On TH 10/17/19, we visited the Museum of the City of New York and explored their Activist New York exhibit. This museum trip was made possible with generous support from the Paula Berggren Enrichment Fund at Baruch College. Below you can read students' reflections of this museum visit. "T
“New Yorkers are a feisty bunch," the New York Times recently wrote in an article on “The Roots of Activism in New York City" that discussed the ongoing exhibit.
Alicia The Activist NY exhibit was a very interesting resource for our political science capstone seminar. The exhibit made me think about who were the key figures of the movement I’m studying (the suffrage movement), how people protested, and what made certain groups stand out from others. Some interesting topics covered were conservative movements like the nativist movement, the labor rights movement, and lesser known groups like the Young Lords. One movement that was discussed was the nativist movement, which opposed new immigration to the United States. This anti-immigrant movement pushed for voting rights to be limited to people who had lived in the United States for at least 21 years, and it sought to exclude Irish and German immigrants who began to arrive in the early to mid-1800s. The labor rights movement became prominent in the early 1900s. At this time, many people from Eastern Europe began to immigrate to the United States and many found low paying jobs in factories. Families often lived in close quartered tenements. These poor living conditions helped to spread disease and sickness within immigrant communities. Another group we discussed was the Young Lords, which was founded in the 1960s to oppose military occupation in Puerto Rico. Like the Black Panthers, they emphasized their willingness to respond with force in order to stand up for their beliefs. What was interesting to me was how leadership among the Young Lords was more accepting of women in high leadership positions. This made them stand out among the Black Panthers and people in the Black Power movement, who typically exhibited machismo qualities.
Angela Thank you so much for setting up this field trip for our class; it was very informative, and I have been recommending it to all of my friends and family. Unfortunately, there was no exhibit on the Animal Rights Movement, which I am researching this semester. However, I really enjoyed learning about other social movements. One social movement organization that we learned about was the Young Lords up in the Bronx. I had never heard of this social movement organization before, and it was very interesting to learn about the tactics and strategies they used to meet their goals. Another social movement that we learned about in detail was the women’s rights movement, and how a major starting point was the triangle shirtwaist factory fire in 1911. After the hour-long guided tour, I decided to explore the rest of the museum. It was really cool feeling like a tourist in my own city.
Dan All of us went to the Museum of the City of New York, which was founded by Henry Collins Brown in 1923. Our tour guide was Mitchel, and according to him the Museum consists of all the history of New York from the time of early Dutch settlement. We specifically did the tour of the Activist New York exhibit. When we entered the exhibit, a video was projected in the room. Mitchel asked us to watch the video and later asked us our opinion on what was happening in the video. The video was about the movements that took place in New York City. The video covered the Black Lives Matter movement, Anti-Vietnam War movement, Climate Change movement, and so on. After that, Mitchel told us about the anti-immigrant Nativist Movement, which was particularly concerned about Catholic immigrants. The Protestant majority at the time were concerned that Catholic immigrants coming from Europe would corrupt their culture. Among other things, the supporters of the Nativist Movement supported a law stipulating that immigrants needed to have resided in the United States for at least 21 years before they were eligible for U.S. citizenship. We next visited the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Movement section. The fire occurred in Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in 1911. Since there was no fire escape and the doors has been locked, the women working in the factory had no way out. Some jumped from windows to escape the flames; almost everyone died. After the incident, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union was formed by Rose Schneiderman, a 20-year-old girl at that time. She led the movement that brought fire escapes to the New York City buildings. We ended the tour with the Young Lords. They were a civil and human rights organization fighting for the underprivileged. I was fascinated by their tactics to get the attention of the system and society. Once they stole the chest x-ray vehicle from a Manhattan Hospital and took it up to the Bronx. They parked the vehicle in the middle of the street in the Bronx for a week and provided an x-ray service until cops came and took it away. Another time the garbage was not being picked up in the Bronx. The Young Lords complained about it to city officials, but they did not take any action. The Young Lords subsequently stole a garbage truck, picked the garbage from the Bronx, and threw it all on the 3rd Avenue. Later, the city started picking the garbage from the Bronx.
