“Who would believe New York would elect a black mayor?” writes David N. Dinkins in his new memoir, reflecting on first considering running in 1988. Only twenty years before we elected an African American president, a black mayor of New York City was unthinkable. There had been transformative elections of African American mayors in other cities: Richard Hatcher in Gary, IN; Carl Stokes in Cleveland, OH; Harold Washington in Chicago, IL; Wilson Goode in Philadelphia, PA; Harvey Gantt in Charlotte, NC; and Kurt Schmoke in Baltimore, MD. New York was on the cusp of making history as well.
This video is an excerpt from Dinkins’ October, 2013 discussion of his book, “A Mayor’s Life: Governing New York’s Gorgeous Mosaic,” with Jonathan Fanton.
