Ron Howell - Boss of Black Brooklyn: The Life and Times of Bertram L. Baker

Crucial reading for anyone interested in the political history of New York, Boss of Black Brooklyn provides us with a deep understanding of ethnic and racial urban politics of the early and midtwentieth century. Howell skillfully traces the life of Brooklyns first black elected official following Bertram Bakers start in politics, to his election to the New York state Assembly, to his appointment as chairman of the state Assemblys Education Committee, Waiting for Stuyvesant. An inspiration for the next generation of black politicians.

Clarence Taylor, Baruch College, The City University of New York

This warm, insightful, and deeply researched study of Bertram Baker, arguably the most important black political leader in Brooklyns history, reveals how Afro-Caribbeans contributed centrally in the rise of black political influence in New York City. Both a biography of the authors grandfather and an autobiography of growing up as a third-generation immigrant in Brooklyn today, Howells book is a brilliant contribution to understanding how our city came to be as it is.

John Mollenkopf, Director, Center for Urban Research, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Boss of Black Brooklyn is a story of hope. Howell sheds light on Freudian conflicts that have wreaked havoc on black families over the course of the black presence in the American hemisphere. Bertram Baker is a contradictory model for how to live and how not to live. Although he has been dead for more than three decades, Bakers story shows us that we can achieve great things despite our weaknesses. We can claim to be righteous and bold, but we must learn that compromise is one of lifes most valuable skills.

Raymond T. Diamond, James Carville Alumni Professor; Jules F. & Frances L. Landry Distinguished Professor, Louisiana State University Law Center

Boss of Black Brooklyn: The Life and Times of Bertram L. Baker is a great treat for lovers of twentieth-century Brooklyn history. Part biography and part family memoir, longtime New York City journalist Ron Howells book traces his familys lineage back to the islands of Nevis and Barbados. Ambitious from an early age, Bertram Baker emigrated from Nevis to Brooklyn at the age of sixteen. He arrived with other aspiring West Indian immigrants during World War I and began a journey that took him from the stockroom floor of the cavernous Abraham & Straus department store on Fulton Street to the heights of New York state politics to become one of the historic power brokers of New York City and Brooklyn.

Julie A. Gallagher, author ofBlack Women and Politics in New York City

Bertram Bakers story is about Brooklyn politics in the early 1900s. But its also about how blacks fought to break down barriers keeping them out of all-white tennis competitions in the early twentieth century. During the Great Depression, and all the way through the 1960s, Baker headed the American Tennis Association, the all-black organization that nurtured Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe. Baker helped make history when, in the 1950s, he negotiated to have Althea accepted into white tennis matches like Wimbledon and whats now known as the U.S. Open. Baker believed that something in sports strengthened the character. And something about Baker helped Althea focus on winning while navigating racial and gender issues on and off the court. He not only encouraged blacks to play tennis, but he also started baseball leagues for boys in his Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood. As Bakers grandson and biographer, Ron Howell, reports, Bertram Baker believed that life itself was a game.

Yanick Rice Lamb, author ofBorn to Win: The Authorized Biography of Althea Gibson

Today generations and children from now on will know that it was Bertram Baker who broke the color line in Brooklyn.... Let the record of history show that I owe a debt of gratitude to Bertram Baker and that I acknowledge Bertram Baker for his greatness and his vision. May today be, not only a recognition of his greatness, but a sign that we will try our best to memorialize those who opened doors for me and others to take seats in legislative bodies and other offices, in Brooklyn and throughout New York state. May God bless him. May he rest in peace.

Letitia James, former Brooklyn city councilwoman; first black woman to hold any citywide office when she became New York City public advocate; candidate to be the first black and first woman New York state attorney general

A gift from the island of Nevis to Brooklyn and the rest of America. Howell tells the story of Bertram L. Baker, who emigrated from Nevis in 1915 and became Brooklyns first black elected official in 1948. Later, Baker served in the New York state Assembly and continually paid tribute to another Nevisian who had served before himAlexander Hamilton.

Everson W. Hull, Ph.D., ambassador for St. Kitts and Nevis to the Organization of American States

Boss of Black Brooklyn is a story about politics in early-twentieth-century Brooklyn, but it is much more than that. It is also a story about the hearts, minds, and spirits of the Caribbean people.

Kirkley C. Sands, Ph.D., dean of faculty at Codrington College, Barbados

Boss of Black Brooklyn is a story about an extraordinary man. Bertram Baker, an immigrant from the then-British island of Nevis, had joined other West Indians, and American blacks, in the Great Migration. Baker became the first black elected to political office in Brooklyn. In Bakers era, blacks began demanding their fair share of the patronage pie, such as civil service jobs. Baker had weaknesses and high ambitions. Part memoir and part history, Howells book tells the story of both Bakers wins and losses, crafting a unique story of the American dream.

Jerome Krase, Ph.D., author ofRace, Class, and Gentrification in Brooklyn: A View from the Street

A fascinating book on Bertram L. Baker, the first black representative elected to the state Assembly from Brooklyn, New York, in 1948. As an author of New Yorks first housing anti-discrimination bill, Baker became one of New Yorks most important legislators. However, Bakers and Howells intermingled lives revealed generational divides that cleaved through American society during that pivotal decade of the 1960s. Baker, the immigrant striver, embodied respectability and rectitude. His grandson Howell, the American-born, Ivy Leagueeducated militant, embodied rebellion and resistance. These tensions remain important aspects of African Americans and the entire nations history. Howells strengths as a journalist, his honesty, care, and humor, mix memoir and biography, personal reflection and scholarship into a book that is informative and exciting.

Brian Purnell, author ofFighting Jim Crow in the County of Kings: The Congress of Racial Equality in Brooklyn

We, the Brooklyn Oldtimers Foundation, held our first meetings half a century ago, when Bertram Baker was leaving the political stage. We are retired police officers, firefighters, social workers, and teachers. We are proud of Ron Howell for writing this book about his grandfather: Boss of Black Brooklyn: The Life and Times of Bertram L. Baker. In December 2016, we gave Ron a plaque that said, A son of Bed-Stuy, you never forgot your roots. Your outstanding journalistic skills have been a breath of fresh air, shown in your published articles. Using Rons book, we will teach our youngsters what it means to be from black Brooklyn and how they should be faithful to it. Over the years we have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to college-bound students from our community. Bed-Stuy, do or die, we used to say back in the day. We will fight todays onslaughts and try to keep black Brooklyn breathing. The Boss would want us to do it.