the stentorians hold a place amongst the civil rights fights that took place in the mid-twentieth century that continues to the present day. resistance to men and women of color still exists in fire departments across the country and even though discrimination is no longer overt, the numbers of firefighters in the ranks do not reflect the demographics of the populations served, hence the continued need for such fraternal organizations. as recently as 2011 lawsuits filed by fraternal organizations and joined by the justice department forced the city of new york to settle with the vulcan society of the fdny in making minority appointments from the lists established by the dept of personnel in 1999, 2002 and 2007, leading to the most diversified classes in the history of that city's fire dept.