Queens Public Library Connection

Cynthia Jenkins (1924 - 2001) was a resident of Springfield Gardens, Queens, a former state assemblywoman, community activist, and a librarian with the Queens Public Library in Southeast Queens, New York.

Essie Cynthia Burnley was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, where she graduated with a B.A. from Louisville Municipal College. She met her future husband, Joseph D. Jenkins (1921–2011), a World War II U.S. Army veteran and insurance broker, at a military dance. The couple had one son, Rev. Joseph D. Jenkins Jr. and lived in Springfield Gardens, Queens.

Jenkins Graduated with an MS in Library Science from Pratt Institute in 1966 and worked at Queens Public Library for two decades, beginning in 1962. She worked in every Southeast Queens branch of the Queens Library, including Far Rockaway, Rochdale Village and Cambria Heights, where she served as branch manager. She later sued the city to stop the closure of the Southeast Queens library branches based on their circulation. In 1969, along with fellow librarian Ernestine Washington and others, Jenkins helped to form the Black Librarians Caucus.

1969 was also the year that Jenkins founded the Social Concern Committee of Springfield Gardens, an education program, and through that the Housekeeping Vendor Agency and the Social Concern Community Development Corporation, a home health attendant service was created. At the time of her death these two organizations employed over 2000 people.

Jenkins took her first steps in politics in the early 1970s, when she was appointed to the state committee for the 29th Assembly District. Jenkins became a Democratic district leader for the 29th Assembly District in 1978. Four years later, when she was successfully elected to that Assembly seat, Jenkins made history as the first African American woman elected to public office in Southern Queens. In her 12 years in the Assembly, Jenkins served as chairperson of the Subcommittee on Affirmative Action and a delegate to the Governor’s Conference on Libraries in 1990 and the White House Conference on Libraries in 1991. In the 1980s she was instrumental in the state’s decision to bring a Veterans Home to St. Albans. As a former librarian, Jenkins was known in Albany as an advocate for libraries, books, and literacy.

Queens Public Library Connection

Sheila Pecoraro (d. 2014) campaigned in 1970 for funding for the Rosedale Library and led the sit-in that prevented the library from closing during the city’s fiscal crisis. She fought for the placement of traffic lights at a five-way intersection in her neighborhood, which have now saved many lives. She served on the PTA executive boards of several schools, becoming the president of both JHS 231Q and Springfield Gardens High School. She also fought to ensure that students of Rosedale could attend K–8 schools. For 15 years, she served on the executive board of the 105th Precinct Community Council, acting as president for nine of those years.

Queens Public Library Connection

Anna S. Brett (1866-1934) was an educator in Flushing who served the Queens community for 36 years, including as principal of P.S. 94 in Little Neck from 1898 until her death in 1934. Admired by teachers, students, and parents alike, she was a dedicated and influential figure in education. One of the first women elected to the Queensboro Chamber of Commerce, she served on its School Committee, where she played a key role in planning for the new schools needed at the time to meet the demands of Queens’ rapidly growing population.

Brett was born in Austin, New York, the fifth of eight children of Bernard Bullard Brett, a tailor and native of England, and Martha Jane McClelland, a housekeeper who immigrated from Ireland. After graduating from the State Normal College (at the time an independent state-supported teachers’ college and now the University of Albany, SUNY), she moved with her sister, Edith, to Flushing. Both sisters worked as teachers and would live together throughout their lives.

In 1893, Anna took her first job as a teacher when she accepted a position at P.S. 32 in Flushing. She was hired four years later as a grammar and criticism teacher at the Jamaica State Normal School. In 1898, she became the principal of P.S. 94 in Little Neck, and she spent the next 26 years in that role. The same year, New York City consolidated the jurisdictions of Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Queens into one metropolis, which included the entire school system. In 1907, Brett filed a lawsuit in Queens County Supreme Court against the New York City Board of Education for back pay, claiming she had been refused the proper salary of a principal since the city’s consolidation. She won her case a year later.

On May 19, 1922, she was elected to the Queensboro Chamber of Commerce as an associate member, where she worked on the School Committee, a group that studied and recommended the school facilities needed across Queens to accommodate the increasing student population resulting from the Borough's rapid growth post-consolidation. In addition to her work with the Chamber of Commerce, Brett volunteered for a variety of organizations, including the Good Citizenship League of Flushing, the Principals’ Association of New York, the North Shore chapter of the Junior American Red Cross, and the Teachers’ Association of the Borough of Queens. She was a member of the New York State Woman Suffrage Party, and she also served as secretary of the New York City Branch of the National Administrative Council of Women in Education and as president of the Queens Borough Women’s Council.

