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Antoinette "Tony" Ablack was born August 11, 1908 in the Bronx, New York. Ablack was a long-time member of Vincent P. Carney's 17th Assembly District Democratic Club in Brooklyn. Ablack died in February 1991.

Lawrence R. Bailey, Sr. was born on March 18, 1918 in the Panama Canal Zone. Bailey received a bachelor's degree and law degree from Howard University in Washington, DC. In 1970, Bailey was appointed to the board of the Metropolitan Transit Authority and was the first Black member and officer to serve on that board. Bailey also had a private law practice based in Harlem and served as President of the Harlem Lawyers Association. He died in April 1998.

Irene L. Baker was born on March 24, 1901 in Brooklyn, New York. Baker's parents are from Nevis in the West Indies. Growing up, Baker's family lived in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Heights, and East New York. She married her cousin Bertram L. Baker on December 10, 1919. In 1948, Bertram L. Baker was elected to the New York State Assembly and was the first Black person elected to political office by voters in Brooklyn. Irene L. Baker was involved in political organizing, collecting signatures for petitions to get Democratic party candidates on the ballot in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Irene L. Baker died in January of 2001.

Abraham Beame was born on March 20, 1906 in London, England and grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His Polish-Jewish parents fled Warsaw, Poland and changed their name from Birnbaum to Beame when arriving in the United States. He attended P.S. 160 and Commerce High School. He married Mary Ingerman in 1928 and they moved to Brooklyn, living in Crown Heights with their two sons and later near Prospect Park. Beame owned a certified public accounting firm and taught accounting classes. Abraham and Mary were both members of the Madison Democratic Club, run by Irwin Steingut, in Crown Heights. He was first elected to office as city comptroller in 1961 and then was mayor from 1974 to 1977, during the height of the city's fiscal crisis. He ran again in 1977, but lost in the Democratic primary. He died on February 10, 2001.

Samuel Berman was born on January 19, 1911 in Manhattan and grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant. His parents were born in Russia and fled from the Cossacks to the United States. He served as New York State Assemblyman from 1954 to 1962. Before serving as New York State Assemblyman, he was Executive Director of the City Council's Committee on Reapportionment and Secretary to New York City's Department of Markets. After his terms in the NYS Assembly, Berman served as Deputy Commissioner of Public Works in New York City. In 1967, he was appointed to the New York State Lottery Commission. He retired in 1974 and died in April 1991.

Charles E. Bernstein was born in Westchester County on June 22, 1901 and grew up in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn. He was involved with the Madison Democratic Club and served as a captain in the 2nd Assembly District Club. His son, Aaron D. Bernstein, was a Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice. Charles Bernstein died April 3, 1991.

Arthur E. Blyn was born on August 30, 1911 in Manhattan. Blyn received his undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester and law degree from the New York Law School. Blyn was chairman of the American Labor Party in Brooklyn's 18th Assembly District and then later served as a judge on the Civil Court of the City of New York and the Surrogate and Supreme Courts of New York County. He died on January 8, 2005.

Arthur Bramwell was born on September 1, 1918 in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. His parents were from Jamaica. Bramwell started his career in politics by campaigning for Wendell Wilkie's unsuccessful 1940 presidential bid. He stayed active in Kings County republican politics and and served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention several times. Bramwell served as county party chairman for the Brooklyn GOP from 1993 to 2001. Bramwell died on April 8, 2003.

Josephine M. Bravo was a political activist and member of Bertram L. Baker's United Action Democratic Club in Brooklyn and was a New York City school teacher. She died on November 22, 2010 when she was 90 years old.

Ruth Brooks was born on December 9, 1925 in Brooklyn, New York. Brooks was a political activist and member of the Unity Democratic Club, founded by Thomas Russell Jones, in Brooklyn. Her father was A. David Benjamin, a Republican and American Labor Party candidate for Civil Court and an Appellate Court Judge in New York. Her grandmother Annie Benjamin wrote some of the Yiddish advice column "A Bintel Brief." Brooks died in 2006.

Vincent P. Carney was born on July 6, 1910 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the Assembly District Leader for the 17th Assembly District in Brooklyn after his brother Stephen Carney died in 1953. He was an alternate delegate to the Democratic National Convention from New York in 1956. He died on July 22, 1994.

Patrick Carter was born on March 17, 1924 in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn. He was a member of the Unity Democratic Club during the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was an insurance consultant in Manhattan. He died in 1994.

