History
of the City of New York
417 International Affairs Building
“The city, the city my Dear Brutus – stick to that and live in its full light. Residence elsewhere, as I made up my mind in early life, is mere eclipse and obscurity to those whose energy is capable of shining in Rome.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero
“New York City, the incomparable, the brilliant star city of cities, the forty-ninth state, a law unto itself, the Cyclopean Paradox, the inferno with no out-of-bounds, the supreme expression of both the miseries and the splendors of contemporary civilization, the Macedonia of the United States. It meets the most severe test that may be applied to the definition of a metropolis – it stays up all night. But also it becomes a small town when it rains.”
John Gunther
“If you live in New York, even if you’re Catholic, you’re Jewish.”
Lenny Bruce
“There is no question there is an unseen world; the question is, how far is it from midtown, and how late is it open?”
Woody Allen
“I am not afraid to admit that New York is the greatest city on the face of God’s earth. You only have to look at it from the air, from the river, from Father Duffy’s statue. New York is easily recognizable as the greatest city in the world, view it any way and every way – back, belly, and sides.”
Brendan Behan
“Is New York the most beautiful city in the world? It is not far from it. No urban nights are like the nights there. I have looked down across the city from high windows. It is then that the great buildings lose reality and take on magical powers. Squares and squares of flame set and cut into the other. Here is our poetry, for we have pulled down the stars to our will.”
Ezra Pound (1913)
“The only credential the city asked was the boldness to dream. For those who did, it unlocked its gates and its treasures, not caring who they were or where they came from.”
Moss Hart
“I love the West. But I live in New York. Not many people know that, that I live here and that I cannot conceive of living any place other than New York City.”
Robert Redford (1995)
“Nobody lives in New York City. That’s what people from elsewhere in the country don’t understand. They say, ‘I don’t see how you can live in a place like New York.’ Well I don’t. Nobody does. We live in our neighborhoods. These are small towns just like those in Iowa or Nebraska, except that they are not surrounded by farm fields; they are surrounded by other small towns.”
Charles Kuralt (1995)
“When you leave New York, you are astonished at how clean the rest of the world is. Clean is not enough.”
Fran Lebowitz
“In the end, we will only conserve what we love, we will only love what we know, and we will only know what we are taught.”
Baba Dioum
“I would rather have a square inch of New York than all the rest of the world.”
Texas Gunina (1933), on her deathbed in Vancouver at age 49
There are three requirements for this course:
(1) Pass Mid-Term and Final Examinations based on the lectures and the ten required books.
(2) Take part in seven field trips; the all-day bus trip counts as two. The annual all-night bicycle ride will not count toward the minimum requirement. Any trips above ten will earn extra credit.
(3) Undergraduate Students only should complete one of the following assignments:
(a) In the Microfilm Room of Butler Library look up the New York Times for your birthday, the birthday of one of your parents, and the birthday of one of your grandparents. Read all three issues, including advertisements. Write a four-page paper comparing a single topic on all three dates. For example, you might analyze the kinds of structures being built and the residential options available (price, location, size, transportation) to families or individuals on those different dates. Alternatively, you may focus on fashion, entertainment, crime, politics, or discrimination against a particular group (African-Americans, women, Jews, the handicapped, homosexuals, etc). You might compare wedding announcements. Be aware that you may not find much information on the overt prejudice that was then common. Due December 4, 2001.
(b) Write a five page walking tour, based upon secondary sources and interviews with residents, businessmen, or workers, of a neighborhood in New York City or the surrounding suburbs. Assume that persons taking the walking tour will have only your paper, and not you, as a guide. If you choose this option, coordinate your choice with Professor Jackson. Use precise addresses and be as visually descriptive as possible. Photographs would be helpful. Two copies of the paper must be submitted; one will be returned. Due December 4, 2001.