Diego The visit to the Museum of the City of New York was quite interesting and educational. This was my first time in the building. The Activist New York exhibit covered a range of social movements in New York City, from which I learned a lot. First, we watched a short film that provided information on different movements fighting for their rights in the streets of New York City throughout the city’s history. There were small and large groups of diverse people coming together, mobilizing crowds, and protesting in efforts to change the status quo.
We learned about the triangle shirtwaist factory fire that caused the death of 146 garment workers. The aftermath of it fostered groups to come together and fight for women’s and workers’ rights. Another interesting point was to learn about the Young Lords. This social movement organization fought for neighborhood empowerment and self-determination of Puerto Ricans and Latinos. They used tactics like mass education, community programs, occupations, and direct confrontation to achieve their goals. A picture in the exhibit caught my attention. It depicted a group of people throwing garbage in a police car. The history behind the image was that the city did not collect garbage in the Harlem and the Bronx, causing unsanitary conditions in the neighborhoods and the spread of diseases. The Young Lords responded by gathering their garbage and disposing of it in rich areas of the city.
The guided tour of the exhibit made me realize that the work of so many social movements in New York City has helped to shape the amazing city we know today. I was hoping to find out more about the disability rights movement, which I am studying this semester, but unfortunately it was not covered in the exhibit.
Eona An hour and change was not enough to fully absorb the richness of the museum and the Activist New York exhibit. The guided tour covered a lot of topics and social movements that we are studying this semester, such as the Black Lives Matter Movement, Women’s Suffrage Movement, Antiwar Movement, Living Wage Movement, DREAMers Movement, Environmental Movement, and Civil Rights Movement. The way the museum was set up, it appeared that topics that were the most present were pushed to the foreground and the history and events of the past were more in the background (inner part of the museum). The first thing I saw when the tour began was information on the DREAMers Movement, and then the Black Lives Matter Movement. We watched a short video of movements in NYC. I was shocked to discover that I am a part of the museum. I was in the video! The mural I did with Groundswell, an art activist foundation, was featured in the video and my face is on the mural. I will now add this to my short list of fun facts. The mural sought to bring awareness to catcalling and showing how it directly relates to rape culture. This information was not new information to me, but what was new information to me was what the tour covered on the Young Lords. I have never heard of this social movement organizations before. Learning about their work supports the claim I am making in my research paper that "others" have been borrowing from black peoples’ movements/struggles. I have come to realize that there are many “children” (offspring movements) of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Gurjot I enjoyed experiencing the Activist NY exhibit. Even though I had prior knowledge of many impactful social movements in America, I learned about so many new movements that originated and took place in NYC, my home. Seeing the video that highlighted some of the large number of social movements that were active in NYC left me in awe and inspired me. Seeing people take part in movements that successfully changed the status quo gave me a new sense of appreciation for the past generations. It made me realize that it was their hard work that allowed me to enjoy my privileged life today. The exhibit highlighted the importance of NYC in social movement activism: since what is happening in NYC is closely watched all over the world, social movement actions happening here have in effect reached a global audience.
I enjoyed learning about the garment workers movement. It was their tenacity fighting for better working conditions and wages that led to increased unionization in America. Unionization is vital for the middle and lower classes, as it gives labor an equal footing to fight for living wages and benefits, versus all the profits going to multinational corporations and 1% business owners. The guide also mentioned that NYC was and still remains the most unionized city in America, again highlighting the positive influence of past movements and importance of NYC. Unfortunately, the city is once again plagued by social and economic problems. Income and wealth inequality have reached heights not seen since the Gilded Age, while many families live in poverty in NYC. Public transportation infrastructure is crumbling, homelessness is evident on every train and city block, and the public schools are under-performing on so many metrics. I look forward to witnessing and hopefully participating in the generation's fight to solve these issues.
