SYLLABUSIDC 3001H The Peopling of New York City

Spring 2015http://macaulay.cuny.edu/eportfolios/aries2015/

Prof: Nancy AriesEmail: nancy.aries@baruch.cuny.eduOffice Hours: By appointmentOffice: 137 E. 25th St., Room 306

Class: Monday and Monday, 4:10 pm-5:25pmClassroom: NVC 4-214Code: 56225Section: FMWA

IT Instructor: Owen ToewEmail: otoews@gmail.comOffice Hours: email for an appointment if possibleOffice: Weinstein Honors Lounge, 17 Lexington Ave, Room 903

INSTRUCTORS’ OVERVIEW:

Cities are ever changing. People are constantly coming and going. In this class we will consider the experience of the different populations that found themselves in New York. We will look at how they chose to adapt or assimilate into the conditions that they found in the City and how New Yorkers responded to them. In some cases, such as they Dutch, they were able to secure a place in New York society. In other cases, such as the Chinese, they found themselves excluded from citizenship. We will also consider the differing forms that their integration into the city took. For the Irish, the path was through the politics of Tammany Hall. Many working people found a place in the labor movement. The Jews used education as a vehicle for social mobility.

The choices about how to adapt are not made in a vacuum. The rise of New York City as a global economic power in the 19th century made the city a destination for immigrants coming to America. The efforts to alleviate the poor housing conditions on the lower east side was a response to the energy of progressive reformers. The changing face of New York in the last 30 years is a response to changing immigration laws. What many groups are now experiencing is the impact of gentrification as urban living becomes increasingly desirable.

It is this dynamic between the people of New York and the city in which they find themselves that will be explored in this class so we can understand what it means to be an American. Using the communities along the D Train as a lens for learning about the people of New York, the communities in which they live, and how these communities have changed overtime in response to the people and the conditions in which they found themselves.

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OBJECTIVES:Upon completing this class, students will be able to:

Explain the different modes of assimilation undertaken by different racial, ethnic and religious groups;

Explain how technology, economics, and politics impacted the options available to the City’s immigrants

Undertake an independent inquiry of a community in the City using 4 different methodologies:o Demographic datao Mapping datao Oral interviewso Primary and secondary source material

Present the community study both as a written document and as a website

TEXTS:Available as PDFs on the website or as computer links in the syllabus.

EVALUATION:Student performance will be evaluated based on the following requirements.

5 short papers/web assignments, 2-3 pages in length. These papers will be draw upon the reading and class discussion with the intent to advance the final project mapping the D Train

o Assignment 1 – Due Class 4, Monday, February 9; Immigrant History (10%)o Assignment 2 – Due Class 7, Monday, February 23, One block mapped and what you

learned (10%)o Assignment 3 – Preparation for Assignment 3 should be brought to Class 8, February 25.

Assignment 3 - Due Class 11, Monday March 9, Create an annotated bibliography on your subway stop web page. At the top of the page you should explain the criteria you used for selecting the references. After each citation you should write a paragraph explaining why you chose this source. (15%)

o Assignment 4 – Due Class 15, Monday, March 23, Explain the demographics of your assigned subway stop community (15%)

o Assignment 5– Due Class 21, Monday, April 20, Oral history explaining one person’s account of the community. (15%) This paper may be longer if necessary.

Community Study, Due Class 28, Wednesday, May 13. A 10 page essay that tells the story of one community along the D train. (20%)

o The final paper will be submitted through TurnItIn.com Community web pages, Due May 20. Visual presentation of the community you have studied along

the D train. (15%).

GRADING POLICY:The grading standards are: A Couldn’t be better; A- Excellent with minor flaws; B+ Very Good; B Good; B- Good with minor flaws; C+, C, C- Fair, D….

For each written assignment, grades will be lowered for late submissions, unless the student has previously arranged a later date on the basis of serious problem that interfered with its timely completion.

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A NOTE ON ACADEMIC HONESTY:Students are encouraged to discuss the readings and to share insights in preparing assignments. Each assignment must, however, be written and completed by each individual on his or her own.