(c) Volunteer with Columbia’s Community Impact Program and work with your neighbors to address the needs of the neighborhood. You will have the greatest impact if you interact with a single individual, either through the Student Help for the Aged (in which you help senior citizens pay bills, write letters, or shop) or Big Brother/Big Sister (in which you become a mentor and friend to a youngster who needs both). Both programs require serious time commitments, however, so you may also work with other local initiatives, such as Community Lunch Program at the Broadway Presbyterian Church, Emergency Food Pantry on 114th Street, Barnard/Columbia Help for the Homeless, or Harlem Restoration. At the end of the semester you would write a two-page paper summarizing your experiences and observations. Please note that you should give at least four hours every week to this effort. Approval by September 15; two-page report due on December 4, 2001.
(d) Volunteer as an unpaid intern with the New-York Historical Society. Work at least six hours per week to help this important but financially strapped institution continue its good work. Your involvement might take the form of leading tours for adults or children, of implementing fund-raising events, of assisting in the writing of newsletters and educational materials, of helping with an exhibition, of cataloguing in the research library, or organizing activities for members under 35 years of age. Contact the L.J. Krizner at 873-3400, ext. 281. Or, you could help out at the Municipal Archives of the City of New York. (Call Kenneth Cobb at 788-8585.) These options requires action by September 15; two-page report due on December 4, 2001.
(e) Explore The Encyclopedia of New York City. Select one person or place or neighborhood and then trace five other entries as in six degrees of separation. Suppose, for example, you select Stanford White. This might lead you to Madison Square Garden, which might lead you to the Hippodrome and then to P.T. Barnum, etc. Doing this should provide you with the background to write a six-page critique of the encyclopedia. Due December 1, 2001.
Graduate and Professional Students only should write a six page (not one word longer please), comparative book review of any three of the following five books: Elizabeth Blackmar, Manhattan for Rent, 1785-1850 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989); Sean Wilentz, Chantz Democratic: New York City and the Rise of the American Working Class (New York: Oxford University press, 1984); Christine Stansell, City of Women: Sex and Class in New York, 1789-1860 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986); Eric Homberger, Scenes From the Life of a City (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1994), or Patricia Cline Cohen, The Murder of Helen Jewett: The Life and Death of a Prostitute in Nineteenth Century New York (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998).
LECTURE TOPICS,
READING ASSIGNMENTS, AND FIELD TRIPS
Readings preceded by an asterisk are required for everyone. Additional titles are included as suggestions for those who wish to read more about a particular topic. Labyrinth Books at 536 West 112th Street has all of the volumes required for this course.
Tuesday, September 4 - Lecture: Course Introduction
*Kenneth T. Jackson, ed., The Encyclopedia of New York City (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995). Read preface and “population” entry. As large as fifteen average books, this volume will tell you more than you need to know about the city. You are required to read only the specific entries (out of 4300) mentioned in the syllabus. Multiple copies are on reserve in the Columbia Library. The retail price is $65, but Labyrinth Books has promised to discount it by 30 percent, for a price of $45.
I. N. Phelps Stokes, The Iconography of Manhattan Island (New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-1928). This classic, six-volume edition, now costing many thousands of dollars, is available in Columbia's Rare Book Room.
Carol Von Pressentin Wright, Blue Guide: New York (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1983). The most comprehensive, one-volume guidebook.
Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998). If I were to use a textbook, this would be it.
Gloria Deak, Picturing New York: The City from its Beginnings to the Present (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000).
Thursday, September 6 - Lecture: History as Destiny: The Case of NYC
*Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1961). Vintage paperback. A book you will remember all your life.
Friday, September 7 - Field
Trip 1: Walking Tour of Upper West Side.
Walking Tour, led by Professor Jackson,
of parts of the Upper West Side, followed by a visit to the New-York Historical
Society and the exhibition, “Up on the Roof.”
Meet northeast corner of Broadway & 86th Street at 10
am. Cost $3 to NYHS.
Sunday, September 9 – Field Trip 3: NYC Century Bike Tour. See New York on two wheels by joining this event sponsored by Transportation Alternatives. Begin at 7:00 AM in Central Park at 110th Street and Lenox Avenue. The shortest distance (35 miles) goes to Prospect Park in Brooklyn and Astoria Park in Queens. Cost $50 to Transportation Alternatives (includes T-Shirt).
Tuesday, September 11 - Lecture: Urban Planning in the New World
*The "Dutch" in the Encyclopedia.
