Theresa LaSalle

Theresa taught history and political science for 34 years in New York City Public High Schools, 19 years at Seward Park and the last 14 years at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. She is a born and raised New Yorker from the borough of Queens and currently lives in Jackson Heights. She is madly in love with her city and is the forever tourist in her own town. You will see her wandering in each borough as her curiosity almost exhausts her.

To Identify The Dead: World War Two Student ‘Dog Tags’

July 15, 2020 by Theresa LaSalle Leave a Comment

During the Civil War personal identification of soldiers killed and severely wounded in combat was daunting, because of inadequate record keeping in both the Union and the Confederate armies.

An early attempt to ID them was called “name discs” or “soldier pins,” but these met with limited success. Historians estimate that 50% of those killed in the Civil War were simply marked unknown. [Read more…] about To Identify The Dead: World War Two Student ‘Dog Tags’

Pierre Toussaint: Enslaved Haitian, NY Hairdresser – and Saint?

May 21, 2020 by Theresa LaSalle Leave a Comment

The three water color portraits shown here are hanging in Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the Mayor of the City of New York in Manhattan. They are on loan from the New York Historical Society.

The watercolors (from the 1820s) are of the Toussaint family. [Read more…] about Pierre Toussaint: Enslaved Haitian, NY Hairdresser – and Saint?