William Chisholm was born on October 15, 1912 in Savannah, Georgia. He started practicing law in Brooklyn in 1951, working with R. Risley Dent, Jr. and Thaddeus Owens. He worked for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the New York City Fireman's Union. Chisholm was a member of the Brooklyn-Long Island Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi. He died on August 8, 1998.

Andrew W. Cooper was born on August 21, 1927 in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. He was a political activist and early member of the Unity Democratic Club. Cooper was an executive of the F. + M. Schaefer Brewing Company from 1951 to 1971 and then became a journalist, writing a column for The Amsterdam News and contributing to The Village Voice. In 1984, Cooper founded The City Sun, which folded in 1996 due to financial issues. Cooper was married to Jocelyn Cooper. He died on January 28, 2002.

Jocelyn E. Cooper was born on January 27, 1929 in Jersey City, New Jersey. She was a social worker and early member of the Unity Democratic Club. She was married to Andrew W. Cooper.

Ernest Crichlow was born on June 19, 1914 in Brooklyn, New York. His parents had immigrated from Barbados. He studied commercial art in Manhattan and worked for the Works Progress Administration federal arts program during the Depression. He was active in the Unity Democratic Club during the late 1950s and early 1960s. In 1958, he helped found the Fulton Art Fair in Brooklyn and in 1969, he co-founded the Cinque Gallery in Manhattan with Romare Bearden and Norman Lewis. He died on November 10, 2005.

Marshall Frank Dubin, PhD was born on October 10, 1918 in Chicago, Illinois. He moved to New York City in 1947 and married Etheline Dunbar in 1955. He was a political activist and involved in the American Labor Party and Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) in New York City. He was also a member of the Unity Democratic Club. He died January 29, 2004.

Etheline Dubin was born Etheline Dunbar in 1925 in Boston, Massachusetts. She was a social worker and community activist, and also a member of the Unity Democratic Club. She married Marshall F. Dubin in 1955. Etheline Dubin died on September 18, 1997.

Richard J. Easton was born on July 30, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois. He was a political activist in Brooklyn during the 1960s and 1970s. He was active in the American Teachers Association (later merged to be the National Education Association). He was Deputy Superintendent for New York City schools in the Inwood area.

Joseph A. Esquirol, Jr. was born on September 29, 1932. His parents were State Senator Joseph A. Esquirol and Louise Downs Esquirol. He grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn and went to the Berkshire School, Trinity College, and New York Law School, graduating in 1959. He worked for the New York City Corporation Counsel and then the New York City Housing Court. In 1977, he became a Kings County family court judge. Judge Esquirol retired in 1991 and moved to Mattituck, Long Island. He died April 13, 2015.

Murray T. Feiden was born on December 7, 1904 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His family moved to Brooklyn in 1910. Feiden was a justice of the City Court of New York and a justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. He was a founding member of Common Cause and a member of the 18th Assembly District Madison Democratic Club. He died on May 10, 2008.

Harold Leonard Fisher was born on December 10, 1910 in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan. He received his law degree from St. John's University College of Law in 1932 and opened up a law practice in 1935 in Manhattan. He moved the practice to Downtown Brooklyn in 1948. He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention in 1967. Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller appointed him to the Metropolitan Transit Authority board in 1968 and served on the board in different positions through 1979. He died on December 26, 1999.

Sylvia Frank was born in 1921. She was active in Brooklyn's 41st Assembly District and was president of the parent-teacher association at P.S. 244.

Narcissus Frett-Moses was born on August 20, 1929 in Brooklyn, New York. She was active in the Unity Democratic Club under the leadership of Thomas Russell Jones and Ruth Goring from 1960-1964. She worked for Shirley Chisholm during her political career. She also served as Deputy Chief Clerk of the Surrogates Court from 1968-1989. Frett-Moses died in 2022.

William J. Garry was born on August 8, 1929 in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. His parents had emigrated from Ireland. He was campaign manager for Jack Murphy for Congress in 1960. He ran for positions in the New York State Assembly and New York State Senate for the 9th Assembly District, but did not win. He was a justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1986 to 2003. He was secretary of the Brooklyn Democratic Party and an alternate delegate to the Democratic National Convention from New York in 1980. Garry died on June 11, 2009.

