We’ve all seen them: signs tucked under the official names of local streets, honoring a neighborhood notable with a “Way,” “Place,” or “Corner.” Unfortunately, more often than not, the people on these “co-named” street signs are often unknown to most passers-by. We look at three of thosehonorees: Bella Abzug, Sara Curry, and Frieda Zames.
Dr. Bruce Raymond Voeller, a pioneer of AIDS research and a significant early gay rights activist, was born on May 12, 1934 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He’s no household name, and his early biography would provide few hints as to why he should be. He graduated from Reed College in 1956, was awarded a five-year fellowship […]
On August 8, 1974, President Richard Nixon announced his resignation, effective noon the following day. Following months of impeachment proceedings, Nixon could read the writing on the wall that his time as President would be coming to an end, one way or another. There were several prominent Villagers who played key roles in the push […]
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District on April 29, 1969. One of the city’s oldest and still largest historic districts, it’s a unique treasure trove of rich history, pioneering culture, and charming architecture. GVSHP will be spending 2019 marking this anniversary with events, lectures, and new interactive […]
The Fourteenth Amendment, adopted on July 28, 1868, played an important role in setting legal precedents for equality after the Civil War. The most radically worded of the Reconstruction Amendments, it was intended by its post–Civil War Radical Republican sponsors to stop the efforts by the former Confederate states to nullify emancipation. Its language promotes “liberty” […]
Greenwich Village is well known as the home to libertines in the 1920s and feminists in the 1960s and ’70s. But going back to at least the 19th century, the neighborhoods now known as Greenwich Village, the East Village, and Noho were home to pioneering women who defied convention and changed the course of history, […]
On July 27, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee recommended that President Richard M. Nixon be impeached and removed from office. And while many remember the two year saga which placed the executive office and country in turmoil, they might not remember that several prominent Villagers were at the forefront of this chapter in our history. […]
Politician, feminist and Villager Bella Abzug is featured in our Civil Rights Map. An outspoken advocate to the Equal Rights Amendment and co-founder or the organization Women Strike for Peace, she was also one of the first members of Congress to support lesbian and gay rights. Bella Savitzky Abzug (July 24, 1920 – March 31, […]
Want to learn more about Bella Abzug and other feminist and civil rights pioneers like her? Visit GVSHP’s Civil Rights and Social Justice Map. Bella Savitzky Abzug was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrants from Russia on July 24, 1920. First elected on November 3, 1970, she would become a U.S. congresswoman, leading […]
Bettye Lane, a photojournalist who lived at Westbeth, died last Wednesday at the age of 82. She has been called the official photographer of the women’s movement and was one of the few photographers who captured the 1969 Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village. She has worked for Time and Life magazines and her work has […]