Plagiarism will not be tolerated. “Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person's ideas, research or writings as your own. The following are some examples of plagiarism:

• Copying another person's actual words without the use of quotation marks and footnotes;• Presenting another person's ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledging them;• Using information that is not common knowledge without acknowledging the source;• Failing to acknowledge collaborators on homework and laboratory assignments.” (http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_integrity.htm#plagiarism_definition)

If a student engages in such behaviors, he or she will receive a zero points for the assignment and will be reported to the Dean of Students.

If you have any questions concerning issues of plagiarism, you are strongly encouraged to review the brochure entitled Academic Dishonesty. (http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/documents/academic_integrity.pdf)

STATEMENT ON DIFFERENTLY ABLED ASSISTANCE FROM THE PROVOST’S OFFICE“Students with disabilities may receive assistance and accommodation of various sorts to enable them to participate fully in courses at Baruch. To establish the accommodations appropriate for each student, please alert your instructor to your needs and contact the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities, part of the Division of Student Development and Counseling. For more information contact Ms. Barbara Sirois, Director of this office in NVC 2-271 or at (646) 312-4590.”

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CLASS SCHEDULE

1. Wednesday, January 28 - Introduction to the Class including the communities that live along the D train.

Readings: Roger Cohen. The Quest to Belong. New York Times, November 28, 2013. www.nytimes.com/2013/11/29/opinion/cohen-the-quest-to-belong.html?ref=rogercohen&_r=0

Inequality and New York’s Subways. New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/sandbox/business/subway.html

2. Monday, February 2 - Our Immigrant Narratives: Setting the Stage: Overviewing immigration at the turn of the last two centuries.

Readings:Foner, N. “Who they are and why they have come.” From Ellis Island to JFK: New York’s Two Great Waves of Immigration. New Haven, Yale University Press, 2000, pp. 9-35. (PDF available)

3. Wednesday, February 4 – Step 1 to understanding your community: Observing and mapping the block where you exit from the D Train.

Readings:Horowitz, A. (2013). On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes. NY: Scribner, 2013. Chapter 1, “Amateur Eyes”, pp. 1-18 (PDF available)

NYC Grid (One way to see)http://www.nyc-grid.com/about/ http://www.nyc-grid.com/home/tag/before-after http://www.nyc-grid.com/galleries2/23rd-st-between-3rd-ave-and-lexington-ave/

Wednesday, February 4, Seminar 2 Opening Common Event: 6:30 PM, Place to be determined. Joe Salvo, Dynamics of Population Change in New York's Neighborhood. This is a required event for students. We will leave from Baruch

4. Monday, February 9 - The beginnings of New York City as an immigrant city and a global city: First there was the Lenape Indians and then the Dutch and the English

First Response Paper Due: Your immigrant roots

Reading:Binder, Frederick and Reimers, David. All Nations Under Heaven: An Ethnic and Racial History of New York City. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995. Chapter 1, “Multiethnic from the Beginning: New York City, the Colonial and Revolutionary Years.” pp. 1-32. (PDF available)

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5. Wednesday, February 11 – Contested terrains: Blacks, abolition, and exclusionIn class viewing and discussion: Color between the Lines. Class will meet in the Schwartz Conference Room and will run 2 hours

Reading:Bernstein, Iver. The New York City Draft Riots: Their Significance for American Society and Politics in the Age of the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press: 1990. Chapter 1, “A Multiplicity of Grievances” pp. 17-43. (PDF available)

Monday, February 16 – College Closed

6. Wednesday, February 18 – The New York Tenement MuseumClass visit to the Tenement Museum Visit from 6:00 – 8:00 pm: For those leaving from Baruch, meet at 5:00 at the Bernard Baruch statue so we can go together to the museum.

