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Samuel J. Tilden High School is a New York City public high school in the
East Flatbush East Flatbush is a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. East Flatbush is bounded by Crown Heights and Empire Boulevard to the north; Brownsville and East 98th Street to the east; Flatlands, Canarsie and the Lon ...
section of Brooklyn,
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. It was named for
Samuel J. Tilden Samuel Jones Tilden (February 9, 1814 – August 4, 1886) was an American politician who served as the 25th Governor of New York and was the Democratic candidate for president in the disputed 1876 United States presidential election. Tilden was ...
, the former governor of
New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. sta ...
and presidential candidate who, although carrying the popular vote, lost to
Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governor ...
in the disputed election of 1876. In order to save the New York City government money during the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagion ...
, Samuel J. Tilden High School, Bayside High School, Abraham Lincoln High School, John Adams High School, Walton High School, Andrew Jackson High School, and Grover Cleveland High School and Far Rockaway High School were all built from one set of blueprints.


History


Early history

Plans to construct Samuel J. Tilden High School were filed in 1927. The construction of the school was estimated to cost between $2,500,000 and $3,000,000 and would feature specialized facilities including a swimming pool, rifle range, auditorium with a capacity of more than 1300, library, and science laboratories. While the school was eventually constructed on Tilden Avenue and East 57th Street, residents in Brownsville, the Coney Island Chamber of Commerce, and Borough President James J. Bryne initially opposed the site because of poor transportation options around the location. Shortly after the Board of Education decided on the location of Samuel J. Tilden High School, a formal recommendation was made to change the name of not-yet-built school to Edward B. Shallow High School. This recommendation followed the death of Edward B. Shallow, the Superintendent of the Board of Education who initially recommended a high school be named after
New York Governor The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...
,
Samuel J. Tilden Samuel Jones Tilden (February 9, 1814 – August 4, 1886) was an American politician who served as the 25th Governor of New York and was the Democratic candidate for president in the disputed 1876 United States presidential election. Tilden was ...
. Tilden High School opened on February 3, 1930. It cost $2,500,000 to construct. It was built to serve 3,969 students. In 1935, a field and stadium were designed and constructed with
Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
labor and appropriations. Several years later, the WPA would make another addition to the Samuel J. Tilden High School, this time in the form of a
mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanis ...
for the auditorium. The project took nearly two years to complete, as muralist Abraham Lishinsky, working with his colleague Irving A. Block, designed and painted a mural depicting “Major Influences in Civilization” for the auditorium. Among the six assistants they employed over time was the artist Abram "Al" Lerner. By the 1940s, Tilden H.S., initially criticized for its difficult-to-reach location, was overcrowded. At one point 5,700 students attended. In order to limit the crowding, S.J. Tilden administrators split the school day offering one session from 7:50am to 1:04pm and another from 1:11pm to 5:45pm.


World War II

In 1942, Samuel J. Tilden H.S. was the first Brooklyn high school to hold a mass blood drive. This was one of many ways that World War II affected students at Tilden. During the war, new home economics curricula were introduced to better prepare girls for the war effort. Girls took cooking classes that taught them how to cook more with less, as everyday ingredients were rationed and shipped off to soldiers. There were no food surpluses, and soldiers were the main priority at the time. Other students supported the war by purchasing more than $15,000 in United States Savings Bonds and Stamps (see
war bond War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are a ...
s) to help the government finance military operations, leading the nation in money raised by students. Over 100 girls knit sweaters and scarves in conjunction with the British War Relief Fund and
American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desig ...
. The Red Cross also agreed to send instructors to teach nursing and first aid methods; if the war were to last long enough, the girls would become nurses-in-aid to care for wounded soldiers.


