Brenda Berkman

Last updated
Brenda Berkman
Lt. Brenda Berkman 174-CD-06226x1-003 (cropped).jpg
Berkman in 2001
Education St. Olaf College (BA), Indiana University (MA), New York University (JD), John Jay College (MS)
Occupation(s)Firefighter, artist, lawyer
Board member of Monumental Women [1]
Website brendaberkmanartworks.com

Brenda Berkman (born 1951 [2] ) is a pioneering female firefighter. She was the sole named class plaintiff in the federal sex discrimination lawsuit that opened the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) to women firefighters. [3] After she won the lawsuit in 1982, she and 40 other women became FDNY firefighters. [4]

Contents

Early childhood

Berkman grew up in Minneapolis, where as a child she became acutely aware of gender preference in favor of boys. Her application to Little League was turned down solely on the basis of her gender. [5]

Career

Brenda Berkman was enrolled in her third year of law school when the New York City Fire Department announced that women could take the exam to become firefighters in 1977. [6] After passing the written portion of the exam, Berkman and 89 other women subsequently failed the physical portion. It was stated by an official that their physical test was “the most difficult the department had ever administered, [and] was designed more to keep women out than to accurately assess job-related skills as they were required to perform such feats as carrying a 120 pound dummy up a flight of stairs, climb an eight foot wall, and jog for one mile.” [7]

After Berkman's requests for a fairer test were ignored, she filed an ultimately successful class-action lawsuit: Brenda Berkman, et al. v. The City of New York (1982). [8] A new test was created in which standards were changed so the test was job-related and Berkman with 40 other women passed to enter the fire academy in 1982. [9] (See Brenda Berkman, et al. v. The City of New York, CV-79-1813, 536 F. Supp. 177 (E.D.N.Y. 1982), aff’d Berkman v. City of New York, 705 F.2d 584 (2d Cir. 1983.))

Berkman was the founder of the United Women Firefighters in 1982, an organization for women in the FDNY. She was its first president and then elected president again multiple times until 1996. [2] [10]

Less than a year after joining the fire department Berkman was fired for alleged lack of physical ability, [11] while her performance was consistently in the top tier of every task the fire department had given women. When she had returned to her firehouse on the Lower East Side to collect her belongings, the male firefighters wouldn't speak to her. As she exited in silence, they began clapping. [12]

In 1983 Brenda Berkman and Zaida Gonzalez successfully sued to be reinstated. Judge Sifton's 56-page ruling was highly critical of the Fire Department, which the judge said had ''failed lamentably to prepare its officers and members for the extraordinary task of integrating women into its previously all-male ranks.'' While serving as firefighters, the two women were subjected to ''extensive'' sexual harassment, the judge said. [13]

Lieutenant Berkman was off duty when the first plane hit the World Trade Center on September 11. She ran to the nearest firehouse and arrived at the site just as the North Tower collapsed. [14] Berkman spent the rest of 9/11 and many weeks following looking for survivors and remains. Most 9/11 accounts reinforced the notion of heroes as men, often referring to firefighters as “firemen’ instead of the gender-neutral term and paid little attention to female workers at the scene. Her push to have women recognized for their contributions eventually led to the production of a video titled “The Women at Ground Zero.” [15]  Her experience was also featured in the book Women at Ground Zero: stories of courage and compassion. [16]

She retired in 2006 at the rank of captain. [3]

The struggle of women to join the FDNY, and Berkman's part in it, was featured in a 2006 PBS documentary called Taking The Heat. [17]

Berkman has remained an outspoken advocate for gender equality. [18]

Awards

Artwork

Berkman responded to the World Trade Center attacks and in 2011 decided for the first time, to deal with her 9/11 experience in her art.  She drew and created the stone lithograph print “2001”, a self-portrait depicting a bent over figure, covering her head and moving away as if under attack from above. [22] In 2012 a self-portrait she created was exhibited at the 9/11 Decade Exhibit at the Westbeth Sculpture Gallery Annex. [23] The series of stone lithograph images she drew and printed over three years (2015-2017) is titled “Thirty-Six Views of One World Trade Center." [24] “Thirty-six Views” documents both the rebuilding and the memories of the World Trade Center site.  The entire series was acquired by the National September 11 Memorial & Museum permanent collection, St. Olaf College (MN) and a private collector. [25] The 36th print, the only one with color, depicts the two blue lights beamed from Ground Zero annually on 9/11. [26]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rescue and recovery effort after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center</span>

The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center elicited a large response of local emergency and rescue personnel to assist in the evacuation of the two towers, resulting in a large loss of the same personnel when the towers collapsed. After the attacks, the media termed the World Trade Center site "Ground Zero", while rescue personnel referred to it as "the Pile".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York City Fire Department</span> American municipal fire department