Simon "Si" Gerson was born on January 23, 1909 in Manhattan. He attended the City College of New York where he met labor activist Sophie Melvin. They married in 1932. Gerson was a reporter and editor for the Daily Worker. In 1937, Gerson was appointed to be Manhattan Borough President Stanley M. Isaac's executive assistant. Gerson served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific theater in World War II. He then managed Communist candidate Peter Cacchione's campaign for New York City Council. Cacchione served from 1941 to 1947 when he died from a heart attack. Gerson was named to fill in Cacchione's seat, but then was forced to run in a borough-wide race. He was endorsed by the American Labor Party and the Communist Party and won the election. He died on December 26, 2004.

Simon Gerson and Jeffrey Gerson are not related.

Sophie Gerson, née Melvin, was born on February 22, 1910 in Ukraine. Gerson and her family moved to the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn and Gerson started volunteering to support striking workers when she was a teenager. She became a member of the Young Communist League and was a relief worker during the Great Depression, helping organize a demonstration of 100,000 unemployed people in Union Square. In 1948, the Gersons moved to Bensonhurst, Brooklyn where they lived for the rest of their lives. Sophie and Simon Gerson had two children, William and Deborah. Later in her life, Gerson was active in the National Council of Senior Citizens. Sophie Gerson died on March 20, 2006.

Milton Goldner was born in 1926. He was active in Brooklyn and Manhattan politics since 1952. He died in 2002.

Arnold "Arnie" Stanley Goldwag was born on January 18, 1938. A resident of Brooklyn, Goldwag attended Brooklyn College beginning in 1955 where he held leadership positions in a range of organizations, including social fraternities, student government, and student rights groups. He left Brooklyn College about 1961 without graduating, though he was readmitted in 1966 and graduated in 1968.

While still at Brooklyn College in the late 1950s, Goldwag became involved in the activities of the Brooklyn chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), starting with distributing fliers urging a boycott of Woolworth's. His role in the chapter expanded quickly, and in the years of Goldwag's active participation in CORE (1960-1965), he held leadership positions, principally as the Community Relations Director. In this position, Goldwag was responsible for press relations, publicity, and coordination with communities and demonstrators on the organization's direct actions. Over the course of his tenure in Brooklyn CORE, Goldwag participated in a number of actions, both locally, such as the 1963 Board of Education sit-in, and nationally, such as in Cambridge, Maryland, where Goldwag was involved in CORE's effort to desegregate public facilities. Goldwag's activism led to several arrests and a 13 month prison sentence in 1964; he served one month of the sentence in Rikers Island penitentiary.

Founded in Chicago in 1942, CORE was centered on the principles of interracial, nonviolent direct action. Local chapters that affiliated with national CORE had a great deal of autonomy of action. Within this structure, Brooklyn CORE emerged in the early 1960s as one of the most radical CORE chapters, focusing on the living conditions of poor African-Americans in Bedford-Stuyvesant and employing increasingly aggressive confrontational tactics. It was during this surging radical activism in Brooklyn CORE that Goldwag was a central figure in the chapter and in its many civil rights actions. Indeed, Goldwag was a principal creator of one of Brooklyn CORE's most controversial actions, the Stall-In at the opening of the 1964 World's Fair. This action, which called for the deliberate blockage of automobile traffic headed to the Fair in order to call attention to discrimination against African-Americans, led to the suspension of the chapter by CORE.

Subsequent to his days with CORE, which ended in 1965, and his 1968 graduation from Brooklyn College, Goldwag went to work for the New York City Human Resources Administration as a contract manager for home care programs. In the 1990s he went on leave to work for his union (Social Service Employees Union Local 371) as Health and Safety Coordinator. In the 1990s and 2000s, Goldwag was actively engaged in ensuring that the civil rights movement was remembered, and its continued struggle recognized. He participated in a number of conferences and oral histories, and opened his files to researchers. Arnie Goldwag died on August 9, 2008.

Ruth Goring was born on July 19, 1919 in East Harlem in Manhattan. She was a member and co-leader of the Unity Democratic Club in Brooklyn. Goring and Thomas R. Jones ran for district leadership in 1960 and lost. They won when they ran again in 1962. She died in 2006.

John F. Hayes was born in Brooklyn in 1915. He attended Brooklyn Preparatory School, Fordham College, and Fordham Law School. He was an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1943 to 1950. In 1948, John F. Hayes married Margaret Sullivan. After working as an FBI agent, Hayes became an assistant for Brooklyn Borough President John Cashmore and then Brooklyn's Commissioner of Public Works. When John Cashmore died in office in 1961, Hayes became acting borough president and then was elected by the New York City Council to continue as interim borough president until the end of 1961. He was elected to the New York State Supreme Court in 1977 and served until his retirement in 1984.