Brett advocated for and helped to realize the first Queens Public Library bricks and mortar branch in Little Neck, transforming what was, at the time, a mobile unit in front of P.S. 94 that Anna helped to run.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Anna and her sister enjoyed summer vacations at the Moorland Hotel in Cape Ann, Massachusetts. On September 6, 1934, after a day spent preparing for the coming school year at P.S. 94, Anna died of a heart attack at 36-19 Bowne Street in Flushing, the sisters' home at the time. She is buried in Albany Rural Cemetery, and a plaque commemorating her life and work is located at 41-83 Little Neck Parkway next to P.S. 94 where she spent the majority of her career.

Queens Public Library Connection

Lee Goldman (1925-1986) was a former president and an original board member of School District 26 in Bayside. She was representative to the Consultative Council of the Central Board of Education and served on numerous committees. In addition to her District 26 responsibilities, Goldman was active in the Oakland Terrace Civic Association, on the Executive Board of the Queens Borough Library Council, and was the educational representative for the Girl Scouts Maple Leaf District.

A native of New Bedford, Massachusetts, her family moved to the Bronx in 1928, and she eventually lived in Bayside. After taking part in community affairs including her local Parent Teacher Association, she joined the school board in 1970, serving as president from 1970-71 and again from 1983-84. She was predeceased by her husband, David, in 1976, and survived at the time by two daughters, a brother, and a granddaughter. The section of 67th Avenue in Bayside from 230th Street to 233rd Street is named in her honor.

Queens Public Library Connection

Betty Pegen (1912–2008), a resident and volunteer in College Point for more than 75 years, dedicated herself to the cultivation of the gardens at Poppenhusen Monument Park. Pegen also devoted many hours to other gardens in College Point, including Municipal Park and the Poppenhusen Library. Known as the “Gardening Angel” of College Point, the German immigrant took it upon herself for over 50 years to plant, weed, trim, cut, and cultivate the small garden around the monument to Conrad Poppenhusen—the German-born benefactor of College Point who founded the Poppenhusen Institute in 1868, which housed the first free kindergarten in America.

Queens Public Library Connection

Helen Marshall (1929-2017) was the first African American Queens Borough President from 2002 – 2013.

Marshall was born in Manhattan to immigrant parents of African descent from Guyana. The family moved to Queens in 1949, settling first in Corona and then in East Elmhurst. Marshall graduated with a B.A. in education from Queens College. After teaching for eight years, she left to help found the Langston Hughes Library in 1969, where she was the first Director. She served as Director for five years, leading the library to become a vital resource on African American History in Queens. She later served in the State Assembly for 8 years and then served on the City Council for 10 years, before becoming the first African American and the second woman to serve as the Queens Borough President.

She supported job training programs and economic development and was a devoted supporter of the Queens Public Library. In 2004-2005 she dedicated $27 million of discretionary funds toward library expansions and improvements, including new branches and the (now named) Helen Marshall Children's Library Discovery Center at the Central Library in Jamaica.

The Helen M. Marshall School was founded in 2010 and moved to it's current building on Northern Boulevard between 110th and 111th streets in 2013. It serves students in Kindergarten through Grade 5.

Other places in Queens named for Helen Marshall are: The Helen Marshall Playground, Helen M. Marshall Children’s Library Discover Center, and Helen Marshall Boulevard.

Queens Public Library Connection

Priscilla Carrow (1955–2020) dedicated her life to the East Elmhurst/Corona community.

She worked with the New York State Department of Labor and the NYS Senate. In 1994, she joined NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst. She was a member of the Communications Workers of America Local 1180 starting in 2006 and served as a Senior Shop Steward.

Carrow was a long-time member of Queens Community Board 4, the Executive Director for the Lefrak City Youth and Adult Activities Association, and the Program Director for the Kenny Anderson Basketball Classic. She served as a delegate for the 11th Judicial Convention and was a County Committeeperson for the 35th Assembly District in Queens County.

Carrow also chaired the National Council of Negro Women/Empress Life Members Guild and served as secretary for the Better Community League (BCL) and as a member of the Ericsson Street Block Association (27th & 29th Avenues). Additionally, she was a member of the Frederick Douglass Democratic Association, the Corona East Elmhurst NAACP, and Friends of the Queens Library. She also served as chair of the EHC Sports and Recreation Committee, a member of the You Can Go To College Committee, co-founder and vice president of the Democratic Association of the 21st Century Club, president of the Sherwood Village Tenant Association, and a member of the First Baptist Church. She died of complications from COVID-19.