| Chapter 7: | The Schools |
of Harlem House, located on One Hundred and Sixteenth Street. Harlem House, later renamed LaGuardia House, offered social and educational programs designed to prepare immigrants for citizenship in the United States. President Hoover appointed him United States Commissioner of Immigration. Under his friend LaGuardia Corsi became director of New York City’s Emergency Home Relief Bureau. In 1943 Governor Thomas E. Dewey named Corsi Industrial Commissioner for New York State. In that post he called for the liberalization of unemployment insurance. In 1954 Secretary of State John Foster Dulles named him special assistant on refugee and immigration issues. He ran unsuccessfully twice for political office. He died in a car accident in 1965.26
On June 24, 1947 I graduated from James Otis Junior High School, School District No. 10 in East Harlem. Four other Braves graduated: Joseph Orefice, Frank Rescigno, Louis Russo, and Mondo Santangelo. Another graduate, Antonio Salerno, lived on One Hundred and Seventh Street but never joined our gang. I won the Italian medal for best student in that subject and Louis Russo won the medal for best student in monitorial service. An Irish kid, Patrick Donohue, won the medal for excellence in English. James Velez was the best student in mathematics and another Puerto Rican, Mario Fernandez, was the top student in social studies. My best friends in school graduated with me: Michael Andreani, Anthony Platania, Max Rabinowitz and Charles Palazzo, the top student at James Otis. Palazzo won the medals for scholarship and science. There were no African Americans in my junior high school.