Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy (2018) 1:42–44 https://doi.org/10.1007/s41996-018-0001-0

BOOK REVIEW

Dousing the Burning House Black Firefighters and the FDNY: The Struggle for Jobs, Justice, and Equity in NYC. David Goldberg. Chapel Hill, NC; The University of North Carolina Press; 2017; 424 pp. Denzel Caldwell 1 Received: 8 April 2018 / Accepted: 17 April 2018 / Published online: 1 June 2018 # Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

When houses are engulfed in flames, we call on those who have chosen firefighting as a way of life. These men and women are in peak physical condition and trained to handle equipment designed to fight fires. The task is a challenge that requires teamwork, swift action, and confidence in the face of very possible death. It is only after the fire is completely extinguished and the debris is cleared that the residents can begin the process of rebuilding their home. This process can be analogous to the plight of African-Americans in the United States. Since its construction, this home called the United States has been engulfed in a flame called white supremacy. For centuries since its inception, brave men and women of African descent have committed their skills, bodies, and lives to dousing this roaring flame. While in bondage, they watered the country’s fiery racism by asserting their humanity. After Emancipation, African-Americans continued seeking to salvage this burning home by challenging what it means to be an American citizen. This effort to douse this fire permeated throughout different sectors of American society. Professor David Goldberg’s Black Firefighters and the FDNY focuses on the fight for racial and labor justice that several generations of African-American firefighters waged to make more equitable a department that was coined Bthe last bastion of white male privilege^ in a city known for its racial heterogeneity. The book is divided into eight chapters that chronologically focuses on each generation of African-American firefighters that contributed to making more African-American firefighters and the wider racial and labor movements that were centered on creating adequate employment conditions for the working class, especially in the public sector. The author * Denzel Caldwell [email protected] 1

Economics Department, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA

describes the evolution of African-American struggles within the FDNY using an intersectional lens, which focuses on the interaction among race, gender, and class. Chapter 1 begins in the early American years to illustrate the origins of white monopolization of the fire department once it became institutionalized. In colonial America, since Bthe colony’s general assembly first put out the call for volunteer firemen in 1737,^ competition for economic security and social status mainly occurred between different European ethnic groups. In the decades surrounding the Revolutionary War, Protestant Anglo-Dutch were the dominant group of volunteer firefighters. Though chattel slavery was the predominant force that drove colonial New York, there is evidence of enslaved African participation in firefighting as early as the 1780s, where Ban enslaved woman name Molly^ had Bsingle-handedly pulled the huge engine of Volunteer Number 11 a long distance to a fire in William’s Street.^ Despite documentation of this early black firefighting, Goldberg reminds us that the fear of enslaved Africans engaging in arson and uprising shaped the development of colonial firefighting: … the fire department began expanding and reorganizing, in part to better deal with the threat of fire, insurrection, and incendiaries. The department, for example, grew from two to eight companies, and these companies were further divided into engine and hook-and-ladder companies—a division of labor that remains today Goldberg also discusses how the arrival of the Irish Catholic following the potato famine created a social dynamic in which the Protestant Anglos made efforts to demonize and suppress them. The change occurred in the early nineteenth century, however, when Anglo-Americans adopted the idea that with their guidance, Bthe Irish in America could be redeemed and taught the cultural and behavioral norms necessary for civilization, citizenship, and inclusion for Americans.^ Though they would later organize to form their

