IN MEMORIAM: David Dinkins, New York’s First and Only Black Mayor, Dies at 93
By Lauren Victoria Burke NNPA Newswire Correspondent
Published December 10, 2020
On the night of November 23
rd, David Dinkins succumbed to natural causes at his home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. (Courtesy Photo)
David Dinkins was the stuff of political legend in New York’s Harlem. From 1990 to 1993, Dinkins served as the 106th Mayor of the largest city in America — New York. Dinkins was a historic figure as the first African American to hold the office. He often referred to the city as “a gorgeous mosaic.”
Dinkins was part of Harlem’s Democratic Party machine that dominated politics from the late 60s and into the 1990s. He was part of a power base that was made up of businessman Percy Sutton, New York State Assemblyman Herman “Denny” Farrell, attorney Basil Paterson, and Congressman Charles Rangel.