Urbanology

from Bronx Community Newspapers | February 18, 2021

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By: W.A.Rogers

Wesley Williams was the third Black male to join the New York Fire Department. Williams took the firefighters physical exam at the age of 20. He was the only man to score 100% out of the 2,700 men who took the exam. Williams was appointed January 10 1919 and assigned to Engine 55 in Manhattan.

Chief Wesley Williams

Discrimination, racism, and segregation were not much different in the North then it was in the South. The captain of Engine 55 resigned the day Williams reported to duty. All the men at Engine 55 requested transfers; they did not want the stigma of being forced to work with a Black man.

Wesley Williams endured the worse acts of racism and discrimination one could imagine. After proving to be the strongest and bravest fire fighter at Engine 55 along with being the best fist fighter Williams was slowly accepted. Williams was promoted to Lieutenant in 1927, Captain in 1934 and the first Black Battalion Chief in 1938. By 1940 there were 40 Black man in the New York Fire Department, all experiencing similar problems that Williams did. Chief Williams advised them to organize. In 1944 the Vulcan Society was born.

In the spirit of Chief Wesley Williams, the Vulcan Society has been a major force in changing regulations to ban racial practices in the New York City Fire Department. I had the honor of spending time with Chief Williams in the mid-seventies, when his close friend Lloyd Dickins one of the most powerful businessmen in Harlem at that time became the President of the Uptown Chamber of Commerce after the death of Hope R. Stevens the first black president of that organization. I was the program director for UCC, and Lloyd Williams was Vice President.

Chief Williams always told us fascinating stories about the first Harlem Renaissance. He often told stories of his daily fights until he beat every man in is unite who wanted to fight him. He also told exciting stories about life in Harlem during the 20s and 30s. Unfortunately, we were not able to record some of those historic stories.

When my nephew wanted to join the New York City Fire Department a few years ago his mother came to me for advice. It seemed that after getting high scores on all his tests, my nephew had been subjected to so much bureaucratic red tape that he was becoming discouraged. I talked about this with Councilwoman Inez Dickens, the daughter of Lloyd Dickens; she smiled at me and said, “you know who to call”. I called John Combs, the President of the Vulcan Society www. vulcansocietyfdyn.org at that time.

John told me to give my nephew his cell number and he would help him. My nephew has been a New York City Firefighter for some time now and is an active member of the Vulcan Society; The Spirit of Chief Williams still lives on.