Louis "Louie" Benjamin Heller was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on February 7, 1905. He lived much of his life in Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn and went to Boys High School. He received his law degree from Fordham University in 1926. Heller was active in the Democratic party in Brooklyn and held several positions in political office and the courts. He served as a New York State Senator from Brooklyn from 1943-1944, a Democratic Congressman from Brooklyn from 1949-1954, and on the State Supreme Court in the 1960s and 1970s. Heller died of colon cancer on October 30, 1993.

Gregory X. Hesterberg is an attorney. At the time of the interview, he was with the firm Alexander Hesterberg and Keller on 32 Court Street, 21st floor.

Gregory Hesterberg's great grandfather, Henry Hesterberg, was the district leader of Flatbush in the late 1880s until the 1910s. Henry Hesterberg was the first Democrat elected to county-wide office in 1903 (as Sheriff) until 1909, according to Gregory Hesterberg. He was also the Flatbush Democratic district leader in 1918.

Gregory Hesterberg's grandfather, Henry Hesterberg, Jr., was Brooklyn borough president from 1930 to 1933.

Wesley "Mac" McDonald Holder was born on June 24, 1897 in Guyana and moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn in the 1920s to join Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association.

Holder was known as the "Dean of Black Politics" and managed many successful campaigns including Lewis S. Flagg, Jr.'s campaign for Brooklyn Municipal Court judge in 1953. As a result of this campaign, Flagg became the first Black judge elected in Brooklyn. Holder also worked on Shirley Chisholm's campaign for Congress and worked in her Brooklyn office for over a decade.

Holder died of pneumonia in March 1993.

Harold Jacobs was born on October 25, 1912 in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. He was then raised in Crown Heights and went to Boys High School. He received his undergraduate degree from St. John's University and his master's degree in economics from Columbia University.

Jacobs was a businessman; he started a kitchenware company called Precision Ware and also headed an investment company called Precision Equities. He held board roles in civic and religious organizations. Mayor Abraham Beame appointed him to the Board of Higher Education in 1974 and he was head of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. He died on May 18, 1995.

Thomas "Tom" Russell Jones was born on August 5, 1913 in Brooklyn to Thomas S. Jones and Mabel Ward Jones who had emigrated from Barbados. He received undergraduate and law degrees from St. John's University. Jones married Bertha K. Jones in 1941. He was in the U.S. Army during World War II in France.

When he returned from the War, Jones continued his work in politics and civil rights activism. He was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1962 and also served as a judge on the Civil Court and State Supreme Court. Jones was also a founding chairman of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation.

Jones retired from the court in 1985. He died of prostate cancer on October 27, 2006.

Anthony T. Jordan, Jr. was born on June 26, 1924 in Crown Heights in Brooklyn. He was a former member of the 18th Assembly District Madison Democratic Club and former Civil Court Judge and Justice of the Supreme Court, Kings County. His father also was a political leader in the Madison Club. Jordan was a 1950 graduate of St. John's Law School. Jordan died in 1995.

Eugene James Keogh was born on August 30, 1907 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He received his undergraduate degree from New York University and his law degree from Fordham University. He began practicing law in 1932, served in the New York State Assembly, and then was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1936, serving for 15 terms until 1967. He returned to practicing law almost up until his death May 26, 1989 when he died of pneumonia.

Joseph Kessler was born on May 18, 1919 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His family moved to Williamsburg in 1924 and he grew up there. Kessler was a dentist in the West Village in Manhattan. In 1948, he ran for the New York State Assembly from the 14th Assembly District in Williamsburg and Greenpoint against Edward Lentol. Kessler lost. He was the chairman of American Labor Party in Williamsburg. Kessler ran again for the New York State Assembly in 1950 and lost. Kessler died in 1996.

Joseph R. Lentol was born on January 15, 1943. His mother was Matilda A. Postis and his father was New York State Assemblyman, Senator, and Supreme Court justice Edward S. Lentol. Before running for office, Lentol was Assistant District Attorney in Kings County.

Lentol was first elected to the New York State Assembly for Assembly District (AD) 58 in 1972, running for an open seat after Assemblyman Chester Straub left to run for New York State Senator. He ran against Republican Vinny Abate in the 1972 and 1974 elections. In 1978, Roman Popadiuk ran against Lentol in the Democratic primary and Lentol won. Nick Stefanizzi, head of the local school board, ran campaigns against Lentol in the Democratic primaries in 1980 and 1982. These were close elections, but Lentol won both primaries. The 58th AD was redistricted and assigned a new number, AD 50, after the 1980 census. Fort Greene was added to this Assembly District in 1982.

