Runyon Heights, also known as the area of Nepperhan, is a historically African American middle-class neighborhood in northwestern Yonkers, New York, US. [1]
Runyon Heights can be found along the north side of Tuckahoe Road between Saw Mill River Parkway and New York State Thruway. Noteworthy locations include Saint Mary's Cemetery and Kardash Park.
Nepperhan, aka Runyon Heights was created as a small part of the Tenth Ward of the city of Yonkers. In those days Yonkers was divided into twelve wards. One of the common features of the Runyon Heights neighborhood is the frequency of dead-end streets, which separate the area from adjacent neighborhoods. Runyon Heights became one of the first predominantly black suburban areas, with few through streets into neighboring white neighborhoods - a feature designed in the years before World War 1. [2] Barber shops and beauty salons doubled as meeting places for the politically active local community. Voters from Nepperhan were noted for crossing party lines when they cast their ballots. Their votes were driven by issues, making them influential in tight local elections. The political philosophy of the Runyon Heights community was that votes should go to candidates that did the most for them and not just voting uncritically for the Democratic Party. [3]
Black Americans mostly voted democrat after the New Deal and President Truman's Committee on Civil Rights. Runyon Heights is considered an anomaly. In 1930 77% of voters were Republicans; by 1940 they were losing ground to Democrats, but Republicans held the majority through the Eisenhower years, and into the mid-1960s. Runyon Heights voters may have been influenced by Reconstruction era loyalties to the Republican Party. They also leaned socially conservative like many other typical suburbs. The residents described themselves as "Eisenhower Republicans". [4]
The 1952 United States presidential election was the 42nd quadrennial presidential election and was held on Tuesday, November 4, 1952. Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower won a landslide victory over Democrat Adlai Stevenson II, becoming the first Republican president in 20 years.
The 1956 United States presidential election was the 43rd quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1956. President Dwight D. Eisenhower successfully ran for reelection against Adlai Stevenson II, the former Illinois governor whom he had defeated four years earlier. This election saw the sixth and most recent rematch in presidential history, and the second where the winner was the same both times. This was the last election before the term limits established by the 22nd Amendment came into effect.
The 1960 United States presidential election was the 44th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. In a closely contested election, Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy defeated the incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican nominee. This was the first election in which 50 states participated, marking the first participation of Alaska and Hawaii, and the last in which the District of Columbia did not. This made it the only presidential election where the threshold for victory was 269 electoral votes. It was also the first election in which an incumbent president was ineligible to run for a third term because of the term limits established by the 22nd Amendment.
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The West Bronx is a region in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The region lies west of the Bronx River and roughly corresponds to the western half of the borough.
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The 1952 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 4, 1952. Voters chose twelve representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Show Me a Hero is a 2015 American miniseries based on the 1999 nonfiction book of the same name by former New York Times writer Lisa Belkin about Yonkers mayor (1987–89) Nick Wasicsko. Like the book, the miniseries details a white middle-class neighborhood's resistance to a federally mandated scattered-site public housing development in Yonkers, New York, and how the tension of the situation affected the city as a whole.
Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story is a 2007 documentary film, produced and directed by Bill Kavanagh. The story follows three Yonkers, New York families from the 1970s to the 1990s as they navigated a protracted and bitter confrontation in the city over housing and school desegregation. The documentary also recounts the heroic efforts of grassroots activists to keep the battle alive to address racial isolation and housing discrimination in Yonkers, as well as the infamous 1988 confrontation between the Federal courts and the City of Yonkers over the city's contempt of court orders. Westchester County civil rights activist Winston Ross is among those portrayed in the film, which details his youth in Yonkers' Runyon Heights neighborhood and his years in the city's public schools.
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The 1956 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. North Carolina voters chose 14 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 1956 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Alabama voters chose eleven representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. In Alabama, voters voted for electors individually instead of as a slate, as in the other states.
The 1956 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Tennessee voters chose eleven representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 1952 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 4, 1952, as part of the 1952 United States presidential election. North Carolina voters chose 14 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
40°57′21″N73°52′2″W / 40.95583°N 73.86722°W