The African American Experience 

Hulan Jack, Mayor Wagner, Commissioner Moses, Loeb Boathouse Dedication

Courtesy of New York City Parks Photo Archive, Neg. 28778.2. Hulan Jack (1905-1986) was born in St. Lucia in the West Indies, and his family settled in New York City. Dropping out of high school, he went to work as a janitor for the Peerless Paper Box Company, and later rose to the position of vice president of the company. An active member in local Democratic politics, he was elected to the State Assembly from his Harlem district in 1940 and was reelected six times before winning the post of Manhattan Borough President in 1953. He was the first African American to hold this position, and said to be the highest ranking black official in the United States. In 1960, during his second term as borough president, he was tried and convicted on charges of bribery and conspiracy to obstruct justice, bringing an abrupt end to his political career. In this picture, on the occasion of the Loeb Boathouse dedication, Jack is seated in a rowboat on the lake with Mayor Robert F. Wagner and Parks Commissioner Robert Moses.