Red Scare

During the 1940s and 1950s, individuals and organizations all over the United States were accused of affiliations with
socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
,
communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...
, and radicals. At Tilden High School, students and teachers were accused of radicalism. Even the then principal Dr. Abraham Lefkowitz was accused of being a radical for distributing a statement to teachers and students that denounced complete free enterprise and called upon students to think critically about their role in America. Students were also affected by the
Red Scare A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...
and were warned by administrators that affiliation with Communist-linked clubs such as the
American Youth for Democracy The Young Communist League USA (YCLUSA) is a communist youth organization in the United States. The stated aim of the League is the development of its members into Communists, through studying Marxism–Leninism and through active participation ...
would adversely affect their future careers. During testimony before the
United States Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security The United States Senate's Special Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 1951–77, known more commonly as the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) and sometimes the M ...
, a former student claimed that both Mr. Eugene Jackson, a language teacher at Tilden, and Mr. Terry Rosenbaum had expressed sympathy toward student Red groups. The former student alleged that an American Youth for Democracy unit at school was asking to obtain speakers for the unit's meetings. Apparently, Mr. Jackson told them that he agreed with their point of view and thought it was very good. By the late 1940s, students had to pledge an oath of loyalty to the United States and
State of New York New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state ...
in order to receive a diploma. The oath read as follows: “I hereby declare my loyalty to the Constitution and Government of the United States and the State of New York and promise to support their laws.”


Racial integration & Special Honors Programs (including the LPC Program)

The racial tensions that swept the nation during the 1960s and 1970s were felt at Samuel J. Tilden High School as well. The school's black population was growing. The school's demographics were changing; Tilden High School was becoming more diverse. In 1962, of the 5,000 students that attended Tilden HS, 97.9% were Jewish and Italian. By 1971, of the 3,000 students at Tilden, 63.4% were “others”, the Board of Education's term for non-blacks and non-Puerto Ricans. Changing demographics and under-enrollment set the stage for controversy around rezoning and plans for Samuel J. Tilden HS. Tensions came to a head during the March 1972 hearings on rezoning the catchment areas for three Brooklyn high schools. The hearings aimed to assure an integrated education in Samuel J. Tilden High School, Canarsie High School, and South Shore High School. Parents groups linked to each high school had their own ideas for a zoning plan that would preserve the racial and ethnic diversity of each school while maintaining a quality education for every student. A number of Tilden High School students prepared a flier in which they outlined their position regarding the rezoning. They wanted to preserve an ethnic balance in the school but wanted to avoid a result in which the majority of students were nonwhite. The students who prepared the flier were concerned that if the ethnic balance were to tip too much, "an unfortunate chain of events ould takeplace: white families ould fleethe neighborhood." The school and the surrounding neighborhood would no longer remain integrated. The result would be "another segregated school, another segregated neighborhood.” Whether unfortunate or not—that, in fact, did occur to both the neighborhood and the school over the remainder of the 1970s and into the 1980s. In order for some NYC high schools to be able attract students that lived outside the neighborhood from which the school normally drew its student population under zoning, and to enhance student choice about where to attend high school, specialized honors programs (i.e. special enriched studies programs) were established within various high schools across the city, including Samuel J. Tilden High School in Brooklyn. One such enriched program, at Samuel J. Tilden High School during the 1970s, was the "Law, Politics & Community Affairs" Program (known as the LPC Program, for short). The LPC program was part of, and was administered by, the school's "Social Studies" department. It included specialized courses and Law, Politics and Community Affairs themed field trips and special projects. Students from all over the city would be able to apply to these specialized honors programs (including the LPC program at Tilden High). This marked a shift in New York City School zoning, as a student's school options were no longer only determined by geography. Tilden High School's demographics continued to change into the 1970s and 1980s paralleling changes in the surrounding neighborhood, East Flatbush. The neighborhood saw increased immigration from the Caribbean. Media coverage of Samuel J. Tilden also changed, with a focus on incidents of violence. Although crime had become a problem in East Flatbush, the media coverage prompted the then principal Everett Kerner to state that the high school was getting a "bum rap.”


Dissolution

In 2006, the Department of Education declared Samuel J. Tilden High School to be a failed school. In 2007 it became the Tilden Educational Complex, home to several new, separate small schools. These include the Cultural Academy for the Arts and Sciences (CAAS), the Kurt Hahn Expeditionary Learning School, and It Takes A Village Academy (ITAVA). With the growth of the new schools, Samuel J. Tilden High School was finally phased out in June 2010.


