The Museum of the City of New York Response

Museum of the City of New York Response

Yousef Abou Areda                                                                                                                                  Class 811

I recently went on a class trip to the Museum of the City of New York. I learned a lot about the social activism in New York’s history, both recent and distant history. I was never aware of the grandiose history of social activism in New York. I mainly learned about the bicyclists who advocated for their rights for a proper bike lane, women’s suffrage, religious persecution, black rights, and gay rights throughout multiple periods in history. These were brave individuals who continued to struggle and never gave up until their demands were met. They weren’t afraid to advocate for their Freedom of Speech as ensured by the First Amendment of the Constitution. These individuals were not afraid to march over to the oppressive authoritative figures and challenge the previous system in place until their orders are met. I discovered the importance of one being audacious, and fighting for what they believe is right if change is ever to occur. The trip made me think deep about morals, and how the social activism in New York's history and how it's affecting me today. 

            Social activism in New York started about 400 years ago. Believe it or not, there wasn’t always a bike lane. The fight for a bike lane was a long and tough battle, but bicyclists never gave up on what they believed in. They dressed up as clowns and fake cops to gain attention. They weren’t afraid to speak up for what they believed in. Even if they were arrested, or faced innumerous perils with the police, they wouldn’t stop until their goals were met. Their minds were set on getting a bike lane and they would never back down. I also learned the significance of white bikes, and how they stood for a person who died in a bike accident. Just like the bicyclists that fought for their bike lanes, women too never gave up when they fought for their civil rights. Women went out into the streets, wearing nice professional clothing, as people wouldn’t have taken them seriously if they went out in sweatpants, protesting that they should have the right to vote. Women activists like Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton made public speeches at the Seneca Falls Convention, which took place on July 19, 1848 where 48 men attended the convention. They believed that women should have the right to vote. Why did men care about women’s voting rights if they already had the right to vote? This is because the men hated having to passively watch as their mothers or sisters did not have this civil right. America was supposed to be a country based on equality. Women finally received the right the vote through the 19^th amendment that was passed in 1920. Women never gave up on fighting for their rights in the 72 years after the Seneca Falls Convention. Religious persecution also took place. In New Amsterdam, the Quakers weren’t allowed to perform their respective religious practices outside the home and were persecuted if they openly expressed their religious beliefs. This was a great injustice as freedom to express one’s religious beliefs should be a right as people came to America seeking a better life and freedom to practice their religion was assumed to be included in this better life. They were mainly looking to escape religious persecution. Peter Stuyvesant only allowed the Christians to perform religious practices in public. This lead to the Quakers signing a petition claiming what was happening to them was a grave injustice. This was one of, if not the first form of social activism in New York. Black rights also have a long history. After the civil war, black people still weren’t free. The government didn’t help much, and freemen were reduced to occupations like sharecropping, where they didn’t earn any money. Instead they were just given a portion of the crops at harvest time. The whole cause of the Civil War was to test if a country based on equality could exist, and the United States was trying to prove that this model could be successful to the whole world. Representatives in government always found ways to work around laws. Freemen had to pay poll taxes, which required a fee every time you went to vote. However, blacks had little to no money during this time period. Literacy Tests were also required if one wanted to vote. This required you to read and explain a section of the Constitution, however, freemen had little to no education so a lot of the time they were excluded from this activity because of their lack of education and illiteracy. The Jim Crow Laws were also still in place. These were a set of laws that were created to prevent freemen from using their new rights after the civil war. This limited them from using the same public facilities such as restaurants, parks, water fountains, schools, bathrooms, etc. as the one whites used. The famous Plessy vs Ferguson Supreme Court case stated segregation was legal as long as the facilities were equal, however the facilities were never equal. If a freeman wanted to ride the bus, they would of have to sit in the back. Brave individuals like Rosa Park stood out and was a pioneer in advocating for black rights through her resilience and strong character. She took a risk, and didn’t care about the consequences. She stood up for what she believed in, and gained support. People boycotted places such as schools and buses. Blacks refused to ride buses, which slowly began to take a toll on the economy. About 400,000 black children stopped going to school and as a result, without students, teachers weren’t able to teach, leading to a big loss of jobs. People don’t easily forget these valiant acts. I believe that the vast majority of Americans know of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech, which was about the end segregation. Blacks didn’t give up until their goal was met, and the Jim Crow Laws were destroyed. The list of social activism in New York City’s history doesn’t stop there; Gay individuals were also persecuted for their sexual orientation. Essentially being gay was perceived and labeled illegal, and one could be sent to prison for it. If you were seen at the Stonewell Bar, a bar for gay people, you could automatically be sent to prison, even if you didn’t identify as gay. However, Gay people never gave up on advocating for their civil rights void of their sexual orientation being a reason for their discrimination. They fought for what they believed in, and even in present day society, gay individuals throughout America and the world are fighting for their equal rights just like the one’s heterosexuals have. The one main thing I learned during this trip was that if you truly believe in what your fighting for, and never give up, you will be able to accomplish great social change.

            The trip to the Museum of the City of New York taught me how important it is to be valiant in the face of all of the obstacles that one may face when striving for what they believe in. All the people who were mentioned above showed how determined they were to have their voices heard. The changes that took place in history didn’t simply happen over night. It took time, hard work, and a great level of bravery to fight against the social norms. No matter how long it took, these individuals never gave up on what they believed in. It’s not the individuals’ fault if they were born into a black family, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. People shouldn’t be persecuted based on social markers like race, religion, sexual orientation, and gender. It’s not one’s fault if they came from a family of Quakers. Again, one shouldn’t be persecuted based on their religious beliefs. It’s not one’s fault if they are gay, and individuals that identify as gay shouldn’t be persecuted for it. These social movements all are examples of how much our country has grown in the last hundreds of years. All individuals have the right to freedom of press, speech, and religion according to the First Amendment of the US Constitution. The 15^th Amendment gives the right to vote void of one’s racial background as criteria for discrimination. The 19^th Amendment gives women the right to vote. It’s important that the country learns from its mistakes, and continues to grow stronger in the right direction. In the past, one could be easily sent to jail if they tried to speak up for their rights. The Museum of the City of New York not only taught me about the historical aspect of New York’s social change, but it taught me how on an individual level, there is great importance for one to continue to be determined, and to never give up on what one hopes to achieve. It made me think about how New Yorkers always fight as one, and how they're never afraid to get their voices heard. It made me wonder what New York would be like if we didn't fight together and support one another. We get our points heard through humor, and we don't like using violence. We have such a big population, but when we work together, we fight as one. This trip gave me a new pride for being from New York. This trip made me think, know, wonder, and feel what it means to be a New Yorker.