Between 1983 and 2010, Lentol did not have any Democratic primary challengers. André Soleil, a lawyer, ran against Lentol in the 2010 Democratic primary. About 6,000 votes were cast in the 2010 primary and Lentol won by a wide margin. Lentol lost to Democrat Emily Gallagher in the 2020 election. There was a large voter turnout for the 2020 election, around 20,000 people.

During his time as a New York State Assemblyman, Lentol was the Chair of the Assembly's Committee on Codes (1992-2020), the Committee on Governmental Employees, the Committee on Governmental Operations, and the Administrative Regulations Review Commission. Lentol was also Dean of the Brooklyn Delegation of the Assembly from 2001 to 2020, coordinating efforts that called on all Brooklyn Assemblymembers to work together on projects with borough-wide implications.

Lentol advocated for waterfront and green space preservation, criminal justice reform, and affordable housing. In 2000, Lentol was selected to be a part of the Election Modernization Task Force, which made recommendations to the State on how to increase voter registration and turnout.

Lentol was a part of the New York Conference of Italian-American Legislators and the New York State Legislative Pilots Association.

Sebastian Leone was born on December 6, 1924 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Leone's family moved to Brooklyn when he was one year old and he grew up in Bensonhurst. Leone's parents were from Sicily, Italy and owned a grocery store. He attended P.S. 97 David Boody Junior High School and Lafayette High School in Brooklyn and graduated from St. John's University in Queens in 1946 and St. John's University Law School in 1949.

Leone became district leader of the United Democratic Club in the 1960s and was selected to be Brooklyn Borough President in 1970 after Abe Stark resigned. He served in that position until 1976 when he was nominated to the New York Supreme Court where he served from 1977 to 2001.

Leone married Helene Morgenstern in 1966 and they had one son, Matthew. Leone died on November 14, 2016.

Walter "Wally" Linder was born on May 2, 1930 in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Linder joined the Communist Party while a student at the City College of New York. He worked as a freight handler on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and became President of his local union in 1961.

Linder eventually left the Communist Party and was one of the founding members of the Progressive Labor Party, which formed in 1965. Linder was also a member of the Unity Democratic Club in Brooklyn. Linder died on January 3, 2022.

Herbert "Herb" Lupka was from Kings Highway, Brooklyn. He was a Brooklyn assembly district leader and First Deputy Supreme Court Kings County Clerk. Lupka died in 2018.

James V. Mangano was born on November 21, 1905. Mangano was elected as a New York State Assemblymember in 1934 and in 1938 was elected to be Kings County Sheriff. He was the last person to serve as Kings County Sheriff because the position was dissolved in 1942 and replaced by a New York City-wide Sheriff position. Mangano then served as administrative assistant to several New York State Supreme Court Justices and then was administrative director of the New York State Supreme Court in Brooklyn from 1954 to 1975. Mangano died on October 28, 1988.

Joan Maynard was born on August 29, 1928 in Brooklyn. She graduated from Empire State College of the State University of New York. She then worked as an artist for companies such as McGraw-Hill and drew covers for Crisis, a publication of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Maynard founded and was the first executive director of the Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant History (now the Weeksville Heritage Center). Maynard was also a member of the Unity Democratic Club. Maynard died on January 23, 2006.

Harold McLaughlin was born in the Bronx on June 22, 1905. He moved to Brooklyn Heights in Brooklyn in 1927 and then to Marine Park also in Brooklyn where he lived for the majority of his life. McLaughlin was a judge of the Municipal Court and State Supreme Court in Brooklyn. McLaughlin died in 1993.

Franklin Wheeler Morton, Jr. was born on May 20, 1920 at Lincoln Settlement House in Downtown Brooklyn. Morton started law school at Temple University, but his studies were interrupted when he served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He finished law school at St. John's University. He was appointed to the Municipal Court in Brooklyn in 1958 and then was elected to the New York State Supreme Court in 1969. Morton was a member of Bertram Baker's United Action Democratic Political Club.

Morton's grandmother was Verina Morton Jones, the first woman to practice medicine in the state of Mississippi and a co-founder of Lincoln Settlement House.

Morton died on October 28, 2014.

