This article from the Village Voice Archive was posted on October 18, 2005
Al Pacino wins Obie Award for best actor for his role in The Indian Wants the Bronx.
In the context of nationwide racial unrest, the city’s teachers union begins a massive teacher strike, triggered by the firing of several Jewish teachers in the largely African-American Ocean Hill-Brownsville neighborhood. The strikes result in the city’s decentralization law the following year, which grants community school boards control of local schools.
Columbia University students begin a strike and occupation of administration buildings over the university’s plan to construct a gym in Morningside Park. Columbia is closed down for several weeks and the NYPD violently stifle the demonstrations. Nobody is killed, but one policeman is paralyzed when a student jumps on him from a second-story window.
Harlem residents riot following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4.
The Black Panther Party opens up an office in New York City.
Shirley Chisholm of Brooklyn becomes the first black woman elected to Congress.
The Voice mourns the passing of writer Don McNeill.