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Category: Social & Political Movements

Landmarks of Little Africa: Black History in the South Village

In honor of the incredible strides made in preserving the South Village over the past two decades, Village Preservation has named December “South Village Month” in honor of our kicking off and finishing off our ten-year landmarking campaign in the last month of the year. The three historic district designations and half dozen individual landmark […]

Stonewall National Monument: Marking Nearly 60 Years of Pride and Resilience

It is the first National Monument designated to mark LGBTQIA+ history. President Obama designated the Stonewall National Monument on June 24, 2016, becoming official on June 27, 2016. The road to designation was a long one. In the 1990s Village Preservation, then known as Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), along with the now-defunct […]

LGBTQ+ History in the Image Archive: Utilizing the New Tag Feature

A new and exciting feature of Village Preservation’s sizable Historic Image Archive is the ability to filter images by category, or “tag.” We have painstakingly tagged every single one of our nearly 5,000 historic photographs (an ever growing number), so that users can easily view images organized by their interests. As an example, the “LGBTQ+” […]

Black American History Revealed at Endangered House on West 13th Street

Village Preservation has been actively campaigning to designate 50 West 13th Street as an individual landmark since 2020, when it was still home to the 13th Street Repertory Company. Unfortunately, the theater had to let go of their lease in 2022, and as a result, the fate of the building is now uncertain, making the […]

Celebrating the Landmarks of Immigration in the Greenwich Village Historic District

April is both the time of year when immigrant heritage week is celebrated in New York (commemorating the day in 1907 when more immigrants passed through Ellis Island than any other single day), and when we celebrate the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District in April of 1969, finally extending landmark protections to a […]

Crystal Eastman, Greenwich Village’s Suffragist Lawyer

From the domestic sphere to politics, Crystal Eastman challenged many fundamental elements of women’s roles in early twentieth century American culture. She was a trained lawyer, outspoken pacifist, fair labor law advocate, suffragist, and one of the original founders of the American Civil Liberties Union.  Born in 1881 in Marlborough, Massachusetts, Eastman spent most of […]

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: Labor Activist and ‘Rebel Girl’ of the Village

It is no surprise that social movements for workers’ rights and freedom of speech were propelled by activists from Greenwich Village. The neighborhood in the early twentieth century was a meeting ground for a heterogeneous collection of people who sometimes shared little in common except for their passion for justice. Yet they argued with each […]

Ida Rauh: A Pioneer at the Crossection of American Theater and Civil Rights

March is Women’s History Month, and while we celebrate women’s history all year, we do so especially during this particular month when we highlight the countless women of our neighborhoods who have fought tirelessly and courageously for equality, justice, and opportunity in our nation. It is the perfect time to remember that we are continuing to […]

WeWah & BarCheeAmpe: Pioneers of Two-Spirit Advocacy, Rooted in Greenwich Village

Coined in 1990 at the Third Annual Inter-tribal Native American First Nations Gay and Lesbian American Conference held in Winnipeg, the term “Two Spirit” (2S) refers to indigenous individuals whose gender expression and sexuality transcended Western binaries. The term reflects complex Indigenous understandings of gender roles, spirituality, and the long history of sexual and gender […]

Immigrant Heritage Week: The Importance of Preserving Immigrant History in Our Neighborhoods

Immigrant Heritage Week was established in 2004 and is coordinated by the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs as a city-wide celebration that honors the experiences and contributions of immigrants in New York City. The week commemorates April 17th,1909, when 11,747 immigrants entered the U.S. through Ellis Island — more than any other day in history. This citywide celebration honors […]

“The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” and Lorraine Hansberry’s 1960s Greenwich Village

Many of us may daydream about being transported back to the bohemian Greenwich Village of the 1960s. Beyond our own imaginations, one particularly effective way to do that is via Lorraine Hansberry’s incisive play The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, revived at the Brooklyn Academy of Music from February 4 through March 24, 2023, the […]

St. Mark’s Playhouse and the Negro Ensemble Company

The 1960s saw immense change as calls for civil rights and racial justice transformed our cultural landscape. In tandem with these movements, many of which have their roots in our neighborhoods, Black artists across the country used their platforms to amplify the kaleidoscopic perspectives and experiences of black people in America. The Negro Ensemble Company […]