Nan A Rothschild, New York City Neighborhoods: The 18th Century (New York: Academic Press, 1990).
Michael Pye, The Drowning Room (New York: Granta Books, 1994). Mystery set in colonial New Amsterdam.
Randall H. Balmer, A Perfect Babel of Confusion: Dutch Religion and Culture in the Middle Colonies (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989).
Tuesday, September 11 - Field Trip 4: Morningside Park and Yankee Game. Professor Jackson will lead a walk through Morningside Park, adjacent to the Columbia campus, followed by a subway ride to 168th Street in the Bronx, a walking tour of the neighborhood north of Yankee Stadium, and a night game with the Chicago White Sox. This trip is limited to fifty persons who are willing to make a night of it. The group will leave the stadium at the end of the eighth inning or at 9:45, whichever comes first, so that you can expect to be back on campus by 10:30 p.m. Cost: $20 for ticket to the game and entrance to the Bronx Museum of the Arts. Also bring a metrocard and money for whatever you eat or drink. The purpose of the trip is to consider the impact of a professional sports team on a poor neighborhood and to discuss the desirability of large-scale public investment in a new stadium either in the Bronx or on the West Side. Meet on the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine at 4 p.m.
Thursday, September 13 - Lecture: Dutch Outpost, English Prize
*"Port of New York" in the Encyclopedia.
David C. Humphrey, From King's College to Columbia, 1746-1800 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1954).
Monday, September 17 – Field
Trip 6: Chinatown and Little Italy. Walking tour, led by Professor Jackson, of the Civic
Center, Chinatown, and Little Italy, including the Feast of San Gennaro on
Mulberry Street. Meet on the northeast
corner of Broadway and 116th Street at 4:00 PM (or the southeast corner of
Broadway and Chambers Street at 4:40).
Cost: $3 for admission to the Museum of the Chinese in the Americas.
Tuesday, September 18
- Rosh Hashanah - No Class
Wednesday, September 19 - Field Trip 7: The New York City Panorama and NY Mets Game. Take the International Express, the #7 train despised by John Rocker, and visit the grounds of the New York World Fairs of 1939 and 1964, including the incredible NYC Panorama, followed by a night game at Shea Stadium where the Mets will play the Pittsburgh Pirates. The game will start at 7:10 PM. We will leave at the end of the eighth inning or 9:45 PM, whichever comes first. Cost: $2.50 for Queens Museum, $15 for the game, plus subway fares, and money for whatever you eat or drink. Meet at 116th and Broadway at 3:45 PM.
Thursday, September 20 - Lecture: Revolutionary Battlefield
*Articles on American Revolution, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson in Encyclopedia.
John J. Gallagher, The Battle of Brooklyn, 1776 (New York: Sarpedon Publishers, 1995).
Joseph S. Tiedemann, Reluctant Revolutionaries: New York City and the Road to Independence, 1763-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998).
A tour of Lower Manhattan visiting sites associated with George Washington and our nation's war of independence. Stops include: Fraunces Tavern, the graves of Alexander Hamilton and General Richard Montgomery, Federal Hall, and sites associated with Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, and Albert Gallatin. Meet at 1:00 PM at intersection of Murray and Broadway, at City Hall Park. Cost $8 to Big Onion.
Sunday, September 23 – Field
Trip 10: Take the A Train to Jamaica Bay.
Environmental, ecological and historical tour led by Professor Jackson
and Tim Tubridy of a world that more resembles the Everglades than New York
City. Meet at 116th and
Amsterdam at 11:30. No cost except for
subway ride to Broad Channel and a deli lunch.
Tuesday, September 25 - Lecture: The Rise to North American Dominance
*Evan Cornog, The Birth of Empire: DeWitt Clinton and the
American Experience, 1769-1828 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).
Thursday, September
27 - Lecture: Making the City Livable: Fire and Water
*Kenneth T. Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), pp. 1-156.
Gerard T. Koeppel, Water for Gotham: A History (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2000)
Friday, September 28 – Field Trip 11: Walking Tour of Morningside Heights. Join Andrew Dolkart, professor of architecture and author of the book on Morningside Heights, to learn about our neighborhood, exploring the history of Columbia, Barnard, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, St. Luke’s Hospital, and more. Meet at 116th & Amsterdam at 11:00 AM. No cost.
