Lucy, Brooke and I were thrilled to attend the early February book launch at the historic Strand Bookstore. Stacy Horn chatted about the process of writing how white collar crime resulted in East New York eventually earning the NYPD nickname “the Killing Fields” as the once thriving working class Brooklyn neighborhood became the murder capital…
I’m sure you know that the 19th Amendment (1920) granted women the right to vote…..but did you know that Wyoming territory granted full voting rights to women in 1869? And did you also know that 21 states only granted women the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920? And did…
With Black History month coming to an end, we’ve saved the best for last — a NYLI blog salute to African- American librarians! Arthur Alfonso Schomburg’s life mission was to teach African Americans about their own history and achievements. A bibliophile, historian, curator and most famously now remembered as a collector: his artwork, manuscripts and rare…
For this week in Black History month, we’d like to take a look at pioneering Black entrepreneurs… We’ll conclude with the founder, chairman and CEO of private equity firm Vista Equity Partners — Robert F. Smith. One of 16 Black billionaires in the world, Smith is a graduate of Cornell and Columbia Universities. His career…
This Valentine’s Day… the phrase “hearts and flowers” came to mind… and like any word-loving librarian, I began to wonder about its origins…And, what better source for word queries than the Oxford English Dictionary (OED to the cognescenti, lol)… As any researcher knows, one answer often leads to yet another question — just who was…
Hiram R. Revels, Joseph F. Rainey, Shirley Chisholm, John Conyers….. are just a few names of those who pioneered the way for African American representation in the U.S. Congress….. Hiram R. Revels was the first African American to serve in Congress (1870-1871). Revels owned a barber shop, created and taught in schools for African Americans,…
This Black History Month, we’d like to begin with an appreciation of Thurgood Marshall… along with NYLI resources where you can learn more about the first African-American U.S. Supreme Court Justice…. Perhaps Marshall’s best known case was the landmark Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education that successfully overturned “the separate but equal…
95 years after the 15th Amendment’s ratification, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 promised to enforce the right to vote by eliminating obstacles such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions imposed by many Southern state legislatures during the post-Reconstruction period. In 1964, nearly 100 years after the Civil War ended, numerous peaceful…
Regarded as a definitive legal authority, Black’s Law Dictionary was first published in 1861. Author Henry Campbell Black’s original preface describes the work as “a concise and yet comprehensive book of definitions of the terms, phrases, and maxims used in American law…necessary to be understood by the working lawyer and judge, as well as student…”….
Alexander Hamilton’s epitaph notes that he was “a patriot, soldier and statesman whose talents and virtues will be admired long after this marble shall have mouldered into dust”. And with Lin-Manuel’s Musical, many now know of the duel that led to Hamilton’s early death. Secretary of Treasury, George Washington’s Aide de Camp, founder of the…