The Brooklyn Encyclopedia

Contemporary Icons

Musicians, artists, athletes, politicians and spiritual leaders with Brooklyn roots

Profiles of notable people from Brooklyn in music, stage and screen, sport, politics and public life, and the borough’s Jewish spiritual leaders. Each profile cites its sources and states its Brooklyn connection.

6 chapters
48 min read
5 tables
92 sources
Updated Friday, October 9

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About this volumeWho is included, how people were chosen, and how to read the profiles.1 min read
Music: From Hip-Hop to BroadwayRappers, pop songwriters, a jazz singer and a classical composer who each grew up in or came out of Brooklyn.8 min read
Stage, Screen and the ArtsComedians, actors, directors and painters from Brooklyn who shaped American stage, screen and art.9 min read
Sport: From Coney Island Courts to the World StageBrooklyn's playgrounds, parish schools and public high schools produced coaches and athletes who won titles, Olympic medals and Hall of Fame places far beyond the borough.11 min read
Politics and Public LifeNine Brooklyn-born or Brooklyn-rooted figures who have shaped American politics, law and public life, from Congress and the Supreme Court to City Hall.10 min read
Spiritual Leaders of Brooklyn's Jewish CommunitiesRebbes, rabbis and yeshiva founders who built Hasidic, Sephardic and Conservative institutions in Williamsburg, Crown Heights, Borough Park, Bensonhurst and Flatbush.9 min read

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