Albert R. Murray was born on March 15, 1921 in Harlem, Georgia. Murray served in World War II, then received his B.A. from Long Island University and his law degree from Brooklyn Law School. He was a member of Bertram L. Baker's United Action Democratic Club and a partner in the law firm Kaufman and Murray. Murray and his wife Odetta opened Hillside Inn, a resort in the Poconos, in 1954. He was Assistant District Attorney and was then appointed to the Brooklyn Criminal Court in 1965 by Mayor Robert Wagner. Murray was the first Black judge to hold this position. He then became a New York State Supreme Court Justice. He retired from the Court in 1983 and moved to the Poconos permanently. Murray died on October 21, 2005.

Leon "Nellie" Nelson was born on November 5, 1915 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His family moved to Coney Island when he was five years old. Nelson joined the Young Communist League in Brighton Beach and helped organize cellar clubs in Brighton Beach in the mid 1930s. Nelson was a Communist Party candidate for New York State Kings County 2nd Assembly District in 1940. Nelson died in 1995.

Paul O'Dwyer was born on June 29, 1907 in Ireland. He moved to New York City when he was 18 and later attended Fordham University and St. John's University Law School. His brother was William O'Dwyer, who served as Mayor of New York City 1946-1950. O'Dwyer was President of the New York City Council from 1974 to 1977 and was a partner in the O'Dwyer and Bernstein law firm. He supported the Irish Republican Army and Israeli sovereignty. O'Dwyer died on June 23, 1998.

Joseph J. Orlando was born on July 27, 1904 and grew up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. His father was New York City Harbor Master. Orlando was a political leader in the 4th Assembly District in Williamsburg and worked with the Lentol family in local politics. Orlando died on May 12, 1992.

Dorothy James Orr was born on January 12, 1920 in Meadville, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Allegheny College and then from Atlanta University with her master's degree in social work. Orr worked for the Equitable Life Assurance Society and was executive director of Youth in Action and HARYOU ACT (Harlem Youth Opportunities Associated Community Teams). Orr taught at Fordham University and received an honorary doctorate from Pace University in 2005. Orr died in 2015.

Hulett S. Pankey was born in 1903 in Brooklyn, New York. He was a member of Vincent Carney's political club along with his brother Robert Pankey. Pankey died on January 17, 1991.

Lawrence "Larry" Pierce was born on December 31, 1924 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pierce served in World War II and received his undergraduate degree from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Pierce moved to New York City in 1948 to start law school at Fordham University. He graduated in 1951 and lived in Harlem in Manhattan. He then moved to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.

He was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by President Richard Nixon in 1971 and in 1981 was appointed by Ronald Reagan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Lawrence Pierce married Cynthia Straker in 1979 after his first wife died. He retired from the bench in 1995 and served as director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Cambodian Court Training Project. He died on February 5, 2020.

Cynthia Straker was born on July 20, 1929 in Brooklyn, New York. She graduated from Hunter College and received her law degree from Brooklyn Law School. She worked as a lawyer with the office of the general counsel of the Department of Transportation and for the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, DC. She married Lawrence Pierce in 1979. Straker taught at Howard University and Fordham University Law School. Straker died on November 30, 2011.

J. Mitchell Rosenberg was born on August 26, 1906 in Bayonne, New Jersey. His father was a rabbi and they moved several times while he was growing up. They came to Brooklyn when he was 16, living in Borough Park and then finally Flatbush. Rosenberg graduated from Columbia University Law School. He was a member of the Flatbush Hesterberg Democratic Club and served as Assistant District Attorney in Kings County. Rosenberg died on March 15, 2000.

Murray Rosenberg was born on June 5, 1925 in Brooklyn, New York. He started classes at City College in New York, but paused in 1941 to join the U.S. Army. After World War II, he returned to Brownsville in Brooklyn where his parents lived and completed his degree at City College. He was a member of the Unity Democratic Club, worked for the New York City Welfare Department (now the Department of Social Services), and was active in the union. He also worked as an advertising copywriter. Rosenberg died in 2003.

Herbert Ryan was born on August 10, 1931 in Long Branch, New Jersey. He grew up in Queens and then moved to Sunset Park in Brooklyn in 1959. Ryan served in the Korean War and received his law degree from St. John's University. Ryan continued service in several positions in the New York National Guard and the Army Reserve as well as holding several civil government positions, including First Deputy City Clerk. He also taught at St. John's University. Ryan died on June 17, 2022.

