New Beginnings for Black Firefighters In ’90s Informed by Early Struggles

The following excerpts of “Firefight: The century-long battle to integrate New York’s Bravest” by Ginger Adams Otis, which has just been published by Palgrave Macmillan, are reprinted here with the permission of Ms. Otis—a former reporter for this newspaper—and the publisher.

In 1988, when Michael Marshall and Paul Washington first met, New York City’s Department of Personnel was on the cusp of administering another one of its highly competitive firefighter exams. This one was numbered 7022, although only the Department of Personnel understood the logic of its sequencing. When exam time came, the turnout in general was low: only 14,620 candidates took it. Blacks made up 10.85 percent, roughly 1,600 candidates. That year, both the physical and written tests were given ranked grades, with the two scores averaged into one final list number. The city set the passing score at 70 percent.