Harriet Upon entering the Activist New York exhibit, we first watched a video and were asked to keep an eye out for the different tactics and strategies that social movement activists use to achieve their goals. The most common tactic I saw was marching, which is a huge part of the movement I am studying this semester, the Me Too Movement. The women's march in 2017 had a large impact on the movement, although the march wasn’t a solely Me Too march, but rather a women's rights march. Me Too is a phrase used to create solidarity between survivors of sexual harassment and assault, and through this show the extent of the issue, because sexual misconduct is an issue that until recently hasn’t been widely discussed. This women’s march was a physical representation of this solidarity.
Apart from this video, there were cases dedicated to certain social movements in the exhibit that were apparently rotating, so you could go again and learn about different movements the second time. Along with famous movements like Black Lives Matter, Trans Rights, and Labor Rights, for example, there also was attention for the Nativist Movement from the 1800s. This movement fought against immigration, and supporters of this movement was concerned especially about the growing number of Catholic immigrants coming from Europe. All in all, it was interesting to learn about a social movement that wasn’t positive and to see what I think of as a darker side of social movement activism. Also, the concerns of the Nativist Movement are still issues today, so it was a clear example of a movement that persists throughout time, in ideals if not in an organized way.
Jamal The visit to the museum was an excellent experience. I learned how activists, most of the time, planned and organized demonstrations in New York City streets, which helped them pressure officials and created a public image. I also learned about the Young Lords and how they were able to realize changes in how the city deals with sanitation issues, especially in poorer neighborhoods like Harlem and the Bronx. I also learned about the Nativist Movement that opposed and distrusted immigrants, and how they affected national policies such as the Alien and Sedition Act and the Emergency Quota Act that limited immigrant's rights and the numbers of immigrants entering the county.
Krutika The part of the museum that was the most interesting to me was the section on the Young Lords. This was interesting to me because I had never heard or even read about the Young Lords in any textbooks. The group’s mission was to fight for the South Bronx’s empowerment and self-determination for Puerto Ricans. The tour guide spoke about how garbage pickups varied by neighborhoods and how the Young Lords fought to secure better garbage collection in the Harlem and Bronx neighborhoods. Learning about this issue in the 60s and 70s made me curious to know if there has been reform since. I found this section of the museum interesting also because it was useful to see that there were social movement organizations that were inspired by the Black Panthers but for different cultural groups.
Luis It was my first time visiting the Museum of the City of New York, and it was really exciting to visit the Activist New York Exhibit. I consider myself an advocate, and seeing how the exhibit showed different unrepresented groups fighting for a change in their communities was really empowering. The first thing we saw was a video that showed different movements across NYC, both historical and contemporary. It was great to see that they all used different tactics –including visual representation, chants, street occupations, etc. – to demand change. This exhibit relates to our class in various ways. We are studying social movements in the United States, and the exhibit contained segments on some of the movements we are conducting research on, including the Black Lives Matter Movement. Something that I liked about the exhibit is that it focused on those communities that are directly impacted by social movement activism. For example, the co-director of the NYSYLC (New York State Youth Leadership Council) – an activist in our community who fights for justice and equality for undocumented youth – was part of this project. Overall, it was a great visit and an amazing experience to connect the content of our class to social movements centered in NYC.
Michael The museum visit was an interesting experience since it emphasized the importance of social movements in a society. Social movements are around us every single day, and this exhibit made it clearer to me just how important they are. By implementing different strategies and tactics, they can incite issues and realize incremental change in a society. Some of the things that I learned from the guided tour and exhibit are: (1) most social movements are only successful if the participants of the social movement are willing to contribute directly to the cause via direct action; (2) culture plays a significant factor in the recruitment process and in selecting a leader because social movement participants want someone to whom they can relate to lead the group; and (3) social movements constitute one of the only ways that change can be implemented in society.
