Milk, a gay rights activist-turned politician, had strong roots in the Five Towns. His father, William, ran a department store on Broadway in Woodmere, below, which was founded in 1882 by Harvey’s grandfather Morris. Following his graduation from the New York State College for Teachers in Albany, Milk joined the Navy in 1951. After leaving the service in 1955, he taught high school math and history in Woodmere until 1957.
In 1972, Milk moved to San Francisco, where he took a leading role in organizing the gay community, and in 1977 he was elected to the city’s Board of Supervisors. In 1978, Milk, captured at left in a scene that was recreated is the film, led a protest against a proposition on the California state ballot that year known as the Briggs Initiative, which would have prevented gays and lesbians from working in the state’s public schools.
On Nov. 7, 1978, the initiative was defeated. Twenty days later, Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were assassinated in City Hall by Dan White, a disgruntled former supervisor and one-time colleague of Milk’s.
