Course Books:
One Out of Three: Immigrant New York in the Twenty-First Century, Nancy Foner (Columbia University Press, 2013).
The World in a City: Traveling the Globe Through the Neighborhoods of New York, Joseph Berger (Ballantine, 2007).
February 10 (*class to be held at Brooklyn College*)
A Walker in the City, Alfred Kazin. Chapter 1: “From the Subway to the Synagogue,” pp. 5-47.
Alfred Kazin: A Biography, Richard M. Cook, Chapter 6: “A Walker in the City,” pp. 146-167.
The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the Great Migrations That Made the American People, Oscar Handlin. Chapter 9: “Generations,” pp. 203-230.
Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language, Eva Hoffman. Chapter 2: “Exile,” pp. 99-164
February 17 (class to be held on February 21 at 11am. See Syllabus for details)
“Caretakers of a Culture,” Chapter 21, pp. 119-123, in Habitats: Private Lives in the Big City by Constance Rosenblum.
“Clinging and Rebounding in East Harlem,” Chapter 3, pp. 32-48, World in a City.
“A Fire, Half Hour of Horror,” Joseph Berger, New York Times City Room blog, March 21, 2011.
February 24
“Crisscrossing Generations on the Lower East Side,” Chapter 18, pp. 243-256, World in a City.
“Fading Into History,” by Allen Salkin. City Section, The New York Times, Oct. 20, 2002.
“Searching for Charles,” by Jim Rasenberger, City Section, The New York Times, May 20, 2001.
“Writing the Myth of Robert Moses” by Ben Gibberd, The New York Times, Sept. 14, 2006.
March 3
“Spanish Harlem on His Mind,” Ed Morales. Chapter 2, pp. 17-23. New York Stories: The Best of the City Section.
“The Chicken and Rice Man,” Adam Ellick, Chapter 8, pp. 45-51, More New York Stories.
“Dominicans: Community, Culture, and Collective Identity,” Chapter 9, pp. 223-245, and “Mexicans: Civic Engagement, Education and Progress Achieved and Inhibited,” Chapter 10, pp. 246-266, from One Out of Three.
March 10
The Uprooted. Chapter 6: “The Ghettos,” pp. 129-151.
March 17
“Battle in Black and White” by Amy Fox, Chapter 44, pp. 246-253, More New York Stories.
Beyond the Melting Pot: The Negroes, Puerto Ricans, Jews, Italians and Irish of New York City, Nathan Glazer and Daniel P. Moynihan. Second edition. “Introduction to the Second Edition: New York City in 1970,” pp. vii-xci.
March 24
Boulevard of Dreams: Heady Times, Heartbreak, and Hope Along the Grand Concourse in the Bronx by Constance Rosenblum. Introduction, pp. 1-11, and “Bends in the Road,” Chapter 10, pp. 215-228. (Available as an electronic resource through the CUNY Library system)
“Ensconced in the Bronx,” Chapter 24, pp. 147-151, Habitats.
“Shifting Sands on the Grand Concourse,” Chapter 12, pp. 157-171, World in a City.
March 31
The New York Nobody Knows: Walking 6,000 Miles in the City, by William Helmreich. Chapter 2: “Selling Hot Dogs, Planting Flowers and Living the Dream: The Newcomers,” pp. 21-70; Chapter 7: “Assimilation, Identity or Something Else: The Future of Ethnic New York,” pp. 296-345.
*Please note: if you can’t locate the above chapters, read Chapter 1 of The New York Nobody Knows.
(optional) Read this to help prepare for your Objects of History assignment: Your Story, Our Stories
April 7: NO CLASS (Spring Break)
April 14
“By the Waters of the Grand Concourse,” Chapter 6, pp. 151-157, Boulevard of Dreams. (Available as an electronic resource through the CUNY Library system)
Manny Fernandez, “Morrisania Melody,” Chapter 45, pp. 254-261, More New York Stories.
Browse the oral history project our guest speaker will be discussing: Bronx African American History Project
April 21
The Newest New Yorkers: Characteristics of the City’s Foreign-Born Population, 2013 edition, New York City Planning Commission. Chapter 6: “Legal Pathways Used by Newly Admitted Immigrants,” pp. 159-176.
“Here and There: A New Immigrant Identity.” By Deborah Sontag and Celia W. Dugger. The New York Times, July 19, 1998.
April 28
“Great Job on the Railroad. Now Go Back to China,” Edward Rothstein, The New York Times, October 2, 2014.
“Dreams and Desperation on Forsyth Street” by Saki Knafo, City Section, The New York Times, June 8, 2008.
“Passing the Torch” by Anne Hemmett Stern, City Section, The New York Times, May 26, 2002.
“Chinese: Diverse Origins and Destinies,” Chapter 5, pp. 120-147, and “Koreans, Changes in New York in the 21st Century,” Chapter 6, pp. 148-175, One Out of Three.
Browse links to the exhibit guest speaker Marci Reaven will be discussion (and consider checking it out, if you have the time!): Exhibit overview / Gallery / Online Exhibition
May 5
Around the Block: The Business of a Neighborhood, Chapter 1: “The Back of One Is the Face of Another,” pp. 1-16.
“The Kibitzer of Cobbler’s Row” by James Angelos. City Section, The New York Times, April 20, 2008.
From Ellis Island to JFK: New York’s Two Great Waves of Immigration. “Immigrant Women and Work,” Chapter 4, pp. 108-141. (Available through ebrary)
Triangle Factory Fire Reminds us why Unions are Essential by Kevin Baker.
“We Need More Asian Kids Growing Up to Be Artists, Not Doctors” by Jennifer Lee. The Guardian, March 16, 2014.
Consider the above article in association with the following famous quote, which guest speaker Tom Schactman views as the first American statement of the real American immigrant dream, a three-generational one that is not wholly focused on material acquisition. It is from a John Adams letter to his wife Abigail in 1780:
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.
May 12
“A Poet, Barred at the Gate,” by Tara Bahrampour. City Section, The New York Times. March 25, 2001.
“Where Stories Are Remembered,” by Constance Rosenblum. Real Estate section, The New York Times, October 9, 2011.
“The Leader of the Cheers,” Chapter 28, pp. 155-159, Habitats.
May 19: FINAL EXAM
