…study of American social movements, including a discussion of the many American fascist groups in the 1930s. She is one of a very few historians who won the Bancroft prize for best…
Read More…Street. It has been at this location since 1924 and has served the Italian American community since its founding on August 14, 1888. Tiro a Segno calls itself “the oldest…
Read MoreNovelist Bernard Malamud is considered by many critics to be one of the finest American novelists of the 20th century. Born on April 26, 1914, in Brooklyn to a poor…
Read More…young Chinese American student, rode on horseback at the helm of the parade. She was outspoken in her passion for equal rights for women and Chinese Americans, and had recently…
Read MoreFebruary is Black History Month. We here at GVSHP are celebrating it by highlighting different sites and locations of significance to African-American history in the Village. A great source for this is…
Read More…friendship… Henry James. Photo courtesy of the New Yorker. Henry James was an American author regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism; he is considered…
Read More…that we must look for the real birthplace of the American drama.” To read our series about the roots of American drama in the Village click here, here, and here….
Read More…contributions made by Italian-Americans to our country. Our “Save the South Village” video campaign began as an effort to highlight the incredible history (Italian-American and so much more) of the…
Read More…Paula Gunn Allen was a European-American, Native American, and Arab-American poet, literary critic, activist, professor, and novelist. She identified with her mother’s people, the Laguna Pueblo. Her career drew from…
Read More…was once home to “Little Africa,” New York’s largest African-American community), to its Italian-American immigrant history, to its artistic and bohemian history. But this designation report also broke new ground…
Read More…their special histories, and reveal their (sometimes hidden) connections to the Village. The Abyssinian Baptist Church at 136-142 West 138th Street is the home of the second oldest African-American congregation…
Read More…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…
Read More…power to pass laws was subject to the approval of the governor and the Duke of York. Catholics, Jews, Native Americans, African Americans, and women were not allowed to vote….
Read More…in Angel Hair served as lyrical counterparts to communitarian radical organization.” As an example of Angel Hair’s countercultural verse, Kane offers Jack Anderson’s “American Flag:” “The American flag/ is being…
Read More…band. The tiny stage would be filled with as many as 25 of New York’s best African American performers of the time. Harriet Browne, showcased in her later years in…
Read More…A Raisin in the Sun, which continues to be a fixture in American theater and American classrooms. Nevertheless, The Sign is a stunning expression of Hansberry’s worldview. Hansberry’s life was…
Read More…were facilitated by businesses owned by Italian Americans, including grocery stores, restaurants, and pizzerias. These establishments played a crucial role in introducing Italian-American dishes to a broader audience, as well…
Read More…American, Jewish, Women’s, and LGBTQ history, to the Civil War, great artists, musicians, writers, booksellers and publishers, leftist/labor, pop culture, the Roosevelts and Stuyvesants, and much more. At every turn you’ll learn why this unprotected and endangered area of Greenwich Village and the East Village is…
Read More…the canon of 20th century American poets, is José García Villa, an acclaimed Filipino poet lovingly referred to as the “Pope of Greenwich Village.” Villa was born in the Singalong…
Read More…of the most mysterious and alluring characters of American 20th century literature. Dashing and elusive, he rose from nothing to becoming one of the most celebrated of American writers. Dashiell…
Read More…the movie was a kind of confederate monument, helping to inspire the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan and catalyzing an increase in violence against Black Americans. The story of…
Read More…had a brief existence, was a major leader in the American Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau movements. Detail Christopher Gray wrote in the New York Times, “Even on the…
Read More…also created what some experts call the “earliest known advertising campaign” by introducing the Lorillard logo of a Native American smoking a pipe beside a hogshead or barrel of tobacco…
Read MoreAlex Haley. Source: Courtesy of Bill Haley https://www.pri.org/programs/studio-360/american-icons-autobiography-malcolm-x Pulitzer-prize winning American author Alex Haley was born this day, on August 11, 1921. GVSHP’s Civil Rights & Social Justice Map highlights…
Read More…Henry Clinton offered freedom to all slaves who fought for the British. Similar promises were made by the American side, and historians estimate that between 5,000 and 8,000 African Americans…
