.J. Reynolds, Mercado became interested in Republican Party politics and in 1965 participated in John V. Lindsay’s mayoral campaign. Here he met Angel F. Rivera of the Republican Party who helped him find work in the public sector. His first government job was in 1966 as Human Rights Specialist for the New York City Commission of Human Rights. In that same year, he was named Regional Director of the New York State Division of Civil Rights. He was active in the 1966 and 1970 campaigns of Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, as well as Senator Jacob K. Javits’ electoral campaign in 1968. During his appointment with the Rockefeller administration, he strived to sensitize the Governor to the needs of Puerto Ricans and other Latinos. He was successful in creating programs to support Hispanic businessmen and in setting up a Hispanic desk out of the Governor’s office. His friend Angel F. Rivera was appointed Director of Hispanic Affairs.

Mercado was later appointed District Director of the Federal Anti-Poverty Programs in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, which were part of the U.S. Office of Equal Economic Opportunity. During his tenure and until 1973 when he left the position, he worked to enforce the civil rights laws in Puerto Rico and he pushed for funding for an anti-discrimination program for Puerto Rican workers. He fought to get Puerto Rico its share of anti-poverty funds including the islanders’ eligibility for the food stamp program. Mercado’s efforts helped to improve the economic situation for Puerto Ricans.

It was also during this time that he wholeheartedly involved himself with Puerto Rican politics on the Island and the pro-statehood party, Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP - The New Progressive Party). He became the chief fundraiser for Carlos Romero Barceló’s mayoral campaign and was President of the New York Office of the PNP.

In 1989, Mercado was appointed Director of the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C. In 1995 he was back in New York working for Governor George Pataki as the Director of the New York State Division of Human Rights.

Among his most important accomplishments was making government more accessible and responsive to Latinos and bringing more Hispanics into government positions. He was also responsible for organizing the first AIDS Conference in Puerto Rico (1990) and helped to put in place federal funding to combat AIDS on the Island where it had reached crisis proportions.

Mercado has served on the Boards of numerous civic and community organizations such as the Boys Club of Puerto Rico, the Lupus Foundation, the American Cancer Society, National Association for Puerto Rican Civil Rights, Puerto Rican Forum, and the Grand Council of Hispanic Societies in Civil Service, among others. He was honored with the ASPIRA Service Award (1992) and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund Award.

His documents shed light on the role of Latinos in the Republican Party and in government service. They also contain information about pro-statehood organizing among Puerto Ricans in the United States. The papers provide insight into the career of a Puerto Rican dedicated to public service and civil rights.