Vulcan Society

Following the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ("separate but equal") Supreme Court decision and the 1898 election of Governor Theodore Roosevelt, employment opportunities for black men began to slowly expand.

On December 6, 1898, a man named William H. Nicholson was assigned to Brooklyn's Engine Company 6 veterinary department to feed the horses and shovel manure.

Fireman Woodson, unlike his predecessor, was assigned to Ladder Company 106 in the Greenpoint Section of Brooklyn, to perform regular fire-fighting duties.

Wesley Williams was a champion amateur weight lifter, and achieved a perfect score of 100% in the physical examination to enter the department.

Williams had been placed number 13 on the civil service list for appointment as Fireman, New York City Fire Department.

Williams' father was the head Red Cap at Grand Central Station and had developed a personal relationship with the Vanderbilts, the Goulds and the Morgans who were the owners of the railroads and passed through the terminal frequently.

After the company had moved into place in the smoky cellar a series of explosions occurred and flames rolled over the probationary fireman's head in waves as he operated the nozzle and directed the stream.

The company, including the officer, retreated to the street, leaving the probationary fireman in the cellar to extinguish the fire alone[9][citation needed].

The shortage of firemen who possessed the mechanical ability to operate the new gasoline-driven tractors led to Williams being asked to take the apparatus out of quarters[12] and then back it in.

In 1924 he entered the FDNY boxing tourney and became the heavyweight champ, only then was it revealed that he was a natural lefty and had a mean left hook that took everyone by surprise.

[7] On Sunday morning, October 19, 1920, a year and ten months after Williams had entered the department, he was walking with his father on St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem on his way to work.

The day Williams was promoted and assigned as an officer in Engine 55, Fireman John O'Toole walked out of the firehouse, an action that made him immediately AWOL.

[citation needed] When Lieutenant Williams admonished an officer for misconduct, charges had to be preferred against the fireman for failure to obey an order.

In other companies the colored firemen weren't allowed to contribute money for the commissary—the common stock of sugar, milk, butter, coffee, tea, salt, pepper, mustard, etc.

The toilet cleaning, furnace tending, ash removal or whatever work that was considered uninviting was surely to be assigned to the colored fireman.

This pattern was followed when assignments to positions on the apparatus were made, and it was an unwritten law that no Negro should drive or be a tillerman high up on the rear of the ladder truck; nor should he operate the pump, neither should he carry certain tools.

Considering the weight of a man's boots, heavy work coat and helmet, the extinguisher becomes a formidable load to run up five flights of stairs, and then into a smoke and heat filled room to try to put out a fire.

Young blacks with the depression era still fresh in their consciousness, who would have become professionals in a healthy economy, turned instead to the fire department and the civil service for employment.

At first, when the new group of black firemen experienced psychological tyranny and emotional brutality, Chief Williams visited their respective officers and tried to enlist their aid to correct injustices through moral persuasion.

After the society had gained the official blessing of fire headquarters, it was criticized by some sections of the black community who felt forming such an organization was self-segregating[citation needed].

Subtle changes were subsequently effected, as black firemen began to be assigned as motor pump operators, chauffeurs and tillermen, having become eligible through seniority and experiences.

Black firemen continued to make progress under the next administration, that of Fire Commissioner Jacob B. Grumet, formerly a Supreme Court judge and president of the Anti-Defamation Society.

The Jim Crow bed became an obsolete practice, and the Vulcan Society continued to grow in numbers as more black firemen were appointed to the department.

In the same year, the Vulcan Society participated in a campaign to secure the appointment of a black man to the New York City Board of Education.

Other civic involvement included submission of proposed amendments to the Multiple Dwelling Law in 1947 directed to the prevention of loss of life in tenement fires.

In the first year as a marshal he received a commendation from Chief Magistrate Edgar Bromberger for the arrest of a man responsible for 30 acts of burglary and arson in Harlem.

The Vulcan Society petitioned Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. to place a black voice in the policy-making echelon of the department.

To bring to the mayor's attention the community's support for such an appointment, a petition was circulated that initially contained the signatures of over 20,000 New York City residents.

In an article in the New York Times of Wednesday, November 25, 1965, then mayor-elect John V. Lindsay is quoted as saying he had been considering Lowery as a potential fire commissioner even before the mayoral election.

Winners: Other awards issued: In 2002, the Vulcan Society sued to get more minorities hired, finally prevailing when the new mayoral administration declined to appeal the judges ruling.