Read More…with Latin American descent.) Naiomy spoke specifically about Basquiat as a mixed-race artist; his identity as an African-American artist is very visible, but the full picture is that his father was…
Read MoreIn the years following World War I, Americans feared communist infiltration of our country following the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. As we continue to see today, when fear outweighs rational…
Read More…which examine African American theories of law and justice and meditate on the color blue in Black life. She earned her Ph.D. in American Studies from Harvard University, a J.D. from…
Read More…worked hard to fight for himself and the African-American community, eventually becoming the first African-American to address the United States House of Representatives. He also at one time resided at…
Read More…organized the Harlem Suitcase Theater. Led by IWO vice president and Harlem resident Louise Thompson Patterson, the organization sought to bring socially conscious theater to African American audiences throughout the…
Read More…prime revolutionary in the arts of this century and the American dancer and choreographer whose name became synonymous with modern dance” by The New York Times. This great American modern dance…
Read MoreIra Frederick Aldridge is today remembered as one of the most renowned actors of the nineteenth century, one of the highest-paid actors of his time, and the first Black American…
Read More…Greenwich Village between 1954 and 1965 – a key period in the American civil rights movement between the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling and the passage of the Voting…
Read More…Harris poll, only the Bible fared more popular in the eyes of American readers. While many are familiar with the novel’s story depicting the misadventures of southern belle Scarlett O’Hara,…
Read More…in American history, spreading throughout Manhattan. Hundreds of people were killed in these Draft Riots and many more were seriously injured; African Americans were the frequent target of the rioters’…
Read More…area was settled by a free Black community and became a rich hub of African American culture. Sanitary & Topographical Map of the City and Island of New York (1865) by Egbert…
Read More…founding member of the American Association for Old Age Security, for which he served as executive secretary. The organization, which changed its name to the American Association for Social Security…
Read More…to when the East Village was a German-American community. Click here to view the whole tour. Enjoy this tour? We also have East Village Building Block tours on African American…
Read More…was designed by Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895), the great American architect who was also the first American to attend the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and became the center of…
Read More…19th century. His work supported American interventionism and deployed simplistic stereotypes unfortunately common at the time. In addition to covering the Spanish American War, he also corresponded on the Second…
Read More…American branch of the prominent British publishing house. Macmillan grew from a small London bookstore founded in 1843 into one of England’s most important publishers. Its American branch, founded in…
Read MoreJoin us for a comprehensive history of the Provincetown Players and their influence on modern American theatre. The Provincetown Players created a revolution in American theater, making room for truly…
Read More…noted celebrity trees? The Hare Krishna Tree One of Tompkins Square Park’s most prominent features is its collection of venerable American elm (Ulmus americana) trees. One elm, in particular, located…
Read More…widely exhibited in North America and Europe and is included in several American museums. Collins is the founder of the Water Street Atelier, The Grand Central Academy of Art, and…
Read More…laboratory and cross-section of tenement types which served as the homes for much of NYC’s African American community in the 19th century as well as many of the city’s immigrants before…
Read More…the South of Union Square area here. This week, our Birthplace of American Modernism Tour takes place, featuring the many artists that frequented or resided within this area. You can…
Read MoreThis is the latest installation of “South of Union Square, the Birthplace of American Modernism,” a series that explores how the area south of Union Square shaped some of the…
Read More…Kuzub having referred to herself as “the last artist of all the artists that were on the street.” Further Reading: Messengers of Modernism: American Studio Jewelry 1940-1960 by Toni Greenbaum…
Read More…documenting over 120 sites of significance to the struggle for LGBT, Women’s, African-American, Latino/a, and Asian-American Civil Rights in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo — view it at gvshp.org/civilrightsmap….