The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) is the full-service fire department of New York City, serving all five boroughs. The FDNY is responsible for fire suppression and fire prevention, and is a major provider of EMS services in New York City. Beyond fire suppression and EMS, the FDNY is responsible for a broad range of services, including technical rescue, CBRN defense, and structural collapse response and analysis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fireboat</span> Firefighting vessel

A fireboat or fire-float is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with firefighting equipment. Older designs derived from tugboats and modern fireboats more closely resembling seafaring ships can both be found in service today. Some departments would give their multi-purpose craft the title of "fireboat" also.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York City Fire Museum</span> Museum in Manhattan, New York

The New York City Fire Museum is a museum dedicated to the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is housed in the former quarters of the FDNY's Engine Company No. 30, a renovated 1904 fire house at 278 Spring Street between Varick and Hudson Streets.

<i>John J. Harvey</i> Retired New York City fireboat

John J. Harvey is a fireboat formerly of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) in New York City, famed for returning to service following the September 11, 2001 attacks. She is one of the most powerful fireboats ever built, capable of pumping up to 18,000 gallons of water a minute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in firefighting</span>

Firefighting has historically been a predominantly male profession throughout the world. However, since the 1970s, women have made inroads in both professional and volunteer fire departments in multiple countries. In modern times, women have served in a variety of fire service roles including as fire chiefs. Nonetheless, they comprise less than 20% of firefighters even in the countries where they are best represented.

The International Association of Black Professional Firefighters (IABPFF), founded in 1970, is a fraternal organization of black firefighters. It represents more than 8000 fire service personnel throughout the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean, organized in 180 chapters.

Sally Regenhard is an American activist who has become one of the leading voices for the families of the victims of the September 11 attacks. A former long-time resident of Co-op City in The Bronx in New York City who has degrees in behavioral sciences and gerontology and has worked in the nursing home industry for over 20 years, Regenhard became an advocate for skyscraper safety after the death of her 28-year-old son, Christian, a probationary firefighter with the New York City Fire Department, who perished in the collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Cassidy</span>

Stephen Cassidy was the longest serving President of the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York (UFA) in its 100-year history. He was first elected to the position in August 2002 and is the only UFA President in the union's history to be elected directly out of a firehouse. In 2016, Cassidy resigned his position as UFA President to serve as the executive director of the New York City Fire Pension Fund. In 2018, following his arrest for driving while intoxicated, New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro removed Cassidy from his position as executive director of the New York City Fire Pension Fund.

<i>Fire Fighter</i> (fireboat) New York City fireboat

Fire Fighter is a fireboat which served the New York City Fire Department from 1938 through 2010, serving with Marine Companies 1, 8 and 9 during her career. The most powerful diesel-electric fireboat in terms of pumping capacity when built in 1938, Fire Fighter fought more than 50 major fires during her career, including fires aboard the SS Normandie in 1942 and the SS El Estero in 1943, the 1973 collision of the Esso Brussels and SS Sea Witch, and the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

The 23rd Street Fire was an incident that took place in the Flatiron District neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on October 17, 1966. A group of firefighters from the New York City Fire Department responding to a fire at 7 East 22nd Street entered a building at 6 East 23rd Street as part of an effort to fight the fire. Twelve firefighters were killed after the floor collapsed, the largest loss of life in the department's history until the collapse of the World Trade Center in the September 11 attacks of 2001.

<i>John D. McKean</i> (fireboat)

John D. McKean is a fireboat that served the New York City Fire Department as Marine Company 1. She is named after John D. Mckean, who died in a 1953 steam explosion while trying to save a predecessor fireboat, the George B. McClellan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salvatore Cassano</span>

Salvatore Joseph "Sal" Cassano served as the 32nd New York City Fire Commissioner from 2010 to 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project</span> American organization found in 2003

The New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project was founded in New York City in 2003 with the stated purpose of treating rescue workers for toxins inhaled from the smoke of the September 11 attacks. It has two clinics: Downtown Medical on Fulton Street, two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center, and another at Williston Park, Long Island. The project's co-founder and top fundraiser is actor Tom Cruise. It uses the Purification Rundown, a detoxification program invented by L. Ron Hubbard as part of Scientology's Bridge to Total Freedom. This rundown has been criticized by many doctors as pseudoscientific and medically dangerous. It was reported in October 2007 that 838 people had completed the New York program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel A. Nigro</span> Commissioner of New York City Fire Department fro 2014 to 2022

Daniel A. Nigro is the former New York City Fire Commissioner of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY). He served this position from 2014 until his retirement in 2022. Nigro's appointment was announced on May 9, 2014, and he was sworn in on June 9.

