By E. Marlay
Campus News
On January 21, the Bayside Historical Society, located on the Fort Totten Army Base in Queens, held another part of their Author Talk at the Castle Series. These Talks allow for people to talk to authors and get their questions, regarding the authors work, answered.
According to Brita Kube, the Director of the Bayside Historical Society, “We have a committee of eight people who decide on what books we will have for our Talks. We often use Arcadia publishing… And while we will occasionally consider books that are historical fiction, we prefer to talk about non-fiction books about local history.”
For this event they invited Rob MacKay to talk about the History of Queens. MacKay has a strong connection with the Queens area. He is currently working for the Queens Economic Development Corporation (QEDC) where he is responsible for writing press releases and brochures, placing stories in media outlets, providing information to the public and news agencies, organizing and promoting various events in the borough, and spearheading the Queens Tourism Council.
On top of working for the QEDC he also runs social media channels that are meant to promote businesses, like shops and restaurants in the borough and has published two books about the history of Queens, NY. The first book, which was discussed at a previous Author Talk, is titled “Historic Houses of Queens, “explores the borough’s most notable residences–their architecture, owners, surrounding neighborhoods, peculiarities, and even their fates as some disappeared over time. The second book, which was the topic of discussion at this event, is titled “Famous People of Queens.” The book covers a diverse group of people who were either born in or lived in Queens for a significant amount of time and added to the history of Queens. Throughout the book you learn about Queen’s residents who were athletes, scientists, singers, politicians, and even fictional characters (Spiderman).
“Many people say the Bronx is the birthplace of rap, but Queens and Queensbridge have good claims to the rise of rap,” MacKay said during his presentation.
The example he gave of that was Lolita Shonte (Roxanne Shonte). Talking about how she would go up against men at the age of 13 in rap battles. When she was older Roxanne released “Roxanne’s Revenge.” From the song she had made so much money she was able to retire at the age of 25.
From there MacKay went on to talk about a well-known Queen’s family in Flushing. Many people know of Awkwafina for being the first Asian American to win and Golden Globe for Best Actress, but she also is related to a Flushing Legacy. Jimmy Lum, Awkwafina’s great grandfather, had immigrated to NYC in 1946. He worked to save up enough money to open a restaurant called Lum’s, which was the first Chinese restaurant in Flushing. The restaurant had kept its doors open from up until the 80’s.
And some of the people he mentioned not only are an important part of the history of Queens but are currently impacting the area in the present.
Marie Maynard Daly graduated Queens College in 1932 and from there went on to be the first Black woman to get a PhD in chemistry.
“She endowed Queens College… so one black woman can study chemistry at the school,” said MacKay. The scholarship in question is titled the Ivan C. and Helen H. Daly Scholarship and it offers the recipient between $250 – $1,000.
This event seemed to be a big hit amongst the small crowd that showed up with its mixture of history and humor.
“I totally enjoyed it. I really did. It was well worth coming out in the cold. Very interesting. I’ve lived in Queens my whole life, and I enjoyed the speaker. He was very good,” said Doreen Schwartz, one of the attendees.
Another person from the crowd was Paul DiBenedetto, former Bayside Historical Society President and current Vice President buildings.
He said, “I thought it was excellent. Rob MacKay is very entertaining. He gets everybody excited about history, and he’s very knowledgeable. And his presentations are always really cool, so I’m very happy with it.”
The next event in the series that the Bayside Historical Society will be holding will be taking place on Thursday, February 13th, 2025, at 7:30 pm. At this event Richard Melnick will be talking about his book which covers the military, political, and cultural history of Long Island City, during 1776 when the Revolutionary War was going on.
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