{"id":2661,"date":"2024-04-23T07:42:16","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T11:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/?p=2661"},"modified":"2024-04-23T07:42:18","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T11:42:18","slug":"helen-m-marshall-the-first-african-american-borough-president-of-queens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/eternal\/helen-m-marshall-the-first-african-american-borough-president-of-queens","title":{"rendered":"Helen M. Marshall, the first African American Borough President of Queens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Helen M. Marshall, a Democrat from New York, became the first African-American woman to serve as Queens Borough President. As the second woman to hold this post, she was forced to fight not only for a better quality of life in society but also to overcome gender stereotypes. Marshall is best known for her contributions to public libraries and her efforts to preserve Queens’ cultural heritage. Learn more about the politician at queensyes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early years<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Helen M. Marshall was born on September 30, 1929, in the Bronx to immigrants of African descent. After receiving her teacher training at Queens College, Marshall worked as a teacher for 8 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1969, she left teaching to become director of the Queens Langston Hughes Community Library. The institution is named after Langston Hughes, an African-American poet and writer. He was one of the innovators of the literary genre known as jazz poetry. The library is thought to have the largest publicly available black heritage collection in New York State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her spare time, Marshall established herself as a social activist, advocating for professional training programs and economic development in her community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beginning of a political career<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1974, Marshall started her political career. Then, she became the Democratic District Leader in New York City. A year later, the politician joined the Democratic National Committee, the primary committee of the Democratic Party of the United States. It holds National Party conventions every four years to nominate candidates for President and Vice President of the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way, the Democratic Party is one of the two main political forces in the United States. Together with the Republican Party, they form a two-party system. The Democratic Party existed before the Republican Party and is one of the world’s oldest political parties. It emerged during the American War of Independence from Great Britain. The Republican Party was created in 1854 by activists who called for the abolition of slavery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats favor national social security, they are liberals who promote equality and collective responsibility. Republicans, on the other hand, advocate for limited government intervention in national politics. They support the army, business and religion, and have more conservative views on most issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From 1983 until 1991, Marshall served as the 35th District representative in the New York State Assembly. This is the lower house of the New York State Legislature as well as the upper house of the New York State Senate. Members of the Assembly are chosen for a two-year term without limitations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1992 to 2001, the politician represented the 21st district on the New York City Council. During this time, she served as chairman of the Higher Education Committee, advocated for black and Latino rights and sat on the Housing and Buildings, Environmental Protection, and Women\u2019s Issues Committees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President of the ethnically diverse borough<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2001, Marshall was elected the 18th Borough President of Queens. She succeeded Claire Shulman, the first woman elected to the position. Shulman headed the borough for 16 years. During this time, she rose to prominence as a strong defender of society’s best interests. The pioneer provided funds for the establishment of Queens Hospital Center and 30,000 educational institutions. Shulman successfully handled issues with economic development, environmental issues and airport disputes. She provided all required services to the population while advocating for racial and gender equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helen Marshall served as Queens Borough President from 2002 to 2014. During this time, she made the borough a tourist destination. In addition, her policy focuses included health, education, housing and parks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In just a decade, Ms. Marshall spent more money on Queens library initiatives than the presidents of the other four boroughs combined. She also founded the Queens General Assembly, which promoted cross-cultural exchanges between ethnic groups. Queens is the most ethnically diverse region of the United States. People who call Queens their home represent cultures from almost all over the world. They speak more than 130 languages and come from over 120 different countries. Queens’ neighborhoods reflect their citizens’ origins through a wide range of cultural and artistic activities, cuisine and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Throughout her political career, Marshall advocated for quality medical care, improving the living conditions of the elderly and environmental protection. She helped open two new senior facilities in her district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marshall, by the way, was a former neighbor and huge admirer of the “king of jazz”, trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong. She played a part in transforming the musician’s house in the Corona neighborhood into a museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president died in 2017 at the age of 87 in her California residence. She made a legacy of herself as an innovator who dedicated her life to public service. The woman began her career as a teacher and public activist and eventually became an influential official.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Helen M. Marshall, a Democrat from New York, became the first African-American woman to serve as Queens Borough President. As the second woman to hold this post, she was forced to fight not only for a better quality of life in society but also to overcome gender stereotypes. Marshall is best known for her contributions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":300,"featured_media":2526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[497],"tags":[983,984,987,979,985,981,988,982,986,980],"motype":[491],"moformat":[89],"moimportance":[104],"class_list":{"0":"post-2661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-about-the-mayor","8":"tag-a-democrat-from-new-york","9":"tag-became-the-first-african-american-woman-to-serve-as-queens-borough-president","10":"tag-beginning-of-a-political-career","11":"tag-helen-m-marshall-2","12":"tag-helen-m-marshall-was-born-on-september-30","13":"tag-in-just-a-decade","14":"tag-marshall-started-her-political-career","15":"tag-ms-marshall-spent-more-money-on-queens-library-initiatives-than-the-presidents-of-the-other-four-boroughs-combined","16":"tag-she-left-teaching-to-become-director-of-the-queens-langston-hughes-community-library","17":"tag-the-first-african-american-borough-president-of-queens","18":"motype-eternal","19":"moformat-vlasna","20":"moimportance-retranslyacziya-v-agregatory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/300"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2662,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2661\/revisions\/2662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2661"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=2661"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=2661"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=2661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}