Among the many things that most New Yorkers don't know about their home town is the arguable and underdocumented fact that the first New Yorker was a black latino named Jan Rodrigues. Born in Santo Domingo to a Portuguese father and an African mother, Rodrigues came to New York Harbor aboard a Dutch ship, the Jonge Tobias, in the summer of 1613 (...).
Useless Beauty, Nick Paumgarten, New Yorker Aug. 31, 2009