The Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) is a United States 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to honor and preserve cultural diversity and to foster tolerance, respect and understanding among ethnic groups. The EIHS was founded in 1984 as the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO) and adopted its current name in 2017. The EIHS awards the "

Ellis Island Medal of Honor The Ellis Island Medal of Honor is an American award founded by the Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) (formerly known as the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO)), which is presented annually to American citizens, both native-born ...

" to naturalized or native-born American citizens "who preserve and celebrate the history, traditions and values of their thnic heritagewhile exemplifying the values of the

American way of life The American way of life or the American way refers to the American nationalist ethos that adheres to the principle of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. At the center of the American way is the belief in an American Dream that is claim ...

". NECO was founded by William Denis Fugazy Sr in June 1984 in response to discontent with the choice of 12 recipients of the " Medal of Liberty" awarded as part of ABC's ''

Liberty Weekend Liberty Weekend was a four-day celebration held to celebrate the 1984 restoration and the centenary of the Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World'') in New York City. It began on July 3, 1986 and ended on July 6. July 3, 1986: open ...

'' celebration of the Statue of Liberty's pre-centennial renovation. A committee appointed by ABC producer

David L. Wolper David Lloyd Wolper (January 11, 1928 – August 10, 2010) was an American television and film producer, responsible for shows such as ''Roots'', '' The Thorn Birds'', and ''North and South'', and the theatrically-released films ''L.A. Confiden ...

was tasked with selecting eminent living immigrants, and Fugazy was among those who felt many prominent immigrant communities were unrepresented. Fugazy, a real-estate agent and founder in 1984 of the Coalition of Italo-American Associations, mentioned in particular Italian Americans, Irish Americans, and

Polish American Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.83 ...

s. Committee member

Arthur Schlesinger Jr Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr. (; born Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger; October 15, 1917 – February 28, 2007) was an American historian, social critic, and public intellectual. The son of the influential historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. and a s ...

pointed out that most Irish and Italian Americans were not first-generation and therefore ineligible. The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, which had cooperated with the Medal of Liberty award, agreed to co-operate with NECO on the Ellis Island Medals of Honor. A Congressional resolution of October 10, 1986, endorsed the awards. Fugazy awarded the first 80 Ellis Island Medals of Honor on October 27, 1986; recipients present included

Joe DiMaggio Joseph Paul DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "The Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yank ...

Victor Borge Børge Rosenbaum (3 January 1909 – 23 December 2000), known professionally as Victor Borge ( ), was a Danish-American comedian, conductor, and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television in the North America and Europe. His ...

, Anita Bryant, Muhammad Ali,

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "th ...

, and

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

(a business associate of Fugazy). In 1992, they hired a steamroller to crush Sinead O'Connor's records after she tore up a picture of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on the late-night show ''Saturday Night Live'' to protest the Catholic church's involvement in child abuse. In 2018, Ellis Island Honors Society communications director confirmed that Donald Trump was a 1986 recipient of the Ellis Island Medals of Honor and that a photo of the event with Trump alongside Muhammad Ali and Rosa Parks was authentic. Trump was honored for his work as a successful developer in New York City and his German heritage, not for helping inner city youth. Seven U.S. Presidents are among those who have been nominated, along with both celebrities and ordinary people. From 1987 to 1990, NECO gave

booby prize A booby prize is a joke prize usually given in recognition of a terrible performance or last-place finish. A person who finishes last, for example, may receive a booby prize such as a worthless coin. Booby prizes are sometimes jokingly coveted a ...

s called "Golden Pit Awards" to television shows and motion pictures which exploited

ethnic stereotype An ethnic stereotype, racial stereotype or cultural stereotype involves part of a system of beliefs about typical characteristics of members of a given ethnic group, their status, societal and cultural norms. A national stereotype, or nation ...

s. In 2004,

Charles Rangel Charles Bernard Rangel (, ; born June 11, 1930) is an American politician who was a U.S. representative for districts in New York from 1971 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the second-longest serving incumbent member of the Ho ...

paid tribute to NECO in the U.S. House of Representatives, stating NECO was a coalition of 143

ethnic interest groups An ethnic interest group or ethnic lobby, according to Thomas Ambrosio, is an advocacy group (often a foreign policy interest group) established along cultural, ethnic, religious or racial lines by an ethnic group for the purposes of directly or in ...

. Fugazy was succeeded as head of NECO by Nasser J. Kazeminy. In 2011, a disgruntled former Board member erroneously alleged that NECO was mis-allocating funds and exchanging subsidies with member organizations. The allegation was acknowledged and never followed up by the NY Attorney General office. It ultimately proved baseless. Lee Iacocca, a friend of Fugazy Sr and Kazeminy, was co-chairman until 2012. In 2016, Ellis Island Honors Society awarded Wendy Diamond the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in recognition of her humanitarian efforts.

References

External links

* {{Official of the EIHS Diaspora organizations in the United States Coalitions 1986 establishments in the United States Anti-racist organizations in the United States Ellis Island Organizations established in 1986 501(c)(3) organizations