Joanne Ninive Smith is a first-generation Haitian-American social worker and activist born and raised in New York City. She is the executive director and founder of the Brooklyn-based non-profit organization, Girls for Gender Equity. Smith has organized around the issues of gender equality, racial justice, school pushout, sexual harassment, police brutality, the criminalization of black girls in schools and violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people of color.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Geidel</span> New York City firefighter

Gary Paul Geidel was a New York City Fire Department (FDNY) firefighter killed during the September 11 attacks shortly before scheduled retirement.

Ronald R. Spadafora was an American firefighter and the Assistant fire chief in of fire prevention for the FDNY, notable for his service supervising the entire safety operation during the rescue and recovery efforts at ground zero following the September 11 attacks and for his writing on firefighting, fire safety, and firefighting gear.

The Alfred E. Ronaldson was a fireboat operated briefly by the Fire Department of New York City in 1994. The boat was named after a firefighter who lost his life in the line of duty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph W. Pfeifer</span> American first responder and fire chief

Joseph W. Pfeifer is a retired American firefighter who served with the New York City Fire Department (FDNY). Pfeifer served as First Deputy Commissioner of the FDNY from February 2023 until September 2024, and as Acting Fire Commissioner of the FDNY in August 2024. Prior to his civilian work in the FDNY, Pfeifer was an Assistant Chief. He retired in 2018.

References

  1. ↑ "Board of Directors » Monumental Women".
  2. 1 2 "Guide to the United Women Firefighters Records WAG.057". Tamiment Library / Wagner Archives Voices of Feminism Oral history Project-Smith College 3-12-2012 www.smith.edu. Archived from the original on February 26, 2012. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Berkman Retires from FDNY". International Association of Women in Fire & Emergency Services. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ↑ "Labor Arts". www.laborarts.org. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  5. ↑ "Sisters in the Brotherhoods - Brenda Berkman". www.talkinghistory.org. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  6. ↑ "Independent Lens . TAKING THE HEAT . The Film | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  7. ↑ "Honoring Four Women of Ground Zero". National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  8. ↑ "Berkman v. City of New York, 536 F. Supp. 177 (E.D.N.Y. 1982)". Justia Law. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  9. ↑ "Taking the Heat: The First Women Firefighters of New York City". PBS. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  10. 1 2 "Sisters in the Brotherhoods - Brenda Berkman". Talkinghistory.org. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  11. ↑ Bird, David (1983-09-22). "2 Women Lose Firefighter Jobs After Probation". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  12. ↑ Popova, Maria (2017-11-17). "How Pioneering Firefighter Brenda Berkman Won Women's Right to Heroism". Brain Pickings. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  13. ↑ Shenon, Philip (1983-12-09). "2 Women Win Bias Suit Against Fire Dept". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  14. ↑ Dollarhide, Maya (31 December 2001). "Firefighter Berkman Is Two Kinds of a Hero". Women's eNews. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  15. ↑ Women Firefighters’ Strategies For Advancement In The Fire Service: Breaking Down Barriers In Gender-Based Occupations, Barbara R. Russo
  16. ↑ Susan Hagen (2002). Women at Ground Zero: Stories of Courage and Compassion . Alpha. ISBN   978-0028644226.
  17. ↑ "Brenda Berkman, Former New York City Fire Department Captain, Talks Women At Ground Zero". Huffington Post. September 7, 2011. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  18. ↑ "9/11 First Responder's Artwork Now On View in a Special Exhibition in Brooklyn". National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  19. ↑ "NYWF | 2018 Celebrating Women Breakfast Highlights". NYWF. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  20. ↑ Alumni, St Olaf. "Alumni Awards by Year Received – St. Olaf Alumni" . Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  21. ↑ Murray, Christopher (June 22–28, 2006). "Fighting More Than Fires". Gay City News. Archived from the original on July 1, 2012. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  22. ↑ "WYSK Profile: Brenda Berkman - Women You Should Know". Women You Should Know®. 2011-09-07. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  23. ↑ Clark, Roger (August 18, 2011). "Artists Bring 9/11 Inspired Works To West Village". NY1.com. Archived from the original on September 14, 2012. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  24. ↑ wysk (2018-06-04). "Pioneering FDNY Firefighter Turned Artist On Her Powerful Image Series That Deals With 9/11 Rebuilding [VIDEO]". Women You Should Know®. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  25. ↑ gheires (2016-09-10). "DC 37 Hosts 9/11 Exhibit in September". DC37. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  26. ↑ Otis, Ginger Adams (10 September 2016). "EXCLUSIVE: Brave FDNY Capt. Brenda Berkman depicts 'rebirth of lower Manhattan' in 9/11 art exhibit". nydailynews.com. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.