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Yanick Rice Lamb

Yes, Bertram Baker’s story is about Brooklyn politics in the early 1900s. But it's 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 what's now known as the U.S. Open. Baker believed there was something in sports that strengthened the character. And there was something about Baker that 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 Baker's grandson and biographer, Ron Howell. reports, Bertram Baker believed that life itself was a game.

A Day in Black Brooklyn History

  • BakerSwornInTHISisSMALL

    On Tues., Nov. 2, 1948, Baker became the first black elected to political office in Brooklyn. Wife Irene is here with him at his swearing-in.

The Boss (Now Long Deceased) Reflects on His Feat

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     Brief, edited clips from Baker's talk at the Historical Society over 40 years ago.

Deval Patrick Recalls His Grandad-in-Law: the Boss

  • DevalPatrickImageBainThe ex-Governor of Massachusetts, Patrick is talked-about as a 2020 presidential candidate in 2020. (Read more here about him and the Boss.)

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Baker was also the Boss of Black Tennis

  • Althea-GibsonAlthea Gibson was important in the life of Bertram Baker. He fought to get her into all-white tennis competitions. She then made history as the first black tennis champion. Yanick Rice Lamb, author of Born to Win: The Authorized Biography of Althea Gibson, comments. Read her review here.

Last of the Bigtime Bosses

  • JudgeMortonTipsHatFuneral Bertram Baker was at the end of a line of bosses who named judges, based in good part on loyalty. Here NY Supreme Court Justice Franklin Morton tips his hat to Baker's coffin. Published in the New York Times, March 12, 1985. Photographer: Chester Higgins.

Fatherhood as a Cross Generational Theme

  •  DadAndSonUse

    Herbert Bias/Getty Images/Stock Photo

    Ron Howell, author of Boss of Black Brooklyn and grandson of the Boss, wrote in 2014 about the crisis of black fatherhood. (Read here.)

     

Scholar: Here's a Key to Understanding NY Politics

  • Clarence Taylor, Professor Emeritus, Baruch College, author of The Black Churches of Brooklyn and other books, wrote that Boss of Black Brooklyn is crucial reading for anyone interested in the twentieth century political history of New York. (Read review here.)

The Island of Nevis is in the Limelight

  • MapOfNevisUse4SiteFor centuries, Nevis has been among the world's most desired destinations. So tiny and lovely. Yet it was too tiny for big dreamers like Alexander Hamilton and Bertram Baker. The island's leaders are proud of its natural gifts and most of all its history. Everson W. Hull, Ph.D., and Ambassador from St. Kitts and Nevis to the Organization of the American States, says Baker's story is a gift to Nevis, Brooklyn and America. (Read here)

     

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