Reframing the Urban Pattern

Accounting for 40 percent of energy consumption in the United States, residential and commercial buildings are a focal point of energy policy, research, and data. Since 1950, the United States has been making strides toward creating a more efficient energy system. Most of this progress, however, has overlooked the ability to retrofit and renovate the […]

The Weight of Demolition Waste

In 2016, we revisited Washington Square Park and the radical fight to go completely “car-free”. At the time, it was a matter of preventing power broker Robert Moses from devastating our neighborhood by building a highway through it. But this communal victory was also an act of environmental justice for Greenwich Village.  The fight for […]

Bringing Graham’s 19 Poses to Village Voices’ “Monument to Choice”

It makes sense to combine the artistry of Graham 2 with the historical preservation and inspirational work of Village Voices to create a unique experience for our neighborhoods. The result was an event that gathered community members to celebrate both the passage of the 19th Amendment and how far society still must go to ensure the rights of all people, and in particular those who are trans, non-binary, and women, have equal rights.

Learn About Radical Social Movements in the Village and the Battle for Free Speech

Village Preservation presents programs that offer insight into the rich history of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. Sometimes that history provides keen insight into the issues of today. What issues are you interested in affecting in today’s society? Labor, peace, birth control, civil liberties, women’s rights? Central to every one of these movements […]

A Different Kind of Transit ‘Signal’ at Broadway-Lafayette

Deep below Broadway and Lafayette Street, in the passageway connecting the intersection’s namesake station with the Bleecker Street downtown platform, is an art installation that honors the communities who lived here centuries before the subway was even built. “Signal” by Mel Chin, in collaboration with G. Peter Jemison, was installed when the entire station was […]

VILLAGE VOICES 2022 Highlights the Extraordinary History of 70 Fifth Avenue

The striking 12-story Beaux Arts style office building at 70 Fifth Avenue was constructed in 1912 for publisher George Plimpton. It housed an extraordinary array of civil rights and social justice organizations, philanthropic groups, publishers, and non-governmental organizations over the years. This includes the headquarters of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, the […]

October Programs: Building Community in our Neighborhoods

At Village Preserevation our tours, lectures, book talks, exhibitions, and other public programs explore and celebrate preservation, history and culture. Beyond sharing vital information from the past and present about Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo, our programs bring together community members from various walks of life to connect and learn from one another. Whether it is participants sharing their favorite memories of concerts at Filmore East on our East Village Rock Tour or gathering at a local school to learn about historical figures who helped shape our community, like Sarah Curry who founded the Little Missionary Day School, our programs provide the vital service of connecting you with your community and its history.

Organizing for Irish Independence #SouthOfUnionSquare

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the neighborhood South of Union Square was home to a thriving community of Irish immigrants and Irish Americans. This community played a major role in shaping the development of New York City. Prominent Irish New Yorkers including Andrew Carrigan, James McCreery, William Michael Harnet, and Alfred E. Smith […]

James Baldwin Leaves an Enduring Legacy in Greenwich Village

“For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn’t any other tale to tell, it’s the only light we’ve got in all this darkness.”                    -James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues” James Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December […]

Fulfillingness’ First Finale: A Stevie Wonder Classic Born of Pain, Recovery, and Greenwich Village

On July 22, 1974, Stevie Wonder’s seventh studio album, Fulfillingness’ First Finale, was released by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. The classic album, considered the fourth of five from Wonder’s ”classic” period (which included the earlier Where I’m Coming From, Music From My Mind, Talking Book, and Innervisions, and the later Songs in the […]

Penny Arcade: Art Creator, and Conservator

The wonderful and daring performance artist Penny Arcade (b. July 15, 1950, New Britain, CT.) is well known for the great works she has created and shared on stages large and small across New York and the world. A dear friend of Village Preservation’s, she’s also (perhaps less well known) someone who has made incredibly […]

Birth Control as Health Care: The Legacy of the International Workers Order #SouthOfUnionSquare

Though forms of birth control existed long before the introduction of “the pill” in 1960, most women often did not have easy access to it. In the early 20th century, public views of birth control were often negative, discussion of it was usually stifled, and in general women did not have a great deal of […]

Exploring ‘Queer Money Project’ and Local LGBTQ+-owned Businesses

To celebrate Pride this year, we’re guiding you on an exploration of today’s LGBTQ+-owned businesses led by the Queer Money Project — to celebrate both the contributions of the LGBTQ+ community in our neighborhoods, and to support small businesses (both of which we do 24/7, 365-days-a-year, but what better time than now?). And we’re doing it in an exciting new way that allows you to participate in Village Preservation programming on your own time. Grab a friend and visit these sites that we’ll reveal on Instagram throughout NYC Pride Weekend.

