Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is the only son of now-deceased parents, Alvin Bragg Sr. and Sadie Bragg, who worked in public service and education, according to his wedding announcement in The New York Times.
He’s married to Jamila Ponton Bragg, who, according to American Theatre, has worked for non-profit organizations before starting a theatre production company.
Bragg is in the news after former President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that he believes Bragg’s office is about to arrest him in connection with the long-standing criminal investigation into a payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Here’s what you need to know about Bragg’s family:
1. Alvin Bragg Called His Mother, Sadie Bragg, Who Worked for a Manhattan Community College, the ‘Best Educator I’ve Ever Known’
According to the wedding announcement in The New York Times, Bragg’s mother, Sadie Bragg, was vice president for academic affairs at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.
In a 2021 Facebook page, Bragg touted his mom.
“My mom, Dr. Sadie Bragg, was the best educator I’ve ever known. She knew very little about law, but she always loved that I was pursuing it — pursuing justice. On this #InternationalWomensDay and every day after I pledge to honor her memory by never giving up that global pursuit,” he wrote.
Sadie Bragg’s 2018 obituary says that “Sadie dedicated her professional life to teaching students mathematics and expanding educational opportunities, especially for students of color and women.”
According to the obituary:
Early in her career, she taught mathematics to junior high school students; taught students at an alternative high school as part of the New York Urban League Street Academy; and coordinated a college-bound program for junior high school students. From 1970 to 1982, Sadie taught college-bound adult students as a mathematics lecturer at the Manhattan Educational Opportunity Center.
In 1982, after earning a Doctorate in Education in College Teaching of Mathematics from Teachers College, Columbia University, Sadie joined the Borough of Manhattan Community College’s (BMCC) mathematics department as a professor. Over the years at BMCC, Sadie served in several positions, including Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for Curriculum Provost, and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs. She retired in 2014.
2. Alvin Bragg’s Father Worked for the New York City Human Resources Administration & With Homeless Shelters
Obituary photo {M Wilkerson Funeral Home)Alvin Bragg Sr.
Bragg’s father was a retired assistant superintendent for welfare “in the New York City Human Resources Administration” and formerly directed the Manhattan chapter of the New York Urban League, the wedding announcement said.
According to Sadie’s obituary, her husband was Alvin Leonard Bragg, Sr., and they had one child together, Alvin Leonard Bragg, Jr., the Manhattan DA.
Bragg Sr. died in 2014. According to his obituary, Alvin Leonard Bragg, Sr. “was born in South Hill, Virginia to Marvin Alvin Bragg and Horatia Hayes on March 3, 1945.”
“Alvin graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Political Science in 1968. Upon Alvin’s graduation, Alvin and Sadie moved to New York City. Alvin later earned a Master of Science degree in Human Resource Management from the University of Utah,” the obituary says.
“Alvin dedicated most of his professional life to the delivery of social services in New York City. He started his career at the New York City Youth Board, where he helped oversee a program that provided services to students who had dropped out of high school,” the obituary says.
It continues:
After a brief period as a stock broker, Alvin worked for over 14 years at the New York Urban League. For his first five years at the Urban League, Alvin helped direct a series of programs: an educational program for students who had dropped out of high school; a community service center for young adults on probation and a skills training and job placement program,” it says. “From 1976 to 1986, Alvin oversaw the Urban League’s operations in Manhattan as the Borough Director Urban League, Alvin worked for several years for the New York City Human Resources Administration as a director at New York City homeless shelters.
3. Alvin Bragg Has Said Loved Ones’ Experiences With the Criminal Justice System influenced His Views
GettyAlvin Bragg
Bragg told Patch that his family’s experiences have affected his views on the criminal justice system.
“I’m running to make the District Attorney’s office the progressive leader it should be. One that proves we can keep neighborhoods safe and end the racial disparities that are still deeply ingrained in the system,” he told Patch in the 2021 interview.
“Growing up in Harlem, I was repeatedly stopped and frisked by the NYPD, including 3 times at gunpoint. I’ve seen loved ones arrested and have opened our home to support a close family member post-incarceration.” He did not name who those loved ones were.
Patch quoted him as saying,
As a Black man who grew up in Harlem in the 1980s, I have been surrounded by race, class, and inequality throughout my life. From whitewashing alcohol and cigarette billboards targeting Harlem as a youth leader at my church to helping lead the response on my college campus to the beating of Rodney King, I have been outspoken about racism, classism, and inequality throughout my life.
4. Alvin Bragg & His Wife Have Two Children Together
Did you vote yet? I voted this morning and some people thought it was important. It’s been an honor to fight by your side, New York. Now let’s get out there and make history! Find your poll site: t.co/4nD1aQczYt.
#JusticeCantWait
In the 2021 Patch profile, Bragg said his family consisted of “my wife Jamila and our two children.”
He also said that no one in his family worked in politics or government. The children were not named in the article and have stayed out of the headlines.
5. Alvin Bragg & His Wife Met When Both Were Students at Harvard University
Twitter (Jamila Ponton Bragg)/GettyAlvin Bragg and his wife, Jamila Ponton Bragg,
The wedding announcement for Bragg and his wife that appeared in The New York Times says that the Reverend Calvin O. Butts III performed their ceremony at Heinz Memorial Chapel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Bragg and his wife met at Harvard, while he was getting a law degree, and she was getting a master’s degree in education, that article says..
Bragg’s bride-to-be was a 29-years-old program director at Girls Inc., a nonprofit youth group located in New York, according to The New York Times.
At the time of the wedding, the announcement said that Bragg was an assistant New York State attorney general in Manhattan.
According to American Theatre, in July 2022, Ponton Bragg was named “the winner of the 2022 Prince Fellowship.” The fellowship was “originally created by legendary producer Harold Prince, are designed to empower a new generation of creative producers in the development of their chosen project,” the site says.
America Theatre says that Ponton Bragg “is the founder of JamRock Productions, LLC, a theatre production company committed to works for, about, and by women. After nearly 20 years in the nonprofit industry, she transitioned to theatre producing and began her journey in March 2020 as a co-producer on Blue, a play by Charles Randolph-Wright.”
The site notes that Ponton Bragg “is credited as an associate producer on the August 2021 Broadway production of Pass Over, and as an investor in for colored girls who considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf. Bragg holds a B.S. in psychology from Duke University and an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.”
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