* Sunday, September 30 – Television Show: Ric Burns’s Documentary History of New York City, Part 6 on PBS, Channel 13.
Tuesday, October 2 -
Lecture: Sanitation and Public Health
*Article on sanitation, sewers, public health, and hospitals
in the Encyclopedia.
*Edward K. Spann, The New Metropolis: New York City,
1840-1857 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981). Columbia paperback.
Jack Finney, Time and Again (a novel of late nineteenth century New York)
David Rosner, A Once Charitable Enterprise: Health Care in Brooklyn and New York City, 1885-1919 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982).
Sandra Opdycke, No One Was Turned Away: The Role of Public Hospitals in New York City Since 1900 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999)
Joanne Abel Goldman, Building New York's Sewers: Developing Mechanisms of Urban Management (West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 1997).
Kenneth T. Jackson and Stanley K. Schultz, eds., Cities in American History (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1972).
Benjamin Miller, Fat of the Land: The Garbage Behind New York (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows Press, 2000) Former director of policy planning for the Department of Sanitation.
Thursday, October 4 - Movie: "The Great Bridge." This film will be shown during the regular class hour.
*Articles on Brooklyn Bridge, Washington Roebling,
Williamsburg Bridge, Manhattan Bridge in Encyclopedia.
David McCullough, The Great Bridge
Thursday-Friday, October 4-5 - Field Trip 12: All Night Bicycle Ride. We will leave from the sundial in the middle of the Columbia campus at 11:00 p.m. and return approximately seven hours later. This ride is neither a marathon nor a race. The pace will be slow, and we will make several stops. Because each additional bicyclist is a potential problem, the ride is limited to members of the class. The cost will be $20 to pay for the official T-shirts, spare tires, repair equipment, a van to pick up broken bikes and tired riders, and an ambulance in case of emergency.
But there is nothing I can do to remove all risks. I have been lucky thus far, and in 28 years of these events only one person has been hurt - a young woman who hit a pothole in the financial district and sailed over her handlebars, banging up her chin and requiring stitches. One danger is that in tight circumstances you will crash into another bicycle and break a leg. The most serious threat will likely come from automobiles and trucks. Thus, I insist that you wear a helmet. Remember that a good helmet can be your only defense against the things you cannot control. In fact, head injuries are reduced by 85 percent when helmets are worn correctly. A good helmet, by the way, is certified. Current certification stickers read ANSI, ASTI, or Snell. White clothing and a light should also improve your chances.
Rollerblading is OK, but you must travel at the end of the group, and your feet will be sore. There will be a long rest stop at about 2 a.m. At the end of the ride, most people will take the subway from Brooklyn back to the campus, but you should bring money for a taxi just in case you want to leave earlier. If you leave before the trip concludes kindly tell one of the group leaders when and with whom you are leaving.
Persons who expect to be slow should ride toward the front of the group. It is difficult enough to do these trips without having to worry about riders who race ahead trying to anticipate where we are going. So please remain behind me. Although tour leaders will be able to repair flat tires and fix minor problems, do not show up at the sundial unless your bicycle is in good working order.
Finally, you must sign a waiver of responsibility if you wish to join this optional ride. It is not required and will not count toward the field trip requirement.
Tuesday, October 9 -
Lecture: Making the City Livable: Cemeteries and Parks
*Central Park, parks, Green-Wood Cemetery, Prospect Park, Woodlawn Cemetery, Washington Square Park in the Encyclopedia.
Kenneth T. Jackson and Camilo J. Vergara, Silent Cities: The Evolution of the American Cemetery (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1989).
Francis R. Kowsky, Country, Park, and City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).
Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar, The Park and the People: A History of Central Park (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992).