This semester, I am conducting research on the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley. What made this movement successful was how much the leaders of the social movement, especially Savio and Weinberg, were able to relate to the other students of the movement. By sharing and collecting similar grievances, Savio and other movement leaders had a much bigger impact on the social movement participants, which eventually prompted many other students to contribute to the cause. Thus, the more direct action, the more successful a social movement is.
Moshe Our visit to the Activist New York exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York was very enlightening for me. When we first entered the exhibit, we were shown a brief video of activism in New York City throughout history. In the video, we were shown a wide variety of social movements and movement leaders. We saw clips from the women’s suffrage movement, the black lives matter movement, the worker’s union movement, and many others. The video depicted many ways in which these movements advocated for themselves, such as through sit ins, peaceful protests, violent riots, various forms of media depiction and propaganda, as well as political activism. This video highlighted well how these movements acted, and for me helped to bring to life what we had been reading about in class. We then were taken around to small booths that were devoted to certain social movements that were prevalent in New York, such as the gay right’s movement and the garment workers movement. Those booths exhibited newspaper articles, historical artifacts, and even video clips of some of the most influential movement leaders. As a result of this exhibit, I gained a better understanding of what I can focus on, and what methods I can use, to study the social movement I am writing a research paper on this semester.
Richard From visiting the Museum of the City of New York, I gained a better appreciation of how social movements shaped New York for what it is today. At the museum, we watched a short video highlighting notable social movements in NYC. Some of these movements included the women’s rights movement, the anti-war movement, the gay rights movement, the civil rights movement, and more. From the video, we learned the different actions used in order to gain attention for their causes. This included people chaining themselves to each other for sit-ins for a protest. After seeing the commitment and efforts of people within these social movements, it was evident movements can be successful only is everyone did their part. Thousands of people marched in streets, came in costumes supporting their causes, and did other actions to raise awareness. One social movement that stood out to me was the efforts of union workers during the early 20th century, which focused on improving working conditions for workers. This movement started because of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, where women were trapped inside the factory building, forcing many to jump to their deaths while others died in the fire. This tragedy caused outrage throughout the state, eventually leading to improvements in working conditions and building safety.
Steven I found the Activist New York exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York fascinating. The most compelling part of the exhibit was that which relates to my research paper on the labor/immigrant rights movement during the first immigration wave of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The tour guide explained that three or four immigrant families at the time occupied the city’s tenements, which consisted of 1-2 bedroom apartments. The small apartments would be packed, dirty, and disease-infested. Wages were awful, especially for women, and working conditions were hazardous. The hours were long and strenuous, and the tour guide pointed out that the only thing that these immigrant workers could do to improve their conditions was to unionize. As we went through the rest of the exhibit, I was also fascinated to learn more about the black lives matter movement, and the exhibit gave me another point of view about this movement. All in all, the trip to the Museum of the City of New York was very informative and I was happy to learn new things about different social movements.
Stuart Our trip to the Museum of the City of New York was an enlightening and thought-provoking experience, and our guide enhanced the experience. Of the handful of exhibits we explored, I was particularly taken with the exhibit featuring the Young Lords. Their “garbage offensive” protest was fascinating, and I thought that the tactics they used to solve the long-overdue trash dilemma in the Bronx were brilliant. They hauling hundreds of pounds of garbage and decay from poor neighborhoods in the Bronx to the wealthiest neighborhoods of Manhattan to compel city officials to improve garbage collection and sanitation practices in all of New York. Before coming to the Museum, I didn’t know very much about New York City’s extensive history of labor rights activism, and I learned that labor activism here has inspired labor activism in many other parts of the United States. I am currently reading a book about New York Senator Robert F. Wagner, and this museum visit helps to contextualize his legacy. This was the first time I visited the Museum of the City of New York, but I hope to go back there some time soon. This experience, of visiting an exhibit that complements the course materials so well, is something I wish I could do for my other Baruch courses as well.