Reading:Da Costa Nunez, R. & Sribnick, E. The Poor among Us: A History of Family Poverty and Homelessness in New York City. New York: White Tiger Press, 2013. Chapter 5, “Family Poverty in the Progressive Era”, pp. 119-159. (PDF available)

Directions to Tenement Museum, 103 Orchard Street Take the 6 train to Spring Street Walk 0.50 miles(10 minutes) South on Center Street 1 block; Turn Left and walk East on

Kenmare/Delancy. Turn Right on Orchard https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=Search+for+gadgets

7. Monday, February 23 – Arraying the data: How to effectively portray your community on the web. Workshop with Owen Toews

Assignment 2 Due: Mapping a block at the subway exit

8. Wednesday, February 25 - Step 2 to understanding your community: Developing a reading list about the community you are studying that includes both its history and current affairs.

Guest Lecturer: Stephen Francoeur, Honors Program LibrarianThe class will meet in the Library, Room 130

Assignment 3 Preparation:In preparation for this class you need to identify at least 5 historic overviews of the neighborhood where your subway stop is located. You should be thinking in terms of identifying the neighborhood boundaries, the names by which the neighborhood is referred, the notable institutions in the neighborhood, and how the neighborhood has changed over time. Bring your list of references to class as this will be the basis for the workshop on finding community resources.

9. Monday, March 2 - Step 3 to understanding you community: Working with statistical data to enhance your understanding of the neighborhood.

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Guest Speaker: Elliott Sclar, Professor of Urban Planning, Columbia University, “Using Planning Data”

Readings:Demographia. New York (Manattan) Wards: Population & Density 1800-1910.http://www.demographia.com/db-nyc-ward1800.htm

New York City: Department of City Planning, Community Portal. Scroll to the bottom of the page and identify your community and access its community page.http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/neigh_info/nhmap.shtml

Census Data 2000 and 2010 (Available on excel spread sheet)

Bring your computer to class!!

10. Wednesday, March 4 – Finding Place: The Irish and the politics of Tammany Hall

Readings: Hawley, W. “The Strength and Weakness of Tammany Hall”. The North American Review. 173:539 (Oct 1901), pp 481-486. (PDF available)

Riordan, William. (1963). Plunkett of Tammany Hall. http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/plunkett-george/tammany-hall/#s09Pay attention to Chapter 1, Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft and Chapter 9, Reciprocity in Patronage

11. Monday, March 9 – Finding place: The Labor Movement

Assignment 3 Due: Annotated web page

Readings: Guglielmo, J. Living the Revolution: Italian Women’s Resistance and Radicalism in New York City, 1880-1945. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010. Chapter 6, “The 1909-1919 Strike Wave and the Birth of Industrial Unionism”, pp 176-198.

Best, H. Extent of Organization in the Women’s Garment Making Industries in New York. The American Economic Review. 19:4 (Dec 1919) 776-792. (PDF available)

12. Wednesday, March 11 – Finding place: The Jews and education

Readings: Gorelick, Sherry. City College and the Jewish Poor: Education in New York, 1880-1924. New York: Schocken Books, 1982, Chapter 6, Jobs and Schooling of the Jewish Poor”, pp. 113-129. (PDF available)

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Traub, James. City on a Hill: Testing the American Dream at City College. Reading: Addison-Wesley, 1994, Chapter 1, Too Difficult Life, pages 3-42. (PDF available)

13. Monday, March 16 – Contested terrains: Immigration policy and Chinese exclusion

Readings: Text from the NY Historical Society Exhibit Chinese American Inclusion/Exclusion:http://chineseamerican.nyhistory.org/explore/introduction/ Parts 1-4.

NY Historical Society Exhibit Chinese American Inclusion/Exclusion. http://chineseamerican.nyhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Chinese-American-Classroom-Materials.pdf particulary pp. 33-77. (PDF available)

14. Wednesday, March 18 – Class Cancelled

15. Monday, March 23 – Step 4 to understanding you community: Conducting an oral interview

Guest Speaker: Mary Marshall Clark, Senior Research Scientist in the Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics, To be confirmed.