Wednesday, October 10
– Field Trip 14: Forum at the New-York
Historical Society - A Mayor for the New Millenium: The 2001 New York City
Election. Experts who monitor New York’s political pulse explore the dynamics of
this year’s mayoral election. Featured
speakers include Juan Gonzalez, New York
Daily News columnist; Marcia Kramer, Chief Investigative/Political Reporter
for CBS 2; Chris McNickle, author of To
Be Mayor of New York: Ethnic Politics in the City; Fred Siegel, former
senior advisor to Rudy Guiliani’s 1993 mayoral campaign and author of The Future Once Happened Here: New York,
D.C., L.A. and the Fate of America’s Big Cities; and Alair Townsend, publisher of Crain’s New York Business. Cost $3. For reservations, please call (212) 873-3400 and press zero.
Wednesday, October 10 - Field
trip 15: NYHS event on City of Risk. Join Richard Rabinowitz, president of the American
History Workshop, who will examine the cultural evidence of risk that has long
characterized aspects of urban living, recreation, and high-stakes finance in
New York City through a careful inspection of firefighting tools, Coney Island
gambling wheels, stock market apparatus, and other resonant artifacts housed in
the Luce Center. Meet on 4th
floor of New-York Historical Society at 6:00.
Cost is $3 for admission. For
reservation, call 837-3400, then press zero.
Thursday, October 11
- Lecture: Crime and Riots
*Articles on gangs, crime, organized crime, and riots in Encyclopedia.
James Lardner and Thomas Reppetto, NYPD: A City and Its Police (New York: Henry Holt, 2000). Entertaining, witty, and balanced.
Timothy J. Gilfoyle, City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution , and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790-1920 (New York: W.W. Norton, 1992).
Marilynn Wood Hill, Their Sisters’ Keepers: Prostitution in New York City, 1830-1870 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993).
Andrea Friedman, Prurient Interest: Gender, Democracy, and Obscentiy in New York City, 1909-1945 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000).
Saturday, October 13 – Field
Trip 17: Washington Heights and Inwood.
Walking tour, led by Professor Jackson, of Washington Heights and
Inwood followed by a trip to homecoming to see soccer and football games
between U. Penn. and Columbia at Baker Field.
Limited to 40 persons who want to make a day of it. No cost except for the subway and a football
ticket. Meet at 116th and Broadway at
10:00 a.m. Football game begins at 1:30.
Tuesday, October 16 –
Lecture: The Legacy of Tammany Hall
*Tammany Hall, mayoralty, and William Tweed in the Encyclopedia
Friday, October 19 - Field Trip 19: Film Screening of Killer’s Kiss. The New-York Historical Society, as part of a film series on New York City in the 1950s, is showing Killer’s Kiss (1955), a generally unknown early work of master filmmaker Stanley Kubrick that he later described as his student film, in the era before film schools. Aside from hinting at Kubrick’s future greatness, the film shows New York City in its full nighttime glory during this tumultuous decade. Film starts at 7:00 pm. Cost is $3 for admission.
Saturday, October 20 – Field Trip 20: Walking Tour of Tribeca. Explore the historical and architectural wonders of New York's western frontier. Tribeca has come full circle - from residential neighborhood to industrial center and back. Stops include: St. John's Park, the Mercantile Building, and sites associated with architects Carrere & Hastings, McComb, and Bogardus Meet: Bogardus Triangle, intersection of Chambers, Hudson, & West Broadway at 1:00 pm. Cost is $8 to Big Onion.
Sunday, October 21 – Field Trip 21: Walking Tour of Upper East Side. Discover the residential, religious, and commercial settings of one of New York's most exquisite areas. The Upper East Side offers not only a panorama of ‘New York Society' but a vital mixture of history, architecture, and culture. Stops include: Temple Emmanu-El, the 7th Regiment Armory, Lever House, as well as the Metropolitan and Union League Clubs. Meet at 1:00 at the General Sherman statue, northwest corner of Fifth Avenue & 59th Street. Cost $8 to Big Onion.
Tuesday, October 23 -
City People: New Ways of Living in the Metropolis
*Newspapers, department stores, markets, subway in Encyclopedia.
*Andrew S. Dolkart, Morningside Heights: A History of its Architecture and Development (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998).
David Henkin, Written Words and Public Spaces in Antebellum New York (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999).
Ann Douglas, Terrible Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan in the
1920s (New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1995).