Leonard Scholnick was a former leader of the 4th Assembly District Democratic Club, also known as the Seneca Political Club (started in 1899) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He attended Brooklyn College and New York Law School and was admitted to the Bar in 1958. Scholnick served as Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn 1958-1959, then went into private practice. He was a New York State Supreme Court Justice in Kings County, elected in 1972.

Josephine "Jo" Scott was a former longtime member and secretary of Bertram Baker's United Action Democratic Club in Brooklyn. At the time of the interview Josephine Scott worked in advertising at Young and Rubicam.

Scott was born on September 8, 1921 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, 201 Hancock Street, Brooklyn. Her father was born in Richmond, Virginia and mother was from Brooklyn. Her grandmother owned a bakery at 432 Franklin Avenue. Josephine Scott died on March 23, 2006.

Joseph T. Sharkey was born on January 12, 1893 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. His parents were both from Brooklyn and were involved with the Democratic Party in Brooklyn. After serving in World War I and working for the city in various positions, Sharkey was elected to the Board of Aldermen (the predecessor to the New York City Council) in 1933. He served on the Council until 1961 and was President (1949-1951) and Council Majority Leader (1940-1961).

Sharkey married Helen Flaherty in 1935 and they had three daughters.

After leaving the New York City Council, Sharkey was President of the Dime Savings Bank until his retirement in 1975. He died on January 2, 1991.

Helen Flaherty was born on December 27, 1903 in Brooklyn. She married Joseph T. Sharkey in 1935 and they had three daughters. She died on September 12, 1996.

James "Jim" H. Shaw, Jr. was born on September 24, 1923 in Birmingham, Alabama. He came to New York City in the summer of 1942 and attended Fordham University Law School. In 1942, Shaw entered the military during World War II. Shaw was a member of Bertram Baker's United Action Democratic Club, elected to State Senate in 1965 and was a State Supreme Court judge from Brooklyn. The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct censured Shaw in 1999 for sexual harrassment. Shaw retired soon after.

Daphne A. Sheppard was born in 1917. She was manager of the Brooklyn office of the Amsterdam News for 25 years starting around 1950 and wrote a regular column called "Kings Diary," which chronicled events in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Ocean Hill, and Brownsville. She also worked as an Assistant Administrator for the Model Cities Program in the Mayor's Office in the 1960s. She lived in Crown Heights at the time of this interview. Sheppard died in 2006.

Charles L. Sherwood was born on December 9, 1900 in Kingston, Jamaica. He moved to the United States in August 1923 to study dentistry. He first lived in Harlem in Manhattan and then moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn in 1941. Sherwood was a member of Bertram Baker's United Action Democratic Club. He died in 2000.

Isidore Philip Sipser was born September 2, 1918 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His family later moved to Brooklyn and Sipser went to Brooklyn College and Brooklyn Law School. Sipser ran for New York State Senate in 1944 and New York State Assembly in 1947 and 1948 on the American Labor Party ticket, but lost the elections. He was also manager for Paul O'Dwyer's unsuccessful 1968 campaign for U.S. Senate against Jacob K. Javits.

Outside of politics, Sipser worked as a labor lawyer and was known for representing musicians. Sipser died March 31, 2001.

Sobel was born on May 13, 1906 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to Russian parents. His family moved to Brooklyn and he grew up in the Borough Park and Brownsville neighborhoods. Sobel graduated from Boys High School and entered Brooklyn Law School at age 15. After passing the bar, he began working in legal counsel positions and judgeships in New York State. He sat on the Supreme Court in Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Surrogate Court.

Sobel retired in 1976 and continued some pro bono legal work. Sobel never married and lived in Brooklyn Heights during his professional and later life. Sobel died on May 20, 1997.

Sidney Squire was born on December 27, 1906 in Manhattan to Russian parents. They moved to Flatbush in Brooklyn when Squire was a boy. Squire attended City College and then Brooklyn Law School. He enlisted in the Army during World War II and began working in a private practice, Squire and Leavitt, on his return. Squire was an advisor to Brooklyn district leader and Assemblyman Bertram L. Baker. Squire was senior judge on the New York State Court of Claims from 1956 until he retired from the bench in 1977. He continued working in private practice until 1996. Squire died on February 12, 1997.

Stanley Steingut was born on May 20, 1920 in Crown Heights in Brooklyn. He attended Union College and then served in the Navy during World War II. He received his law degree from St. John's University Law School.

Steingut's father, Irwin Steingut, was a Democratic Assemblyman from Brooklyn from 1930-1952 when Stanley succeeded him. He served in the New York State Assembly from 1952 to to 1978 and was speaker and minority leader for a time. He was a leader of the Kings County Democratic organization and the Madison Democratic Club in Crown Heights. Steingut also had a private practice, Berger and Steingut.

