Departments

;

New York City

  • 3/5/2023

    The Defiant Woman at the Center of New York's First Abortion Battle

    by Alan J. Singer

    Carolyn Ann Trow Lohman, better known as Madame Restell, defied the authority of the medical establishment and moral crusaders to help women obtain abortions. Justice Alito's misuse of history to justify the Dobbs decision shows the need to remember her. 

  • SOURCE: HellGate
    1/20/2023

    What Happens When NYC Defunds the Libraries?

    by Allison Chomet

    The proposed cuts to library staffing, on the heels of cuts to public schools, city colleges, and social service agencies reflect the way that culture war panics about book content and drag story hours connect to the politics of austerity and privatization, even in liberal big cities. 

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    1/16/2023

    An Oral History of Riker's Island

    An oral history of New York's notorious jail is chaotic and difficult, but could an account of the place be any different and be true? 

  • SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
    6/15/2022

    The Right Celebrated Bernhard Goetz as the Kyle Rittenhouse of the 80s

    by Pia Beumer

    In the context of economic turmoil, urban crisis, and racial division, a broad swath of the American public made Goetz a heroic symbol of restored white masculinity after he shot four Black teens who asked him for money on the New York subway.

  • SOURCE: The Guardian
    4/19/2022

    "More Cops" is Not the Answer for NYC

    by Simon Balto

    The entire, terrifying episode that unfolded across 29 hours in New York was a testament to the futility of spending more money on police, and to the lie that police “keep us safe”. 

  • 2/13/2022

    New York Survived the 1832 Cholera Epidemic

    by Daniel S. Levy

    The 1832 Cholera epidemic roiled New York, terrorizing the city across lines of class and neighborhood. Today, the city's resilience can be a source of encouragement, but also a caution that today's pandemic won't be the last. 

  • SOURCE: Bloomberg CityLab
    2/2/2022

    The Plans that Built Greater New York

    New York's Regional Plan association has worked for a century to try to solve problems of development that span not just the five boroughs but three states. As Greater New York deals with climate-related infrastructure problems, its role is more vital than ever. 

  • 11/7/2021

    Historically, Black Distrust of Police is About More than Acts of Violence

    by Christopher Hayes

    The Harlem rebellion against the NYPD in July 1964 was sparked by a police killing of a teenager (and a grand jury's refusal to indict him), but reflected the role of the police in maintaining a profoundly unequal social order that affected everyday life in Black neighborhoods, a situation that has changed little. 

  • SOURCE: New York Magazine
    10/4/2021

    The Forgotten, but Consequential, New York City Police Riot of 1992

    Encouraged by Rudy Giuliani, thousands of New York City Police officers, some drunk, staged a riot at City Hall and on the Brooklyn Bridge to protest Mayor David Dinkins's 1992 proposal of an all-civilian, independent police complaint review board. Why has this pivotal event been scrubbed from many New Yorkers' memories? 

  • SOURCE: New York Almanack
    10/3/2021

    An A-Z List of NYC Streets Named for Slaveowners

    by Alan Singer

    As Mayoral candidate Eric Adams has vowed to change the names of city streets associated with slavery, here's a list of those streets throughout the city. 

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    9/9/2021

    Reconstructing an Urban Archive Lost on 9/11

    The archives of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which held important information about the history of the region's politics and infrastructure, was housed in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Agency retirees have sent documents, pictures and artifacts to start rebuilidng the record.

  • SOURCE: Washington Post
    6/11/2021

    As Immigration Politics Changed, So Did "In the Heights"

    by A. K. Sandoval-Strausz

    The film release of Lin-Manuel Miranda's "In the Heights" reflects the way the show has evolved in response to the shifting politics of immigration and nativism in the United States.