Thursday, October 25 – Movie: The World that Moses Built (Obenhaus Films, 1988).
*Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1975).
Thomas Kessner, Fiorello H. La Guardia and the Making of Modern New York (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1989).
Saturday, October 27
- Field Trip 23 - Walking Tour of Inwood Hill Park. Join NYC Urban Park Ranger for walking tour
through Inwood Hill Park, the last natural forest and salt marsh in Manhattan
and an area shaped by Robert Moses.
Following the tour, we will go to the soccer and football games between
Yale and Columbia at Baker Field.
Limited to 40 persons who want to make a day of it. Cost $3, plus subway fare and football
ticket. Meet at 116th and Broadway at
10:00 a.m. Men’s football game begins
at 1:30.
Sunday, October 28 – Field Trip 24: Halloween Weekend Walking Tour of Greenwood Cemetery. Covering some 474 acres and containing more than 600,000 graves, Green-Wood is New York's great Victorian "City of the Dead". This tour is an introduction to the history, architecture, and people of this Brooklyn treasure. Stops include the graves of DeWitt Clinton, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Samuel F.B. Morse, and Horace Greeley. Meet at Green-Wood's main entrance located at 5th Avenue & 25th Street, Brooklyn. One block east of the N train stop at 25th St. Cost $8 to Big Onion.
Tuesday, October 30 – Lecture: Tenements and Tenement House Reform
*Articles on poverty and African Americans in the Encyclopedia.
Jared N. Day, Urban Castles: Tenement Housing and landlord Activism in New York City, 1890-1943 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999).
Richard Plunz, A History of Housing in New York City (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990), chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, and 10.
Andrew R. Heinze, Adapting to Abundance: Jewish Immigrants, Mass Consumption, and the Search for an American Identity (New York: Columbia University Press, 1992)
John Kuo Wei Tchen, New York Before Chinatown: Orientals and the Shaping of American Culture, 1776-1882 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999).
A. Scott Henderson, Housing and the Democratic Ideal: The Life and Thought of Charles Abrams (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000).
Wednesday, October 31 - Field Trip 25: Halloween Parade, Sixth Avenue from Spring Street to 22nd Street. If we can think of a NYC history theme and an appropriate costume and organize at least 25 members of the class into a cohesive group, we might participate in this bizarre and unforgettable event.
Thursday, November 1
- Lecture: Inner City and Invisible Fences
Frederick Binder and David Reimers, All the Nations Under Heaven: An Ethnic and Racial History of New York City (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996)
Clarence Taylor, The Black Churches of Brooklyn (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996).
Irma Watkins-Owens, Blood Relations: Caribbean Immigrants
and the Harlem Community, 1900-1930 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1996).
Juan Flores, From Bomba to Hip-Hop: Puerto Rican Culture
and Latino Identity (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000).
Friday, November 2 - Field Trip 26: Film Screening of Pick Up on South Street. The New-York Historical Society, as part of a film series on New York City in the 1950s, is showing Pickup on South Street (1953). This film, directed by Sam Fuller, was made at the height of the McCarthy years and was attacked by some for legitimizing and exploiting Hollywood’s anti-communist hysteria. Its paranoia—barely contained by the city’s skyline, bridges, barges, subways and waterfront—reflects the mood of a nervous, mid-century New York. Showing is at 7:00 PM. Cost is $3 for admission.
Sunday, November 4 – Field Trip 28: Tour of Prospect Park. Meet at 1:30 at the triumphal arch in Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn (#2/#3 subway train), then join Professor Jackson for a stroll along the meadow, forest and lake. Cost is $1.
Tuesday, November 6 –
NO CLASS, ELECTION DAY
Wednesday, November 7 – Field Trip 29: Walking Tour of Lower Manhattan. Join Professor Jackson for a walking tour of lower Broadway, including the Woolworth Building, Park Row, St. Paul’s Chapel, and Trinity Church and its adjacent historic cemetery. Meet at 116th Street and Broadway at 1:00 PM.
