jon on Nostr: “William Nicholson, a former cement tester from Virginia, was officially hired by ...
“William Nicholson, a former cement tester from Virginia, was officially hired by the FDNY as a fourth-class fireman in 1898. Joining the department two years after the Plessy v. Ferguson decision and in the midst of the highly racialized Spanish-American War, Nicholson was met with intense hostility from the day he entered his assigned Brooklyn firehouse, Engine No. 6. According to the company’s log, Nicholson was transferred immediately after reporting for duty in December 1898. Departmental historians and folklorists argued that Nicholson was then put to work cleaning the horse stables at headquarters in Manhattan. Contemporary accounts, however, have Nicholson, by 1902, working in the fire marshal’s office and, later, at headquarters, both in Brooklyn.”
— Black Firefighters and the FDNY: The Struggle for Jobs, Justice, and Equity in New York City (Justice, Power, and Politics) by David Goldberg
https://a.co/2ktr5qKPublished at
2025-02-08 19:39:39Event JSON
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"content": "“William Nicholson, a former cement tester from Virginia, was officially hired by the FDNY as a fourth-class fireman in 1898. Joining the department two years after the Plessy v. Ferguson decision and in the midst of the highly racialized Spanish-American War, Nicholson was met with intense hostility from the day he entered his assigned Brooklyn firehouse, Engine No. 6. According to the company’s log, Nicholson was transferred immediately after reporting for duty in December 1898. Departmental historians and folklorists argued that Nicholson was then put to work cleaning the horse stables at headquarters in Manhattan. Contemporary accounts, however, have Nicholson, by 1902, working in the fire marshal’s office and, later, at headquarters, both in Brooklyn.”\n\n— Black Firefighters and the FDNY: The Struggle for Jobs, Justice, and Equity in New York City (Justice, Power, and Politics) by David Goldberg\nhttps://a.co/2ktr5qK",
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