Read More…connections to gay liberation and the African-American struggle for freedom, the history behind the name is a little murkier, and a little more complicated to unravel, than one might expect. Northward…
Read More…the city’s best mayor (and arguably both its first Italian-American and first Jewish mayor), who championed political reform and immigrant rights, and led New York City through the Great Depression…
Read More…also launched an online Civil Rights and Social Justice Map, documenting over 120 sites of significance to the struggle for LGBT, Women’s, African-American, Latino/a, and Asian-American Civil Rights in Greenwich…
Read MoreFor nearly a quarter of a century, the International Workers Order fought relentlessly for racial equality, interracial solidarity, industrial unions, and social security programs that would protect all Americans. Located…
Read More…in her book American Moderns writes that Dodge “chang(ed) herself from a rich woman of limited talents, an epigone of Continental fashions, to a New York celebrity who melded real…
Read More…America, Dyngus Day is celebrated as a fusion of American and Polish traditions, with “polka bands, a parade, consumption of krupnik, and Polish food accompanying American patriotic songs sung in…
Read More…that dates back to the earliest settlements in the city. As mentioned in our letter to DOT, Astor Place follows the path of an old Native American trail that appears…
Read More…is an artist?” and “what is an activist?” through the lens of the experience of Africans and Black Americans in Greenwich Village, New York City, and America. Art and activism…
Read MoreWe’ve recently unearthed information about another great African American jazz musician who called our neighborhood south of Union Square home, and have added him to our South of Union Square…
Read More…numerous progressive organizations were founded and blossomed: the first organization to insure contraception, the first African American magazine, and a chapter of the oldest women’s peace organization — the latter…
Read More…he worked aggressively and effectively to transform American culture in relation to issues of censorship, sexuality, race, and class. Click here to access the full map and tour. 795 Broadway…
Read More…a summer day, and I want to be wanted more than anything else in the world,’” was published just two years after the American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality as a…
Read More…Barnwell Roosevelt, it was home to the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, famous for its early advances in filmmaking technology. It was also one of the first American film studios!…
Read More…Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the American Academy in Berlin. On February 25, 2010, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama…
Read More…American Foundation. Read had graduated from Smith College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and had been active in the women’s suffrage movement in the 1910s. She typified the…
Read More…rights. They regularly met at 147 Christopher Street. Romare Bearden (American, 1911–1988). Pittsburgh Memory, 1964. Mixed-media collage of various printed papers and graphite on board, 8 ½ x 11 ¾…
Read MorePlan Would Likely Only Create 1/5 of Projected Affordable Housing, Push Out Asian American and Lower Income Residents Would Likely Destroy More Affordable Housing Than It Creates A newly-released study by…
Read More…for an African American audience which showcased some of the great writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance, and which has been called “the most widely read and influential periodical…
Read More…Rights Party hoped to use the nominations to reunite suffragists with African-American civil rights activists. Woodhull was vilified in the press for her support of free love, and she was…
Read More…in concert pieces like El Salon Mexico (1937), Fanfare for the Common Man (1942), and Lincoln Portrait (1942), Mr. Copland touched a chord in the American psyche reached by no…
Read More…Known for his philanthropy, Archer Milton founded The Hispanic Society of America in New York City. He was also a generous benefactor to the American Geographical Society, the American Academy…
Read More…(1870-1938) was an American Painter whose work is associated with the Ashcan School. He began his career as a newspaper and magazine illustrator, and his roots in that field led…
Read More…Native American Lenape presence in New York City, we will explore the lives and impact of the first nonnative visitors, residents, and businesses in Lower Manhattan. African American communities in…
Read More…close to the intersection of Kintecoying, the “crossroads of the three nations.” This settlement also situated the Lenape in great hunting and gathering position. Map of Native American tribes around…
Read More…Sewing Machine Company, one of the first American multi-national businesses, bought No. 14 Fifth Avenue around 1859 for himself, his common-law wife Mary Ann Sponsler, and their children. Singer revolutionized…
Read More…prominent work, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, continues to shape our understanding of cities and to fuel discussion surrounding their study and planning. In that book, Jacobs grounded her…
