Black Facts = 1953 – Hulan Edwin Jack (African American politician), a native West Indian ( St.Lucia), was sworn in as President of the Manhattan Borough.This marked the first time a black person held a major executive office in a major city. Also a member of the Elks and PHI BETA SIGMA FRATERNITY INC.
He was the son of a Protestant clergyman who later became a Bishop of the African Orthodox Church in Barbados. He was brought to New York in 1923, with a grammar school education and experience as a printer.
His talent for public speaking, honed in college, served him well as his rising star in the Democratic Party organization propelled him toward the Legislature. Nor did he forget that Blacks, in his younger days, were ”relegated to the basement” of his district Democratic club, as he once said to an interviewer. He advanced by applying himself by following party rules and being amiable. His widening influence in the Manhattan Democratic organization earned him election to the State Assembly in 1940. Halfway into his seventh term, in 1953, he resigned after being elected to the borough presidency, to which he was re-elected for a second four-year term in 1957.
He established a record as the untiring author of legislation for human rights and against racial discrimination of any type. Though his bills usually fell by the wayside, he remained convinced that he was not wrong but merely ahead of his time. He was a life-long Democrat, and member of New York state assembly, 1941-53, 1968-72 (New York County 17th District 1941-44, New York County 14th District 1945-53, 79th District 1968-72); borough president of Manhattan, New York, 1954-61; delegate to Democratic National Convention from New York in 1956.
He lost the office after a conflict-of-interest scandal, died Friday night at St. Luke’s Hospital. Mr. Jack, who would have been 80 years old on Dec. 29, was a 45-year resident of West 110th Street. #theraydiotwins
