An elementary school in Queens was renamed after David Dinkins, New York City’s first African American mayor, whose legacy on giving back to others was celebrated on Thursday. 

PS 48Q in Jamaica will be known as the David N. Dinkins School for Community Service. 

“Our history is more than just picking cotton. Our history is more than criminality that people want to display and show all the time. Our history is so much more than that,” Mayor Eric Adams said at the ceremony. “And David Dinkins personified that history by becoming the first Black man to be the mayor of the city of New York.” 

Adams referred to Dinkins as an amazing leader, who he noted was a lawyer and former Manhattan borough president. He added that with Dinkins as the city’s first mayor of color, Adams was able to access the same role years later. 

“So because of David Dinkins, someone like me, dyslexic, someone as a child that made mistakes and was arrested, rejected,” Adams said. “Because of David Dinkins, the best among us, the worst among us, could go from being dyslexic, arrested, rejected and now elected.”

Dinkins was the city’s 106th mayor from 1990 to 1993. He also served as a U.S. Marine. 

He died at age 93 in November 2020.