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 […]
As a young filmmaker and a new New Yorker, the legendary filmmaker Miloš Forman lived in an apartment on Leroy Street in Greenwich Village.
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution was adopted on August 18, 1920, affirming that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” The adoption was the culmination of decades of work by suffragists to eliminate […]
Emma Goldman was born in Kovno, Lithuania in 1869. By the time she was 23 years old, she was a divorced American citizen under arrest. For everything from being associated with anarchists to “inciting a riot” in Union Square, Emma Goldman served her time. This was just the first of many arrests for this rabble-rouser, […]
No. 111-115 East 7th Street is one of the more striking tenements in the East Village. First of all, it’s seven-stories. It’s also covered in beautiful Renaissance Revival detail. There’s much more to this landmarked structure than that, however. It’s name appears to be a salute to a recently-fallen U.S. President, struck down by an […]
That village, the labyrinth of streets and lanes… into which those restless individuals seeking political or social or cultural change began settling after 1910 consisted mostly of buildings grown dingy since prosperous New Yorkers had begun moving northward…Marie was one of those newcomers. — Robert Schulman from Romany Marie, Queen of Greenwich Village Born and […]
This is one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Check out our year-long activities and celebrations at gvshp.org/GVHD50. Jo Davidson may not be a household name, but his work is familiar to many New Yorkers. Born on March 30, 1883, Jo Davidson grew up on the Lower […]
While the neighboring West Village may have the more well-known sites, the East Village contains a rich assortment of places connected to LGBTQ history, including the homes of noted artists, writers, musicians, and activists. It also holds a vast array of performance venues and gathering spaces that attracted and helped launch the careers of many […]
Emma Goldman, anarchist and feminist, advocate of free speech, free love, birth control, and the eight-hour workday, was arrested in New York City on February 11, 1916. Charged with violating the Comstock Act, an 1873 law banning the transportation of “obscene” matter, the courts interpreted distribution as transportation. Goldman later spent time in jail for […]
John “Jack” Silas Reed was an American journalist, poet and communist activist at the beginning of the 20th century whose writing about revolutionary events and radical causes made him a very polarizing figure in this country and abroad. He is probably best known as the author of Ten Days That Shook the World, his account […]
Helen Keller’s connections to New York City and Greenwich Village are numerous but perhaps less well known, as they are largely rooted in her work not as an advocate for the disabled, but in her sometimes controversial work as a suffragette, birth control advocate, antimilitarist, socialist, and an early founder of the American Civil Liberties Union […]
This is an updated version of a previous post by Andito Lloyd. On May 30, 2012, GVSHP officially launched its historic plaque program with the unveiling of our very first plaque, commemorating the life of Justus H. Schwab and the role he played in the social movements that shaped the East Village and the Lower […]
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 November 22, 1909, a frail 23-year-old woman, who’d been brutally beaten by strike-breakers, was helped up onto the stage of the Great Hall at the Cooper Union. Leaders of the labor movement – all men – had been speaking for hours to a crowd of thousands, speaking out against poor garment factory working conditions […]
Some of the most important events and most prominent figures in the labor movement bear strong connections to the Village and East Village. Without these courageous individuals, or the events connected to them, we might never have had fair wages, better working conditions, or the right to collective bargaining. Below are a few standout homes […]
The Espionage Act was passed on June 15th, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I in April of that year. Its goals included limiting interference with recruitment efforts and preventing the support of enemies of United States during wartime. In his message to Congress, President Woodrow Wilson warned that the war would require a […]
This is an updated version of a previous post by Andito Lloyd. On May 30, 2012, GVSHP officially launched its historic plaque program in partnership with the Two Boots Foundation with the unveiling of our very first plaque, commemorating the life of Justus H. Schwab and the role he played in the social movements that […]
Note: This is an updated version of a post originally written by Drew Durniak Since it opened on December 1, 1904, the Tompkins Square Branch of the New York Public Library has served as an important community resource. Situated on East 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B, the building itself was designated an […]
This post is the second of a three-part series called Histories of Fourth Street, from East to West, a collaboration between GVSHP and the students in NYU’s Fall 2015 Intro to Public History course. Each group of students was tasked with preparing a presentation around a particular topic concerning a section or block of Fourth […]
There are still a few seats available for our free public program this Thursday evening at the Jefferson Market Library. The subject is the life and times of Rose Pastor Stokes, known to our presenter, Kate Pastor, as “My Great Great Aunt Rose of the Lower East Side.” Kate herself is a Bronx-based journalist who […]
Labor Day was created as a federal holiday in 1894, and according to the US Department of Labor, is a national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. The first Labor Day celebration took place in New York City in 1882, when workers marched from City […]
…well, it almost happened that way. The Village and East Village have historically been home to all sorts of strange bedfellows. Today we look at one of the most unusual such pairings, two people whose paths crossed just around the corner from our offices at 208 East 13th Street. 208 East 13th Street is a […]
By the time Mabel Dodge (also known, in recognition of her four husbands, as Mabel Evans Dodge Sterne Luhan) set up her weekly salon in her apartment at 23 Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village in 1912, she had already been twice married and once divorced, gave birth to a son, and had attempted to take […]
On September 6, 1901, President William McKinley was shot while visiting the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York; he died eight days later on September 14. Both the man responsible for the assassination, and the man who assumed the presidency as a result, had some interesting connections to our neighborhoods. McKinley was only the third […]
“On Saturdays when I did not have to lecture, we used to visit the saloon of Justus Schwab, the most famous radical center in New York. Schwab was the traditional Teuton in appearance, over six feet tall, broad-chested, and strait as a tree. On his wide shoulders and strong neck rested a magnificent head, framed […]
Anarchist and revolutionary thinker Emma Goldman, known for her political activism, writing, and speeches, can claim East 13th as her home in the early twentieth century. Goldman was known for supporting a wide-range of controversial causes, including free speech, birth control, women’s equality, union organization, and workers’ rights. She was considered, by the Federal Bureau […]
The sight of striking Verizon workers near GVSHP’s offices (as well as all over New York) reminds us of the long and storied history of the Village and East Village in the labor movement. In fact, their central role in American labor struggles is reflected in some of our neighborhood’s most important landmarks.
