Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer and RBG's high school turns 100

WNYC News | Apr 15, 2025

What do Carole King, Judge Judy and Chris Rock have in common?

They all went to James Madison High School in Midwood, Brooklyn.

James Madison opened in 1925 and is a typical-looking New York City public school with an astonishing number of famous alumni, including Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stanley Kaplan (founder of test prep company Kaplan, Inc.), former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, baseball player Ted Schreiber, writer Irwin Shaw and six Nobel Prize winners, to name just a few of the faces on the school’s Wall of Distinction. (It’s actually multiple walls; there are so many stars to note.) From 2007 to 2009, three sitting U.S. senators were all Madison graduates (Sanders, Schumer and Coleman).

WNYC is funded by sponsors and member donations

WNYC Homepage - Top Stories

'It's chaos': LIRR commuters face shutdown, workarounds on first weekday of strike

The MTA says backup shuttle buses can carry only a fraction of regular LIRR riders.

Gothamist |

The History Wars and America at 250, with the Historian Jill Lepore

Three prominent historians discuss a national milestone arriving in the midst of a politically charged conflict over how Americans see the past. It’s a “goat rodeo,” Lepore says.

The New Yorker Radio Hour |

10-Question Quiz: American History

Author Kenneth C. Davis quizzes listeners on American history.

The Brian Lehrer Show |

Democrats make a run for Stefanik's seat

WNYC News |

On an off-Broadway stage, actors bring immigrant stories alive and spark public debate

Immigrants' stories have been unfolding on an off-Broadway stage in an uncommon way. One is of a doctor in her 40s who fled Zimbabwe. Another featured a Colombian woman who regretted leaving her homeland for the United States. A third entered into a marriage of convenience with an American after overstaying her visa, and then suffered a violent assault in the subway.