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County: Queens

Wilson Rantus

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(1807-1861) Writer, educator, editor. “The Anglo African,” was an abolitionist instrumental in establishing a weekly black newspaper and a school for black children in Jamaica; he lived on Douglas Avenue.

Will Rogers

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(1879-1935) Journalist. Will Rogers wrote for “The New York Times,” and lived on Austin Street, Forest Hills, in the early 1920s. Many of his writings have been collected in several books.

James A Bland

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(1854-1911) Lyricist, librettist. “Oh, Dem Golden Slippers” (1879), was born in Flushing, Queens, NY.

Roy Wilkins

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(1901-1981) Journalist, civil rights leader. Roy Wilkins lived the last thirty years of his life at 147-15 Village Road, Parkway Village, Flushing, Queens, New York.

Jacob A Riis

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(1849-1914) Writer, reformer, documentary photographer, journalist, muckraker. Jacob A. Riis was born in Ribe, Denmark, and died in Barre, Massachusetts. He wrote about what he saw on the New York City streets, influencing change in the city. He lived in Richmond Hill.

Malcolm X

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(1925-1965)(Hajj Malick El Shabazz) Radio journalist, social activist. “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” (told to Alex Haley)(1965). Malcolm X spent time in Manhattan, New York and lived in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York, and is buried in Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York.

John Berryman

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(1914-1972) Poet. John Berryman attended Columbia University in New York City. Berryman’s books include “The Dream Songs” (1969), which received both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

Mae West

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(1893-1980) Writer. Mae West was born in Brooklyn, New York, and lived on 89th Street, Woodhaven in Queens, New York. She is buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery, 833 Jamaica Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.

Frances (Fanny) J. Crosby

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(1820-1915) Poet, hymn writer. Blinded at six weeks of age, Fanny Crosby entered New York Institute for the Blind at age 15, and afterward taught English and history. During the course of her life she would write at least 9,000 hymns. She also wrote A Wreath of Colombia’s Flowers (1858), a collection of secular stories … Continued