Wednesday, November 7 – Field Trip 30: Elihu Rose Forum at NYHS - 10 Days that Shook New York: The Transit Strike of 1966. New York came to a standstill when transit workers went on strike as John Lindsay started his mayoral term in 1966. Vincent Cannato, author of The Ungovernable City: John Lindsay and His Struggle to Save New York; Joshua Freeman, author of Working-Class New York: Life and Labor Since World War II; and Roger Toussaint, president of the Transport Workers Union (Local 100), discuss city politics, mayoral drama, and the implications for labor that arose from this event. The program begins at 6:30 PM. Cost is $3 for admission. For reservations, please call (212) 873-3400 and press zero.
Thursday, November 8 - Lecture: Sunshine and Shadows: From Top to Bottom in Turn of the Century New York
*Craig Steven Wilder, A
Covenant With Color: Race and Social Power in Brooklyn (New York: Columbia
University Press, 2000).
Clarence Taylor, The Black Churches of Brooklyn (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996).
Roger Walkinger, Still the Promised City? African-Americans and New Immigrants in Post-industrial New York (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996).
Swen Beckert, The Monied Metropolis: New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie, 1850-1896 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
Friday, November 9 – Field Trip 31: Walking Tour of the Bowery. A walking tour along the Bowery, the most infamous street in New York City history. Join us as we walk the Bowery to discover such sites as Big Tim Sullivan's headquarters, P. T. Barnum`s Circus, McGuirk's Suicide Hall, theaters, dance halls, saloons, criminals, and the Handkerchief Girls. Meet at 1:00 pm at the Black Cube at Astor Place. Cost $8 to Big Onion.
Saturday, November 10 - Field Trip 32: Walking Tour of Harlem. As the center of African American culture, Harlem is one of New York's most intriguing neighborhoods. This tour emphasizes the history, architecture and people of this neighborhood. Stops include: Abyssinian Baptist Church, Striver's Row, and sites associated with Zora Neal Hurston, Marcus Garvey, and Langston Hughes. Meet at 1:00 PM at Northwest corner of 135th St. & Lenox Avenue at the Schomburg Center. Cost is $8 to Big Onion.
Tuesday, November 13
- Lecture: The Road to Hell: Transportation Policy and the Decline of the
United States
*Kenneth T. Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier, pp. 157-305.
*Elevated railroads, railroads, Andrew Haswell Green,
Cornelius Vanderbilt in Encyclopedia.
*Clifton Hood, 722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995), pp. 1-132 and 214-260.
Clay McShane, Down the Asphalt Path: The Automobile and the American City (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995).
Tuesday, November 13 - Field Trip
33: NYHS Event on Fragments of the Past. Discover New York’s history through relics
preserved for their associations with people, places, and events of our distant
and recent past. See Gouverneur Morris’
wooden leg, fragments of 17th century Fort Amsterdam, and a jar of dirt from
the pitcher’s mound at Yankee Stadium taken during the victorious 2000
season. Discuss the power of relics and
bring along suggestions for 21st century objects worth preserving for future
generations. Program led by Margaret K.
Hofer, Historical Society Associate Curator of Decorative Arts. Meet on the 4th floor of the New-York Historical Society at 6:00
PM. Cost is $3 for admission. For reservation, call 873-3400, then press
zero.
Thursday, November 15
– Lecture: High Culture in New York
City
*Articles on Metropolitan Museum of Art, Metropolitan Opera, Academy of Music, and Brooklyn Academy of Music in Encyclopedia.
Lynn Garafola with Eric Foner, Editors, Dance for a City: Fifty Years of the New York City Ballet (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999).
Jan Seidler Ramirez, Painting The Town: Cityscapes of New York (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000)
Sunday, November 18 - Field Trip 35: Walking Tour of Park Slope. Explore Brooklyn's "Gold Coast." of Park Slope. As one of New York's finest residential neighborhoods, Park Slope is a landmark district filled with remarkable architecture and splendid history. Stops include: The Montauk Club, Litchfield Manor, and sites associated with Charles P. H. Gilbert, Mayor William Gaynor, and Adams Chewing Gum. Meet at 1:00 PM at the southwest corner of St. Johns Place and Plaza Street West at the Grand Army Plaza 2/3 subway entrance. Cost $8 to Big Onion.
