Recent times have reminded us that the free press is a fragile institution. The publishing history in our neighborhoods reminds us that it is also an indispensable one. Our neighborhoods have long exerted a magnetic pull on independent spirits and malcontents. It should come as no surprise that many of them exercised their freedom of […]
This blog post was originally published on June 16, 2023, and is a favorite of ours from among the more than 200 we publish every year. To stay current on all our posts, follow us on X or Facebook, or subscribe to our blog feed via email here. Imagine over a thousand workers arriving at Penn Station on a […]
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 […]
Imagine over a thousand workers arriving at Penn Station on a dedicated train, gathering at Union Square, and marching up Fifth Avenue toward Madison Square Garden (the Sanford White-designed one by Madison Square Park) as a band plays La Marseillaise and The Internationale. The Garden is bedecked with red banners and sashes; its tower aglow […]
Few places in America have made more significant contributions to civil rights and social justice struggles.
Around 1907, after recovering from a chronic backache, the 24 year old Max Eastman moved to New York City.
Greenwich Village has long been the home of many of history’s most important social change champions. Now, using Village Preservation’s interactive map of the Greenwich Village Historic District, we can take a virtual walk through the neighborhood to visit the homes of these remarkable individuals. Get to know a nineteenth century abolitionist, an early-twentieth century […]
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, […]
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 […]
Today we look back on a critical milestone in the health of our democracy and a red letter day for the State of New York. The achievement of full voting rights for women in New York State came three years before the certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution on August 26, 1920 granted […]
(This post is part of a series called Village People: A Who’s Who of Greenwich Village, which will explore some of this intern’s favorite Village people and stories.) Crystal Eastman was born to two Congregationalist ministers in Massachusetts, before the family moved to the ‘burned-over district’ of New York (from where the Shaker and Mormon […]
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 […]
