NEW YORK CITY'S FIRST BLACK FIREFIGHTER

In 1919, Wesley Williams became the third black male to join the ranks of New York’s Bravest. Despite severe discrimination he rose to Battalion Chief. Almost a century later, the FDNY remains predominately white. NY Daily News reporter Ginger Adams Otis is joined by members of the Vulcan Society, an organization of black firefighters, to talk about the ongoing struggle to diversify the FDNY.

Book Talk: Ginger Adams Otis, Firefight: The Century-Long Battle to Integrate New York's Bravest
Tuesday, July 7th $5/Free for BHS and G-W MembersDoors open at 6pm. Event begins at 6:30pm.Please note that seating is first come, first served.

REFUND POLICYBrooklyn Historical Society requires 24 hours notice before the date of the event to refund a ticket. No refunds are provided after that point. This means no refunds are provided on the day of the event and all subsequent days.

ALBANY "GREAT WAR" BOOK PRESENTATION/SIGNING

When: Friday April 25, 2014
Time: 5:30 PM
Where: Huxley Theater
Cultural Education Center (State Museum building)
222 Madison Avenue, Albany NY 12230
Cost: Free and Open to the Public

It is no accident that the new book, Harlems Rattlers and the Great War by Jeffrey T. Sammons and John H. Morrow, Jr., virtually begins and ends with its most famous combat hero Henry Johnson--a man most closely identified with Albany, New York.

Sammons and Morrow believe that their book sheds new and revealing light on Henry Johnson and his cautionary tale. Join us for this presentation by Dr. Jeffrey Sammons.

Signed copies of the Harlems Rattlers and the Great War: The Undaunted 369th Regiment and the African American Quest for Equality will be available for purchase after Dr. Sammons' presentation.

The presentation by Jeffrey Sammons, sponsored by the New York State Library and the Friends of the State Library, will feature a display of several items from the New York State Archives on New York's 369th Regiment and Albany's hero, Henry Johnson.