A precedent for Mamdani: Mayor Woodhull

A precedent for Mamdani: Mayor Woodhull

A controversy in antebellum New York City that has a parallel to a contemporary issue there has roots in the Torah. The issue: the obligation to offer refuge to an outsider, a slave or a migrant, who is being pursued by government authorities or other people with a claim on that person. First, some 19th-Century history: A man who had come to New York City from another area finds a job as a porter...