Athletics

When it opened in 1929, Principal John M. Loughran adopted the slogan, “athletics for all.” Equipped with facilities, sports field, three gymnasiums, swimming pool, etc., Principal Loughran set to find the personnel and coaches that would establish Tilden High Blue and Greys as an athletic power in New York City. The sports program hit its first obstacle 1934 as the faculty moved to change the baseball and football teams from inter-school competitive programs to intramurals in efforts to better distribute the school budget while balancing school spirit. In 1935, a new stadium was constructed and designed by the
WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard * Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance A ...
. This new facility and the gyms inside the building were made available to adults in the community several years earlier during evenings, with separate times for men and women. The Tilden Blue and Grey won a number of Public Schools Athletic League titles in football, baseball, tennis, track, swimming, and fencing. During the summer of 1987, teacher and Dean of students Joanne Belinksy became the 6th woman in history to run across the country.:Educator Hits the road – all 3,000 Miles of It," Bill Stuttig, Daily News, July 10, 1987


In film

The movie ''
Above The Rim ''Above the Rim'' is a 1994 American sports drama film co-written and directed by Jeff Pollack in his directorial debut. The screenplay was written by Barry Michael Cooper, adapted from a story by Benny Medina. The film stars Duane Martin, Tupa ...
'' was shot at Samuel J. Tilden. Also, exterior scenes for the movie '' Lords of Flatbush'' were shot at Tilden.