Steingut married Madeline Fellerman and they had two sons. Steingut died in 1989.

Harvey L. Strelzin was born on July 19, 1906 and raised in Brooklyn. He attended City College, Brooklyn Law School, and New York Law School. Strelzin served as Assistant Attorney General and was elected to the New York State Assembly for District 57 in Brooklyn. He was on the Assembly from 1969 to 1980. Strelzin taught at Brooklyn College and New York Law School. He was chairman of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies and of the Israel Bond Drives. He died on December 8, 1993.

Gardner Calvin Taylor was born on June 18, 1918 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He graduated from the Oberlin College School of Theology in 1940 and was a pastor at a few other churches until 1948 when he became head of the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. appointed Taylor to the New York City Board of Education on which he served for three years. Mayor Wagner also asked him to fill in on the Kings County Democratic County Committee while looking for a replacement for Joseph T. Sharkey. He helped found the Progressive National Baptist Convention in 1961.

Taylor stayed at Concord Baptist Church until he retired in 1990 and moved to North Carolina. He died on April 5, 2015.

William "Willie" C. Thompson, Sr. was born on October 26, 1924 in Harlem in Manhattan. A couple years later, his family moved to Brooklyn. Thompson attended Brooklyn College for his undergraduate and law degrees. He served in the Army during World War II.

Thompson was a New York State Senator from 1965-1968 and then a member of the New York City Council from 1969-1973. He was elected to the New York Supreme Court in 1973. He retired from the bench on January 1, 2001. Thompson died on December 24, 2018. Bill Thompson, former New York City Comptroller from 2002-2009, is his son.

Albert "Al" Vann was born on November 19, 1934 in Brooklyn. Vann graduated from Toledo University in 1959, then earned a master's degree in education from Yeshiva University and a master's degree in guidance counseling from Long Island University. He was a New York State Assemblyman representing the 56th Assembly District from 1975 to 2001.

Vann married Mildred Cooke in 1967. They had four children and lived in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Vann died on July 14, 2022.

Jitu K. Weusi was born Leslie R. Campbell on October 25, 1939 in Brooklyn. His mother was active in the Democratic Party. Weusi was a member of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE). After college, Weusi became a teacher in public junior high schools in New York City. He founded the African American Teachers Association along with other Black teachers (including Albert Vann) after the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) did not support the 1964 Citywide School Boycott.

Weusi founded the Uhuru Sasa School, a Black independent private school for inner-city youth, and co-founded The East, a community education and arts organization in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Weusi was involved with the New York Chapter of the National Black United Front and African Americans United for Political Power, which worked to elect David Dinkins as New York City mayor. Weusi died in 2013.

Everett Williams was born on January 2, 1905 in Prince Edward County, Virginia. He moved to Brooklyn with his sister when he was a teenager for more opprtunities. Williams worked in shore repair at Abraham and Straus for 40 years. He was a member of Bertram Baker's United Action Club. Williams died in 2001.

Mary Elizabeth Woods was born on March, 21, 1930 in Manhattan. The family lived mostly in Greenwich Village. Woods graduated from Cornell University in 1951 and she spent four years in Binghamton, New York labor organizing for workers at the Endicott Johnson Corporation.

She moved to Crown Heights in Brooklyn in 1957 and worked at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. She was active in the Unity Democratic Club. Woods died in 2005.

Samuel "Sam" Daniel Wright was born on February 13, 1925 in the Ocean Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. Wright's father was active in the local Republican party. Wright graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 1960. He was elected to New York State Assembly in 1965 and was chairman of the Ocean Hill-Brownsville school district. In 1973, he was elected to the New York City Council, but lost his seat in 1978 when he was convicted for receiving payment from an educational materials producer in exchange for a guaranteed contract with the school board. Wright also ran against Shirley Chisholm for the 12th district congressional seat in 1976, but was unsuccessful. Wright died on January 20, 1998.

Lila Yagerman was born on October 22, 1928 in Brooklyn. She lived in the Marine Park/Sheepshead Bay area from 1954 until at least the time of this interview in 1987. She graduated from Jefferson High School in Brownsville in 1945. Lila Yagerman was active in Brooklyn clubhouse politics and was co-leader of the 21st Assembly District. Yagerman died in 1997. Her son created a scholarship in her name at Cardozo Law School in Manhattan.