One Righteous Man: Samuel Battle and the Shattering of the Color Line in New York

When Samuel Battle walked the beat as New York City's first African-American cop, he had to fear his racist colleagues as much as the criminal element, and to navigate the politics of Tammany Hall and of powerful mobsters. By the time he left the NYPD, he was decorated and revered, having hob-nobbed over those years with the likes of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Booker T. Washington, and dozens of other luminaries. Battle mentored a young race man, Wesley Williams, leading him to be the first black member of the New York Fire Department. Wesley faced the same brutal treatment from his colleagues, including being left for dead in a burning warehouse. During that time, by integrating public services and making important inroads in integrating the armed forces of the nation, New York had changed dramatically through the Harlem renaissance and its collapse, two World Wars, and the tumultuous beginning of the civil rights movement.

Battle commissioned a biography, to be written by none other than Langston Hughes. However, the 80,000 word book failed to find a publisher, and has remained entirely unpublished since. Using Hughes's manuscript, which is quoted liberally throughout this book, as well as his own archival research and extensive interviews with survivors, prize winning journalist Arthur Browne has created a fascinating and important narrative of these unheralded figures in the fight for civil rights, a fascinating episode in the life of Langston Hughes, and a riveting account of the insider politics and the battle for influence in 20th century New York.