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Rita Moreno, who was born in Puerto Rico, poses with President George W. Bush before being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, June 23, 2004. ()

General Colin Powell, the youngest officer, and first Afro-Caribbean American, to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. November 6, 1989. ()

Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Charlton Heston converse at the 1963 March on Washington. Poitier was born in Miami, while his Bahamian parents were visiting there. Belafonte was the child of Jamaican immigrants in New York City. ()

Cicely Tyson receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama at the White House, November 22, 2016. Her parents were immigrants from Nevis. ()

As noted in this drawing by Charles Alston, James Weldon Johnson, of Haitian descent, was a songwriter, civil rights activist, and diplomat. He composed the lyrics of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing." ()

President William J. Clinton greets Shirley Chisholm, Ambassador-Designate to Jamaica, July 30, 1993. Chisholm, the daughter of Caribbean immigrants, was the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress and first Black candidate for a major party's nomination for President. ()

Cuban-born entertainer Desi Arnaz became a U.S. citizen while he served in the U.S. Army. His official military personnel file documents his service from 1943 to 1945. ()

Charles Alston honored the founder of the first Negro newspaper, John B. Russworm, the Jamaica-born publisher of Freedom's Journal. ()

Mel Martinez, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and brought to the United States from Cuba as a child, meets with Cuban Americans in his office, May 18, 2001. ()