Results tagged “yorkhistoricalsociety”

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg announced a project to commemorate abolitionist activity that occurred in Brooklyn in the 1800s. He named a panel made up of community leaders, academics, and historians to aid the city and Downtown Brooklyn Partnership in asking for and reviewing commemoration proposals.

The state legislature in Albany is prepared to issue a formal apology for the historic practice of slavery and will be the first northern state in the Union to do so. Several states on the Confederate side of the Civil War have already issued similar apologies. Albany lawmakers are pushing to pass the resolution in time for "Juneteenth", which is an unofficial holiday celebrating the June 19th arrival of federal troops in Texas to announce the final eradication of slavery from the United States and its territories in 1865.

- Enlarged windows and ADA-compliant entrance ramp at the West 77th St. entrance. The New-York Historical Society has evolved into a much more progressive institution than the stuffy, exclusive architecture of its 1908 building would suggest. Created by York and Sawyer to exude neoclassical pomp, the building "was designed as a private club that did not intend to embrace the public," said the architect Paul Spencer Byard in a November 1st NY Times interview. Byard's firm of Platt Byard Dovell White has designed the renovation just approved.

Today, the Sun reports that the State Legislature is considering a formal apology as well as to study the "feasibility" of reparations for New York's role in slavery. The apologies are "technically amendments to Chapter 137 of the laws of 1817 relating to slaves and servants — laws that imposed penalties on those who harbored runaway slaves." While many expect Legislature support for the apology bill (both Maryland and Virginia have formally apologized), some believe reparations will be more difficult to pass.

DISCUSSION: Noam Chomsky will be taking questions on US foreign policy tonight, following a screening of Harold Pinter's 2005 Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech. Get your questions ready, smartypants. You can watch the video of Pinter's speech here, too.

+ Expect another uptown expansion battle, this time involving the New York Historical Society. First neighborhood resident to intimate Paris? Journalist Bill Moyers.

The not-so-private life of everyone's favorite avian poster children for friendly coops, red-tailed hawks Pale Male and Lola, after they - okay, their human advocates helped them - moved back to their 927 Fifth Avenue digs is revealed. And it's been a barren nest. The NY Times gets nosy about the birds' year without a chick. It seems that even with a super fancy nest, baby bird making isn't a sure thing: Lola's eggs went unhatched last spring. Pale Male and Lola fans are hoping this year will prove more successful, as Lola most likely laid eggs, and experts are actually blaming it on the new nest. Will the hawks' hawks charge that 927 Fifth Avenue was negligent in removing the nest, robbing the city of some new red tailed hawks? Or will bygones be bygones and the appearance of some adorable baby hawks eating regurgitated worms make everyone feel okay?

One of the things on Gothamist's must-see list this week is the New York Historical Society's new exhibit, Slavery in New York. The show reveals New York relationship with slavery, from the days of the Dutch settlers until 1827. The exhibit is open until March, and the online site is pretty extensive, but a reason to go this week is for the pencil-written copy of the Emancipataion Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation is on display until October 16, a short period because "It is, in 2005, a fragile document, sensitive to light, air, and changes in temperature. It can be shown only 10 days or 80 hours each year (of which one has been used)."

What can you do to recover from a day of stuffing yourself silly on Grandma's maple-glazed turkey, Dad's cornbread and oyster stuffing and Aunt Sally's pumpkin pie? Go on a noshing tour of the Lower East Side, of course! Big Onion Tours and the New York Historical Society present their Annual Post-Thanksgiving, Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour on Friday, November 26 at 1:00pm. This tour will make pit stops to sample traditional foods from the Dominican Republic, Eastern Europe, China, Italy, and more. The cost is $12 for adults and $10 for students, seniors, and members of the New-York Historical Society, plus an additional charge of $4 per person for the noshing stops. The tour lasts approximately two hours and covers 1.5 - 2 miles, so it shouldn't be too strenuous for those who may still be in a tryptophan-induced haze. Call (212)439-1090 for reservations or visit the Big Onion website for more details.

, about the reconstruction of lower Manhattan and the World Trade Center.

Check out transcripts from heath row, and more GEL posts and pictures from Bluejake: Good Experience Live, Satan's Laundromat, and Ten Years of My Life.

).