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Tag: Black History Month

Celebrate Black History with Village Preservation’s Public Programs, Past and Present

Greenwich Village has long been a hub of creativity, activism, and cultural exchange, and its Black history is deeply woven into the neighborhood’s identity. From the early days of New York City’s African American communities to the Civil Rights Movement and beyond, Black residents have shaped the social, artistic, and political fabric of the Village. […]

How Greenwich Village Helped Save Harry Belafonte

In 1951, Harry Belafonte decided he was finished with singing. For the past few years, he had been taking acting classes at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School with the influential German director Erwin Piscator, alongside Marlon Brando and Sidney Poitier. All the while he was performing with the American Negro Theater. Belafonte was […]

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 […]

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Michael Stewart, and ‘Defacement’

In our new African American History curriculum for middle school students, we explore how Jean-Michel Basquiat’s art also served as a platform for advocacy, addressing some of the most pressing issues of race and discrimination of his (and our) day. Basquiat was already a successful studio artist when, on September 15th, 1983, events transpired in […]

Voting Rights For All? 1624-1870

Village Preservation’s curriculum on Black history for middle school students focuses on local, citywide, national, and global themes and movements from pre-European settlement through the 21st century. One of the themes we explore is how voting rights and other civil rights evolved and were won by and for African Americans in our city and elsewhere […]

An Intersectional Black History Month Roundup

Black History is Village history, and while many are celebrating Black Futures Month, as a historic preservation organization, we’re glad to amplify a history that often goes unnoticed in the Village. These histories live in the context of the other movements that have their roots in our neighborhoods. So many of these stories are intersectional, […]

Black History Month 2018 – Learn and Celebrate with Us!

Black History Month gives us the opportunity to look at an important and too often overlooked or undervalued part of American, New York, and neighborhood history and highlighting.  Within our neighborhoods, there is an incredible array of African American histories, contributions, and culture all around us — sometimes hiding in plain sight. African Americans have […]

Black History Month in the Village: African-American & LGBT Historic Sites

February is Black History Month.  We here at GVSHP are celebrating it by highlighting different sites of significance to the African-American community within our neighborhoods.  We’re focusing on sites found on our new Civil Rights & Social Justice Map, discussing their connections to African-American History and the Civil Rights Movement.

GVSHP African American History Month Series: Revisiting Spring Street Presbyterian Church

In celebration of Black History Month, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation will host several public programs this month with specific focus on the history of the African-American community in Greenwich Village. On Monday, February 9, archivist David Pultz will give an illustrated lecture at the First Presbyterian Church on the unique history of the former […]