Alvin Baltrop: Photographs of a Dystopian Past

Greenwich Village’s Hudson River piers have always held a certain clandestine fascination for some segment of the public. After an automobile crash caused the elevated West Side Highway to collapse in December of 1973, Piers 18 – 52 fell into a derelict state, creating a dystopian yet incredibly private space for LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers to […]

Socialists, Communists, and Revolutionaries on Fifth Avenue #SouthOfUnionSquare

New York’s Fifth Avenue rarely conjures up images of radicals or revolutionaries; it’s more commonly associated with high-end shopping, well-heeled cultural institutions, and corporate headquarters. But cross 14th Street, and all that changes, especially if you step back into the 20th and 19th centuries, when Fifth Avenue south of that great dividing line (and South […]

The Redstockings: “Rapping” for Reproductive Rights in Greenwich Village

Founded in 1969 by activists Ellen Willis and Shulamith Firestone, the Redstockings were one of the first Women’s Liberation groups, known for their then-radical support of a woman’s right to an abortion. Based in New York City, their name is a portmanteau of “Bluestockings,” an 18th century women’s literacy group, and “Red,” then a color […]

Go West! – The Leather & Denim Scene in the Weehawken Street Historic District

The Weehawken Street Historic District (designated May 2, 2006) consists of a small area on three blocks around West, Christopher, and 10th Streets. Although primarily known for its relation to New York City’s maritime industry from the 1830s to 1920s, the tiny district was also the center of New York’s Queer Leather and Denim (L&D) […]

More Than A Century of Dance at A More Than 225 Year Old Church

On April 25, 1795 the cornerstone was laid for St. Marks Church-in-the-Bowery — a historic cornerstone itself of our neighborhoods. What no one knew then was that the building would be a center for the dance community for one hundred years and counting. The history of dance and performance at St. Mark’s is rich and deep, and continues to engage New York City in unique and significant ways. 

The Documents of History: Mattachine Society of New York’s Archival Papers of 1951-1976 at the New York Public Library

As Village Preservation prepares to unveil a plaque commemorating the “Sip-In” at Julius’ Bar on April 21, 1966, one might wonder about the Mattachine Society of New York, which organized this historic event as part of their broader participation in the 1945-1969 Homophile Movement in New York City and beyond. We know the leaders of […]

Celebrating Our Neighborhoods’ Immigrant Heritage

New York is a city of immigrants and, moreover, we are a nation largely of immigrants (Native Americans and the descendants of those brought here as slaves being the main and notable exceptions). This is especially true of our neighborhoods, which have attracted immigrants of all stripes for centuries. Immigration and the diversity of our […]

Making a Place for Play — WPA Era Neighborhood Playgrounds in our Neighborhoods

Approved as part or the New Deal on April 8th, 1935, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) had a significant impact on our neighborhoods’ social resources and cultural capital. Considered to be one of 20th century America’s largest investments in social infrastructure, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) pursued over 26 different projects in the Greenwich Village, […]

John Brown and Edmonia Lewis: Civil Rights Crusaders Who Intersected in Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village has long been a mecca and incubator for radical social justice advocates. With Village Preservation’s interactive map of the Greenwich Village Historic District as well as our Civil Rights and Social Justice Map, we can take a virtual walk through the neighborhood to visit significant sites related to many of these remarkable activists. […]

Local Lesbian Bookstores: Founders of a Feminist Future

Historically, our neighborhoods have hosted many independent and unconventional bookstores. These small institutions have helped define the character of our neighborhoods as a literary capital of the Western world. With apartments as small as ours, these bookstores took on the role of collective public living rooms, acting as places of community gathering and organization. But, […]

‘The Birth of a Nation’ Galvanizes a Movement #SouthOfUnionSquare

Throughout the 20th century, the area south of Union Square attracted painters, writers, publishers, and radical social organizations, many of whom were challenging accepted American social and cultural ideals. The release on February 8, 1915 of The Birth of a Nation — a silent white supremacist propaganda film credited with both resurrecting the Ku Klux […]