Notable alumni and teachers

* Steven Adler -- Broadway stage manager, Professor of Theater, University of California, San Diego, author *
Ed Cota Eduardo Enrique Cota (born May 19, 1976) is a Panamanian-American former professional basketball player. High school career Cota played his freshman and sophomore years at Brooklyn, New York's Samuel J. Tilden High School. As a sophomore, he ...
– professional basketball player * James E. Davis – Class of 1980. NYPD Police Officer, Christian Minister, Political activist, New York City Councilperson (D-35th District) * Charles S. Dubin – film and television directorCharles S. Dubin Movies & TV
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''
* Mitchell Jay Feigenbaum – Mathematical physicist and discoverer of the Feigenbaum constants *
Fresh Kid Ice Christopher Wong Won (May 29, 1964July 13, 2017), better known by his stage name Fresh Kid Ice, was an American rapper. He was a co-founder of the rap group 2 Live Crew, appearing on all of the group's albums from 1985 to 1998. Wong Won was born ...
- rapper, known for being the co-founder of the rap group
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* Henry J. Foner - teacher; union activist *
Nelson George Nelson George (born September 1, 1957) is an American author, columnist, music and culture critic, journalist, and filmmaker. He has been nominated twice for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Biography George attended St. John's Universi ...
– author * Owen Gill – NFL Indianapolis Colts *
Bill Gold William Gold (January 3, 1921 – May 20, 2018) was an American graphic designer best known for thousands of film poster designs. During his 70-year career, Gold worked with some of Hollywood's greatest filmmakers, including Laurence Olivier, Cli ...
– graphic designer and film poster artist *
Don Goldstein Donald Goldstein (1937 – May 27, 2022), known as "Red", was an American college All-American and Pan American Games champion basketball player. Early life Goldstein was Jewish. His mother died when he was four. He grew up poor, in the Brook ...
- All American and Pan American champion basketball player *
Sid Gordon Sidney Gordon (August 13, 1917 – June 17, 1975) was an American right-handed Major League Baseball two-time All-Star outfielder, third baseman, and first baseman. He had a 13-year career in MLB for the New York Giants (1941–43, 1946–49, a ...
– 2-time All Star major league baseball player *
Ed Goodgold Edwin "Ed" Goodgold (died May 7, 2021) was an American writer, music industry executive, academic administrator. He is known for coining the term "trivia" in 1965. He was also the first manager of Sha Na Na. Biography Goodgold was born in Israe ...
– music industry executive who coined the term "
trivia Trivia is information and data that are considered to be of little value. It can be contrasted with general knowledge and common sense. Latin Etymology The ancient Romans used the word ''triviae'' to describe where one road split or forked ...
," former manager of ''
Sha Na Na Sha Na Na was an American rock and roll doo-wop group. Formed in 1969, but performing a song-and-dance repertoire based on 1950s hit songs, it simultaneously revived and parodied the music and the New York street culture of the 1950s. After ga ...
'' * Arnold Greenberg - co-founder of
Snapple Snapple is a brand of tea and juice drinks which is owned by Keurig Dr Pepper and based in Plano, Texas, United States. The company (and brand), which was originally known as Unadulterated Food Products, was founded in 1972. The brand achieved s ...
* Josh Greenfeld – writer * Sidney (Sonny) Hertzberg – NBA basketball player * Jerry Hyman, trombone
Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura N ...
, Albums II, III, Greatest Hits * Paula A. Johnson, MD, MPH, Class of 1976, Researcher and Professor, President Wellesley College *
Sam Levenson Samuel Levenson (December 28, 1911August 27, 1980) was an American humorist, writer, teacher, television host, and journalist. Personal life Born in 1911, he grew up in a large Jewish immigrant family in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Br ...
, Spanish teacher who became a humorist and popular television personality *
Dan Lurie Dan Lurie (April 1, 1923 – November 6, 2013) was an American bodybuilder, television personality, entrepreneur, and world record holder. He was regarded as a pioneer in physical fitness and a founding father of bodybuilding. Lurie had won the ...
- body builder, TV personality *
Bill Macy Wolf Martin Garber (May 18, 1922 – October 17, 2019), known professionally as Bill Macy, was an American television, film and stage actor, best known for his role in the CBS television series '' Maude'' (1972–1978). Early life Bill ...
– actor, most notably in TV series '' Maude'' * Paul Marks - cancer researcher * Leonard Marsh - co-founder of
Snapple Snapple is a brand of tea and juice drinks which is owned by Keurig Dr Pepper and based in Plano, Texas, United States. The company (and brand), which was originally known as Unadulterated Food Products, was founded in 1972. The brand achieved s ...
*
Neil Meron Neil Meron (born October 26, 1955) is an American film producer known for producing the 2002 film ''Chicago'' and the 2007 film '' Hairspray''. With partner Craig Zadan he ran the production company Storyline Entertainment until Zadan's death i ...
– Hollywood producer * William Messing – mathematician * Amy Paulin – New York State Assemblywoman (D-88th District) *
Sam Perkins Samuel Bruce Perkins (born June 14, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player and executive. Perkins was a three-time college All-American, was a member of the 1982 national champion North Carolina Tar Heels, and won a gold me ...
– professional basketball player *
Willie Randolph William Larry Randolph (born July 6, 1954) is an American former professional baseball second baseman, coach, and manager. During an 18-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB), he played from 1975 to 1992 for six different teams, most notab ...
– professional baseball player; 6-time American League All Star; played on two World Series Champion teams (New York Yankees); and former manager of the New York Mets * Dr. Gail Reed-Barnett - former New York State Committeewoman/District Leader, Assembly District 58th * Eleanor Reissa - actress, singer, director, choreographer / Broadway, Off-Broadway, Yiddish Theater * Lucille Roberts – businesswoman and founder of health club chain bearing her name * Ossie Schectman
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
basketball player - credited with scoring 1st basket in NBA History (
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1946-47) * Keith A. Shandalow -- attorney, Judge *
Al Sharpton Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, talk show host and politician. Sharpton is the founder of the National Action Network. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democrati ...
– Pentecostal minister, political activist, civil rights activist, and former candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 2004. * Dean Silvers – film producer/writer/director/entertainment lawyer * Richard J. Smith – Class of 1965. Anthropologist * Curtis Stevens – professional boxer * Irv Torgoff - professional basketball player * Daniel Trigoboff, Ph.D. -- clinical psychologist * Earl Ubell – science and health journalist * Gary I. Wadler – sports physician *
Marilyn B. Young Marilyn B. Young (April 25, 1937 – February 19, 2017) was a historian of American foreign relations and professor of history at New York University. She graduated from Samuel J. Tilden High School in Brooklyn in 1953 and Vassar College in 1 ...
– Class of 1953. Historian.


References

{{Coord, 40, 38, 54, N, 73, 55, 20.2, W, display=title 1930 establishments in New York City Educational institutions established in 1930 Defunct high schools in Brooklyn East Flatbush, Brooklyn * Public high schools in Brooklyn Red Scare