Judy Heumann Oral History
Judith (Judy) Heumann was one of tens of thousands of children who contracted polio during outbreaks in the late 1940s and early 1950s and became physically disabled.
court cases
Jose P. vs. Ambach, excerpt
Many major changes in education have come through federal legislation.
Clark Hits Integration Plan at Mark Twain JHS
When Judge Jack Weinstein initially issued a court order to integrate District 21 schools, he proposed a wide-reaching plan that called for the Board of Education, District 21’s school board, and private real estate developers and housing officials to integrate the district’s neighborhoods and schools.
Hart v. Community School Board 21, excerpt 1
Jeffrey Hart was a student at Mark Twain Junior High School in Brooklyn.
Mark Twain on The 51st State, excerpt 4
The all-white board of Community School District 21 in Brooklyn approved a proposal to desegregate Mark Twain Junior High School by making it a school for “gifted and talented” students - or, in the language of the day, students in “special progress” or “rapid advancement” classes.
District 21 Population Maps
This map illustrates the boundaries of Community District 21, which includes the Coney Island, Brighton Beach, and Gravesend neighborhoods of Brooklyn, among others.
Mae Mallory and her daughter Patricia
During the “Harlem Nine”’s struggle to integrate schools in New York City, multiple newspapers, including The New York Times and Amsterdam News, published photographs of Mae Mallory with her daughter Patricia.
In the matter of Charlene Skipwith, excerpt
On October 28, 1958, in two separate cases, the Board of Education charged the “Harlem Nine” parents with violating the state law requiring parents to send their children to school.
“We’d Rather Go to Jail.”
In 1958, one year after nine Black students made national and international news when they desegregated Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, desegregation activists in Harlem organized their own protest.
Albany Evening Journal
Mrs. Elizabeth Cisco worked for more than five years, with her husband and on her own, to fight for educational equality and desegregation.
Mrs. Elizabeth Cisco
Photography has an important place in African American history.
The Elsberg Bill Signed
Mrs. Cisco’s activism brought attention to segregated schooling in New York, and the state adopted a new law that ended legal segregation in schools.
Cisco on Trial in Queens
Samuel B. Cisco, a Black man, lived in Jamaica, in Queens County.