The Eclectic Streetscapes #SouthOfUnionSquare

Beautifully detailed 1899 “Mail & Express” Broadway Streetscape Illustrations demonstrate the urgency of Village Preservation’s campaign to landmark the area #SouthOfUnionSquare. The neighborhood #SouthOfUnionSquare can be characterized as a true crossroads — where art, politics, industry, commerce, the New York elite, and the working class collided to create an eclectic built environment and cultural ferment emblematic of […]

2021 Village Preservation Public Programs Round-Up

As we close the chapter on yet another wild and successful of year of public programs at Village Preservation, we wanted to take the time to reflect and highlight some of 2021’s best moments. Despite the twists and turns of this year’s ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, we’ve hosted 80 different educational lectures, book talks, and walking […]

Abbie Hoffman: East Village Counterculture Icon

Abbie Hoffman, born Abbot Howard Hoffman on November 30, 1936, was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party (“Yippies”) and was a member of the Chicago Seven. A leader of the counterculture movement of the late 1960s and a vocal anti-war proponent, it is no wonder that he found himself in […]

An East Village Raid On The ‘Wobblies’ Hobbles, But Doesn’t Destroy, the I.W.W.

In 1917, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a series of raids on offices around the nation belonging to the Industrial Workers of the World (also known as the the IWW, or the “Wobblies”), an international labor union that was alleged to have had ties to socialist, syndicalist, and anarchist organizations. When the United […]

#SouthOfUnionSquare, the Birthplace of American Modernism: Raphael and Moses Soyer

“South of Union Square, the Birthplace of American Modernism” is a series that explores how the area south of Union Square shaped some of the most influential American artists of the 20th century. In the 20th century, the area south of Union Square attracted painters, writers, publishers, and radical social organizations, many of whom were […]

Woman Crush Wednesday: Beatrix Farrand

On the northeastern edge of the Greenwich Village Historic District, at 21 East 11th Street, just west of University Place, sits an 1848 late Greek Revival townhouse with a wide stoop topped with a transitional Italianate door. The beautifully preserved townhouse bears a red Historic Landmarks Preservation Center Cultural Medallion in honor of trailblazing landscape […]

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage

Hispanic Heritage Month, which is celebrated to recognize the achievements and contributions of Hispanic Americans, runs from September 15th through October 15th. There is a reason for this oddly scheduled “month.” On September 15th, 1821, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua declared their independence from Spain. Mexico and Chile celebrate their 1810 declarations […]

Romare Bearden and the Formation of An African American Artistic Identity Downtown

Groundbreaking artist, intellectual, and activist Romare Bearden (September 2, 1911 – March 12, 1988) was born in Mecklenberg County, North Carolina. When Bearden was about 3 years old, his parents Bessye Johnson Banks Bearden and Richard Howard Bearden moved the family to Harlem in search of a better life as so many other southern African Americans […]

Club 57’s “Subterranean Spirit” on St. Mark’s Place

In 1978, a Polish emigré named Stanley Strychacki rented a basement space in a church at 57 St. Marks’ Place. The four-story-with-basement building, originally built as a private dwelling, was occupied by the Holy Cross Polish National Church throughout the mid 20th-century. Strychacki’s goal, along with co-founders Ann Magnusson and Susan Hannaford, was “to create an […]

Louise Bryant

Louise Bryant was always her own person, and always somewhat of a paradox. She was a fearless journalist, activist, suffragist, and talented writer, who was also a study in contradictions — a chronic dissembler who sought the truth, a free love advocate who was prone to fits of jealousy, and a communist who twice married wealthy […]

Downtown Drag + Performance in the 1990s — the Jillian Jonas Collection

The Village Preservation Image Archive highlights the history of the people and built environment of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo, as well as New York City in general. It has been assembled over the years through generous donations, and consists of thousands of photos in several dozen different collections. Our most recent addition […]

LGBTQ+ Pride Programs Roundup

The roots of LGBTQ+ life in our neighborhoods are deeper than we even know. In the documentary PS. Burn This Letter Please, which premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and was presented at one of Village Preservation’s Pride programs, gay historian George Chauncey spoke about using police records and newspaper articles because personal papers […]

Out of the Broom Closet: Gay Activist & Village Wiccan Leo Martello

Leo Martello (September 26, 1930 — June 29, 2000) was a noted Wiccan priest, gay rights activist, Greenwich Village resident, and author. He was a founding member of the Strega Tradition, a modern form of Wicca informed by Italian heritage and ancestral teachings. During his life, he published a number of books on such esoteric subjects as […]

