David Dinkins Drive (Manhattan)
Present name:None
Location:At the northeast corner of 155th street and Riverside Drive East
Honoree: David Dinkins (1927-2020) was the first African American mayor of New York City from 1990 until 1993. After graduating from high school in 1945, he attempted to enlist in the United States Marine Corps but was told that the “Negro quota” had already been met. He eventually was drafted and served with the United States Marines. He attended Howard University on the G.I. Bill of Rights, studying mathematics. In 1953 he entered Brooklyn Law School and was introduced to politics when he married Joyce Burrows, the daughter of a New York state assemblyman. He joined a law firm and became increasingly involved with the Democratic Party. He was elected to a term in the state assembly in 1965, and later served as President of the Board of Elections for New York City, as City Clerk, and as Manhattan Borough President before his successful bid for Mayor in 1989. He later became a professor at Columbia University. In 2013, he published the memoir "A Mayor’s Life: Governing New York’s Gorgeous Mosaic. "(Levine)
LL:2022/54