Assignment 4 Due: Community Demographics

Reading: Grele, R. Oral History Interviewing: The Good Interview. (PDF available)

Portelli, A. The death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories: Form and Meaning in Oral History. Stoney Brook: State University of New York Press, 1991. Chapter 1, “The Death of Luigi Trastulli: Memory and the Event”, pp 1-26, and Chapter 3, “What Makes Oral History Different” pp 45-58. (PDF available)

16. Wednesday, March 25 – Changing face of New York City: The Black migration

Readings:Wilkerson, Isabel. The warmth of other suns: the epic story of America’s great migration. New York: Random House, 2010. Chapter 1, Leaving, pp 3-15, and Epilogue, pp. 527-538.

Great Migration: The African-American Experience. Author Interview on Fresh Air, July 15, 2011. http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=129827444&m=129831730

17. Monday, March 30 – Changing face of New York City: The Puerto Rican MigrationClass viewing of West Side Story – Class will meet in Schwartz Conference Center, 137 E 25th St., Room 310. The movie is 2.5 hours.

Readings:Moreno, Leguizamo talk Latin Life in ‘hollywouldn’t’. NRP, October 24, 2011.

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http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=141594495&m=141646270

David Montgomery. 'West Side Story': A Bilingual Return to National Theatre Stage. The Washington Post, January 3, 2009.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/02/AR2009010202107_2.html

18. Wednesday, April 1 – Changed immigration policy

Reading:Daniels, Roger. Guarding the Golden Door: American Immigration Policy and Immigrants since 1882, New York: Hill and Wang, 2004. Chapter 7, Lyndon Johnson and the End of the Quota System, pp. 129-146. (PDF available)

Center for Immigration Studies. Three Decades of Mass Immigration: The Legacy of the 1965 Immigration Act. September 1995.http://cis.org/1965ImmigrationAct-MassImmigration

Spring Break Monday, April 6Wednesday, April 8

19. Monday, April 13 – How the change in immigration policy impacted the change in the face of New York: Revisiting the talk by Joe Salvo

Readings:Lobo, A. & Salvo, J. “A portrait of New York’s immigrant mélange,” in Foner, N. Ed. One Out of Three. p. 35 – 63.

20. Wednesday, April 15 – Challenges of Integration: What does it mean to be an American? Reading:

Reading:Massey, D. & Sanchez, M. Brokered Boundaries: Creating Immigrant Identities in Anti-Immigrant Times. NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 2012, Chapter 1, "Constructing Immigrant Identity," pp. 1-25.

21. Monday, April 20 – Challenges of Integration: Feet in two worlds

Assignment 4 Due: Oral History

Readings:Smith, R. Mexican New York: The transnational lives of new immigrants. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006. Chapter 2, Dual contexts for transnational life. Pp 18-52.

22. Wednesday, April 22 – Challenges of Integration: Documentation status and DACA

Readings:

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Obama’s dreamers: I want to be in this country. I have so much potential to give – video. The Guardian.http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/jan/18/dream-act-us-immigration-obama-reform-video

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) http://www.immigrationequality.org/get-legal-help/our-legal-resources/path-to-status-in-the-u-s/daca-deferred-action-for-childhood-arrivals/

Gonzales, R. and Bautista-Chavez, A. Two years and counting: Assessing the growing power of DACA. American Immigration Council. June 2014.

23. Monday, April 27 – Individual meetings with Owen and myself on the class project

24. Wednesday, April 29 – Field Trip – A peak into the relation between NYC communities and urban policy: San Juan Hill/Lincoln Center

Reading: TBA

25. Monday, May 4 – Field Trip – A peak into the relation between NYC communities and urban policy: Grand Concourse

Reading: TBA

26. Wednesday, May 7 – Presentations of communities along the D train and the challenges they have found living in NY

27. Monday, May 11 – Presentations of communities along the D train and the challenges they have found living in NY

28. Wednesday, May 13 - Presentation of communities along the D train and the challenges they have found living in NY

Community Study Due

Wednesday, May 20 – Completed website with all links working Due

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