The Empress of Blues, South of Union Square

Nicknamed “The Empress of Blues,” Bessie Smith was one of the most popular female blues singers of the 1920s and 30s. She influenced many vocalists who followed her, from Janis Joplin to Anita Baker. Her songs spoke to and about working people, African Americans, liberated women, and their (and anyone else’s) everyday troubles. Her “spoken […]

Research Resource: Surrealism in our Neighborhoods

Curious about the life and legacy of Surrealist & Dadaist artists in our neighborhoods? Check out this incredible research resource created by Paul McRandle and featured on his blog Surrealist NYC.  This interactive tool maps and explores the studios, homes, and collective social spaces of Surrealist artists who took refuge in Greenwich Village after World War […]

Fighting for Civil Rights at 80 Fifth Avenue

For its entire existence over twenty years, the International Worker’s Order’s (IWO) New York City headquarters was located at 80 Fifth Avenue. 80 Fifth Avenue, at 14th Street, is located in the historically rich but endangered area south of Union Square for which Village Preservation is seeking landmark protections. Our ongoing research about the area has […]

Celebrating Chino García, co-founder of CHARAS/El Bohío

In 2015, Village Preservation conducted an oral history with community organizer Carlos “Chino” García, one of the co-founders of the legendary community organization CHARAS. CHARAS for many years occupied the landmarked former P.S. 64 building on East 9th Street in the East Village. That interview gave some unique, first person insights into one of the […]

Roots of Jazz Run Deep in Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village is, in some circles, considered the “Capital of Jazz.” As jazz critic, author, and president of the Jazz Journalists Association Howard Mandel put it: “Greenwich Village is the capital of jazz because it has welcomed adventurous thinking, artistic expression, and audiences eager to hear the best of what’s exciting and new.” Some things […]

Ferlinghetti and Rosset: Censorship-Battling Superheroes

Our neighborhoods are not only places where great literature was written. It’s also where great literature was published, sometimes at great legal peril, and where tectonic-shifting battles against censorship were led and won. Nowhere is that more true than in the area South of Union Square, where art, commerce, and activism collided. And perhaps no […]

“Amended,” a Podcast Going Deeper on Women’s History

There are many important takeaways from Village Preservation’s 19th Amendment Centennial StoryMap; there are a remarkable number of people and places in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo who played key roles in the women’s suffrage movement. That these neighborhoods were long centers of political ferment and progressive social change, and people here played […]

O Pioneers! Two Remarkable Women of Bank Street: Willa Cather and Lucy Sprague Mitchell

Women’s History Month gives us yet another opportunity to celebrate the marvelous and groundbreaking women who have lived and worked in our neighborhoods.  Today we look at two pioneering women who lived and worked on Bank Street: Willa Cather and Lucy Sprague Mitchell. Bank Street Many of our streets are beloved by their residents and […]

Ada Louise Huxtable and More Than A Century of Preservation, Architecture, and Liveable Cities

Ada Louise Huxtable (March 14, 1921 – January 7, 2013) loved architecture, New York and its neighborhoods, preservation, and the gifts to society that built environments shape. It is this love, and her incredible skill as a writer, that earned Huxtable her job at the New York Times as the first-ever architecture critic, her reputation, […]

When the Village was Red: Celebrating the Legacy of the Paris Commune in our Neighborhoods

On March 18, 1871, the Paris Commune began — a three-month-long worker-led insurrection in Paris and experiment in self-governance. On that day, workers, anarchists, communists, and artisans took over the city, and began to re-organize it according to the principles of association, self-determination, and justice for all oppressed members of society. Notably, among the so-called Communards who participated in the uprising, many were […]

Village Preservation Historic Plaques Honor Trailblazing Women in our Neighborhoods

Today we’re looking at the historic plaques that Village Preservation has placed throughout our neighborhoods commemorating some of the amazing women who have lived, worked, and changed history here. Historic plaques are a great tool to educate the public about the remarkable history of our neighborhoods, and the incredible people, events, and movements connected to sites […]

Women of the Mimeo Revolution: Diane DiPrima & Anne Waldman

In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating, honoring, and advocating for the important contributions of women in our neighborhoods. And today we’re highlighting the innovative work of women poets in the mid-century mimeograph revolution.  As Rona Cran writes in “Space Occupied: Women Poet-Editors and the Mimeograph Revolution in Mid-Century New York City,” the downtown […]