Tuesday, November 20
- Lecture: Architecture and Skyscrapers (Carol Willis)
*Architecture, skyscrapers, New York Stock Exchange in the Encyclopedia.
Margaret Heilbrun, Editor, Inventing the Skyline: The Architecture of Cass Gilbert (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000).
Thursday, November 22
– NO CLASS, THANKSGIVING
Tuesday, November 27
- Lecture: The Legacy of Robert Moses
Kenneth T. Jackson, "Robert Moses and the Planned Environment: A Re-Evaluation," in Joann P. Krieg, ed., Robert Moses: Single-Minded Genius (Interlaken, NY: Heart of the Lakes Publishing Company, 1989), pp. 21-30.
Joel Schwartz, The New York Approach: Robert Moses, Urban
Liberals, and the Redevelopment of the Inner City
Thursday, November 29
- Lecture: Is History for Losers?
Historic Preservation
*Historic preservation and city planning in the Encyclopedia.
Kenneth T. Jackson, The Ku Klux Klan in the City (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967).
Max Page, The Creative Destruction of Manhattan, 1900-1940 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000)
Friday, November 30 - Field
Trip 36: Bust Trip to Harlem and the Bronx.
An all day bus trip, led by Professor Jackson, to Harlem and the
South Bronx. Visiting central Harlem,
Striver's Row, and Sugar Hill, we will see the Jumel Mansion, the Grand
Concourse in the Bronx, the Poe Cottage, the real Little Italy (Belmont), East
Tremont, Parkchester, and Charlotte Street.
Cost: $15 for the expense of the bus, plus whatever you want to eat or
buy in Belmont. Meet at 8:45 a.m. at
116th Street and Broadway. Limited to
exactly 50 people.
Friday, November 30 – Field Trip 37: Film Screening of The Band Wagon at NYHS. Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire) is a down-on-his-luck song and dance man whose best work is behind him, until he is paired with ballerina Gabrielle Gerard (Cyd Charisse) in a Broadway-bound musical. Director Vincente Minnelli, in full-supersaturated Technicolor glory, tells an old-fashioned tale about highbrow and lowbrow culture while gently reflecting on the changing state of Broadway and the theater district. Showing begins at 7:00 PM at New-York Historical Society. Cost is $3 for admission.
Tuesday, December 4 -
Lecture: Waterfront and the Industrial Cycle
*Shipbuilding, labor, and South Street Seaport in the Encyclopedia.
Jameson W. Doig, Empire on the Hudson: Political Power and Progress at the Port of New York Authority (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001).
Richard K. Lieberman, Steinway and Sons (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995).
Joshua B. Freeman, Working-Class New York: Life and Labor Since World War II (New York: The Free Press, 2000).
Thursday, December 6
- Lecture: The Future of New York City
Chris McNickle, To be Mayor of New York: Ethnic Politics in the City (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993).
Friday, December 7 – Field Trip 40: Film Screening of Blackboard Jungle at NYHS. This classic film from 1955 was an early attempt by Hollywood to address the issues facing American youth in the 1950s. It explores a failing education system, racism, and the inner city of New York. Showing begins at 7:00 PM at New-York Historical Society. Cost $3 for admission.
Saturday, December 8 – Field Trip 41: Walking Tour of Immigrant New York. A multi-ethnic walking tour through the Jewish East Side, Chinatown, Little Italy, and what used to be called Little Germany, Little Ireland, and Little Africa. Stops include: the African Burial Ground, Mulberry Bend, and sites associated with Dr. Sun Yat Sen, Mother Cabrini, Jacob Riis, and Abraham Cahan. Meet at 1:00 at the southeast corner of Chambers Street & Broadway at City Hall Park.
Friday, December 14 – Field Trip 42: Film Screening of On the Waterfront at NYHS. One of the finest movies ever to focus on the New York area, this gritty view of the New Jersey docks stars Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, and Karl Malden. Showing begins at 7:00 PM at New-York Historical Society. Cost $3 for admission.
"Put it before them briefly so they will read it,
clearly so they will appreciate it,
picturesquely so they will remember it and above all
accurately so they will be guided by its light."
Joseph Pulitzer