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own political power and presence within the firefighting profession (via Tammany Hall), Irish and Anglo-Americans shared beliefs of racial and gender superiority over African-Americans that would later serve as the basis for a collective identity of whiteness. Chapter 2 covers the first generation of African-American firefighters that served between 1898 and 1934 in the FDNY. Given that service jobs were highly regarded in this era, the experiences of the first black firefighters were filled with endless obstacles, despite their seemingly superhuman efforts to prove themselves worthy as servicemen. It is also worth noting that the firefighting occupation was also seen as that in which notions of masculinity could be defined, performed, and challenged. According to Goldberg, only Bfive AfricanAmericans managed to secure firefighting positions.^ Though the prevalent racism of the white majority in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries only viewed black people as worthy of menial employment, these select black firefighters challenged racialized notions of gender that fueled the resentment of Irish immigrant and Anglo-American men. William Nicholson was the first black professional firefighter in the FDNY, but his brief career (1898–1912) was characterized by intense resentment, being relegated to janitorial work, and leaving the profession following Ban undisclosed injury^ on the job. Goldberg does an excellent job providing the political context in which Nicholson’s being hired was possible: BNicholson’s hiring was likely the result of Tammany Hall’s promise to increase black patronage during a close 1897 election.^ Throughout this chapter and the remainder of the text, Goldberg connects the efforts of black firefighters to the larger political movements. During this period, black political organizations utilized their connections to both sides of aisles during local elections to ensure as much black public employment as possible, which played a crucial role in the hiring of the first five black firefighters in this period. Among these firefighters, Wesley Williams would solidify a major foundation not only with his extraordinary service as a fireman but as the founder of the Vulcan Society, the fraternal organization for black firefighters in the FDNY that would play a major role in the fight to provide future generations of African-Americans the tools needed to make a living as firefighters. Chapter 3 delves deeper into the founding of the Vulcan Society and its first generation of members as they fought for access to unions and jobs in all sectors that were reserved only for whites as the political and demographic landscape changed. In this time, the political stronghold that the Irish held in New York City politics waned during the Great Depression years. The author paints a vivid image of the Great Depression era as he describes how New Deal politics in combination with growing Southern and Eastern European immigrant populations impacted the organizing and activism of black New Yorkers, particularly firefighters. In this era,

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black labor activists used boycotts, protests, and political connections to demand for more representation in the fire and police department. Mayor La Guardia’s New Deal administration sought to end the Irish stronghold by shifting from patronage jobs to democratization of public jobs. However, because of the Depression, Jim Crow, and budget cuts that followed, few black firemen were hired during this period. Nonetheless, Goldberg discusses Wesley William’s efforts in mentoring younger firefighters through the Vulcan Society and the struggles they endured to establish the organization, create a sustainable structure, and garner the social and political capital needed to make larger demands within the FDNY. Chapters 4 and 5 focus on the second generation of Vulcan Society members who were active during the postwar/civil rights period. Goldberg focuses on the efforts of Robert Lowery, the second president of the Vulcan Society, who used his leadership skills and political savvy to expand the influence and membership of his organization. Vulcan members were predominantly former military veterans who brought a militant racial pride to the organization that would help readers understand the basis for the frustration younger generations had with the racial liberalism of Lowery and the older generation. Under the Lindsay administration, Lowery would become the first African-American appointed as fire commissioner in both New York and the country. Under his leadership, Lowery attempted in vain to appease black firefighters, the larger black community, and white rank-and-file firefighters in hopes of creating a workable compromise among the contending groups. Chapter 6 highlights the tensions within the organization as the younger and older generations of Vulcan members had differing approaches to achieving greater opportunities for black firefighters in the FDNY. The younger generation was majorly influenced by black power politics, i.e., racial pride and self-determination, while the older generation preferred racial liberalism and working within the confines of the FDNY. Goldberg centers his focus in this chapter on figures like David Floyd who bridged the gaps between the generations within the organization to create a more multifaceted brotherhood. Additionally, this chapter covers the formation of the International Association of Black Professional Firefighters (IABPFF), a network that would connect black firefighters throughout the country and facilitate nationally coordinated activist efforts in the later years. Chapters 7 and 8 focus on the white backlash to the growing efforts and organization of black firefighters in the FDNY to achieve parity in employment and the pivotal court cases that have defined the current fight for greater representation in the FDNY. These cases primarily focused on the qualifying exams that determined who was eligible to become a firefighter, as many of the questions on those exams were not job related, and there was evidence that some white firefighters received support in ways other racial groups did not. This

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issue of representation was also a woman’s issue, as women began entering the FDNY in the 1980s and experienced varying forms of sexual harassment and on-the-job abuse. Though the FDNY had been brought to District Court several times in the late twentieth century and ordered to make changes to their examinations, nothing substantial was done to restructure them until the twenty-first century. In the ruling of the United States of America and Vulcan Society Inc, et al v The City of New York, the presiding judge ruled to implement and enforce what would be more expansive reforms in FDNY examinations; this ruling served as a major milestone for black firefighters who are continuing the multigenerational fight for adequate representation in a department that has historically been coined as Bthe last bastion of white male privilege.^

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Overall, Black Firefighters and the FDNY is a compelling text that covers the little-known history of black firefighters in the FDNY. One of the more unique aspects of this text is the ways it connects the evolution of black firefighting with black political activism in New York. From the very beginning, the author describes how the multiple dimensions of race, gender, and class all interact to shape the history of the black struggle for equity in the FDNYas well as the country. Those interested in studying labor and social activism, public policy, civil rights law, or African-American studies may find this text to be a significant addition to their curriculum.