Read More…It fueled some of the most ground-breaking experiments in the chronicles of the American Stage. The Downtown Theater movement, The Living Theatre, and Theatre of the Absurd all took root…
Read More…first black Catholic church in the North, located in what was then the heart of New York’s African American community, Greenwich Village’s ‘Little Africa.’ This African American parish’s taking over…
Read MoreThe unprotected area south of Union Square for which we are seeking landmark protections lives at the intersection of commerce, bookselling, publishing, leftist politics, African American civil rights efforts, and so much more. One…
Read More…larger network of missionary organizations seeking to evangelize and “civilize” Native American communities across the nation. The League was also a branch of the Woman’s Auxiliary to the Board of…
Read More…the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, and many others. Though they span different eras and fight for different causes, the Village’s social change champions are all united by…
Read More…will cost about $500,000.” Detail of Broadway Facade, The Roosevelt Building. Image via LPC Designation Report., Jessica Baldwin, August 2018 One of the building’s first tenants was the American Ball…
Read More…Eileen Morris (Artistic Director of The Ensemble Theatre, Houston) and Marvin McAllister, a nationally-recognized author, Professor at Winthrop University, and scholar on the African Grove Theatre and the American Theatre….
Read MoreAmerican writer Jane Jacobs (L) and architect Philip Johnson (R) stand with picketing crowds outside Penn Station to protest the building’s demolition, New York City. Placards read: ‘AGBANY is here’…
Read More…to transform the American musical and launching the careers of one of the greatest song-writing duos in American history, she undertook while living in a modest ground floor apartment in…
Read More…in Greenwich Village connected to the African American leaders and institutions located here in the 19th century when this neighborhood was the center of African American life in New York…
Read MoreJames Hewlett as Richard III in a c. 1821 production. Hewlett, an actor who got his start at the African Grove Theater, was one of the most famous African-American actors…
Read More…extraordinary significance to the African American and LGBTQ civil rights movement, as well as the Women’s Suffrage and women’s rights movements. This includes the historic former headquarters of the nation’s oldest…
Read MoreMarie’s Crisis. Photo courtesy of Alice Lum. On December 19, 1776, Thomas Paine published The American Crisis, a series of pamphlets that helped fan the flames of American patriotism to…
Read More…new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” 21. In his Nobel address, Dylan said: “The words in Shakespeare’s plays were meant to be acted on the stage. Just…
Read More…known as “Little Africa” — a predominantly African-American section of Greenwich Village centered around Minetta Street and Lane, Gay Street, and Thompson Street — still existed but was rapidly disappearing…
Read More…Ned Katz. Katz is a scholar of LGBTQ+ history and American history, as well as a painter and artist. He is the author of Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay…
Read More…since at least the beginnings of the 20th century. In fact, among the most important of the movements in American theater were nurtured right in the heart of the Village….
Read More…Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. and The National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C. Kahn is a member of the National Academy of Design and the American Academy of…
Read MoreMarch is Irish American History Month, and of course tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day. What better time to explore the rich Irish history of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and…
Read More…African-American life, has been a force for abolition and civil rights since the late 18th century, was the first black church in New York City, and was located, before it…
Read More…remains are the words scrawled upon an unwinding panorama, vestiges of dusty stills peeled from memory, a threnody of gone voices drifting across the American plain. The One Inside is a…
Read More…the prize. Lindbergh’s Ticker-tape Parade So what’s the Village connection? The $25,000 Orteig Prize was offered by Frech American hotelier Raymond Orteig, owner of the Lafayette Hotel and operator of…
Read More…proudly becoming part of the American mainstream, with hopes of integration and success in American society. American culture included integrated public schools, which was an important part of New York…
Read More…1884, it was home to Jacob Day, one of New York’s most wealthy and successful 19th century African American businessmen and real estate owners, crusader for African American civil rights, and…
Read More…Gay Street, long known for its African American residents, and “Little Africa,” which was centered around nearby Minetta Street and Minetta Lane. Like many African-Americans living in the Village at…
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