New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

LGBTQ

Bayreuth & New York; Wagner & Bernstein

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Richard Wagner’s villa in BayreuthIn 1943 Henry Alexander Murray, a psychologist at Harvard University, was commissioned by William Joseph Donovan (“Wild Bill Donovan”) – founding father of the CIA – to prepare an investigative report on behalf of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

Designated as the “Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler,” it became a ground-breaking study in the fields of offender profiling and political psychology. The inquiry into the malignant and narcissistic personality of the Führer was an effort to understand the “charismatic” nature of his leadership and an attempt to “predict” patterns of his behavior and actions. [Read more…] about Bayreuth & New York; Wagner & Bernstein

Harlem on Fire: Langston Hughes & Wallace Henry Thurman

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Ad for Hotel OlgaBefore the arrival of European settlers, the flatland area that would become Harlem (originally: Nieuw Haarlem after the Dutch city of that name) was inhabited by the indigenous Munsee speakers, the Lenape. The first settlers from the Low Countries arrived in the late 1630s.

Harlem was an agricultural center under British rule (attempts to change the name of the community to “Lancaster” failed and the authorities reluctantly adopted the Anglicised name of Harlem). During the American Revolutionary War in September 1776 it was the site of the Battle of Harlem Heights. Later, rich elites built country houses there in order to escape from the city’s dirt and epidemics (Alexander Hamilton built his Harlem estate in 1802). [Read more…] about Harlem on Fire: Langston Hughes & Wallace Henry Thurman

Arrested Attention: The Women’s House of Detention

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The Women's House of DetentionThe quick-witted Hugh Ryan has a nose for history, as demonstrated in his book When Brooklyn Was Queer. His latest The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison mines little-known historical sources to point out how a large and vocal population of queer-identified and trans people passed through the old cement monstrosity that used to stand next to today’s Jefferson Market Library in Manhattan‘s Greenwich Village.

Now a community garden, the site is a shout away from the Stonewall Inn, and Ryan writes the story of some of those imprisoned voices left out of the customary tales of the riot. In fact, prisoners set fire to their bedclothes and tossed them from the barred windows overlooking 6th Ave chanting “gay rights, gay rights gay rights.” Even before Stonewall’s impassioned response to police exploitation of gay bars, House of D. queer women, transmasculine people and other women were rioting for their rights in the jail. [Read more…] about Arrested Attention: The Women’s House of Detention

The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison

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The Women's House of DetentionThe Women’s House of Detention, a landmark that ushered in the modern era of women’s imprisonment, is now largely forgotten. But when it stood in New York City’s Greenwich Village, from 1929 to 1974, it was a nexus for the tens of thousands of women, transgender men, and gender-nonconforming people who inhabited its crowded cells.

Some of these inmates — Angela Davis, Andrea Dworkin, Afeni Shakur — were famous, but the vast majority were incarcerated for the crimes of being poor and improperly feminine. Today, approximately 40 percent of the people in women’s prisons identify as queer; in earlier decades, that percentage was almost certainly higher. [Read more…] about The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison

A Queer History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement

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Public Faces Secret Lives by Wendy RouseIn the new book Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement (NYU Press, 2022) Wendy L. Rouse of San Jose State University reveals that the suffrage movement included individuals who represented a range of genders and sexualities. However, owing to the constant pressure to present a “respectable” public image, suffrage leaders publicly conformed to gendered views of ideal womanhood in order to make women’s suffrage more palatable to the public. [Read more…] about A Queer History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement

Salons: American Rebels, French Etiquette and Lesbian History

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Salon at the Hôtel de RambouilletWhen Benjamin Franklin traveled to Paris in 1776 seeking support for the Revolution, the old charmer became a popular guest at the city’s glittering salons. His successor Thomas Jefferson continued his PR work and established contacts with the city’s most prominent salonnières. Thomas Paine too was a visitor of various salons. Thanks to their socio-diplomatic involvement, the American Revolution became a central topic of discussion at such gatherings. [Read more…] about Salons: American Rebels, French Etiquette and Lesbian History

Division of Human Rights Hosting GENDA Virtual Town Hall

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genda town hallIn honor of the second anniversary of the passage of the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), the Division of Human Rights (DHR) and other NYS agencies, in conjunction with Gender Equality New York (GENY) and New York Trans Advocacy Group (NYTAG), are hosting a virtual town hall on Monday, January 25th. [Read more…] about Division of Human Rights Hosting GENDA Virtual Town Hall

LGBTQ Pride Month Is History In Action

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ANCGALGBTQI+ Pride Month is normally associated with colorful parades and marches and speeches by local, regional, and national leaders, but it’s part of an important political history as well.

Out of all the months in the year, why June? [Read more…] about LGBTQ Pride Month Is History In Action

The Education of Eleanor Roosevelt

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Marie Souvestre in LondonBorn in Brest, the daughter of a novelist and educated in Paris, she was a lesbian, a feminist, and a formidable educationist. Today her presence may be largely forgotten, but she left a legacy on both sides of the Atlantic.

Marie Souvestre was born on April 28, 1830 in Brest, the daughter of a novelist. In 1846, her father Émile published the dystopian novel Le monde tel qu’il sera. Set in the year 3000, the story features remarkable predictions on the role of science in society, and contains reflections on future parenthood and education. He would certainly have inspired his daughter’s alternative ideas about learning in general, and the teaching of young women in particular. Having remained in the shadow of the mighty Jules Verne who stole the limelight, Émile Souvestre deserves renewed critical attention. [Read more…] about The Education of Eleanor Roosevelt

Geographies of Gender at Brooklyn Museum

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Natasha Jean Jacobs by Grace PendletonThe Brooklyn Museum is set to celebrate their exhibit Out of Place: A Feminist Look at the Collection during Women’s History Month on March 7th, as part of their First Saturday programs.

Throughout the evening, women and nonbinary artists from across Brooklyn explore how gender maps onto our bodies, our histories, and our political movements. Highlights include an artist talk with Naima Green, a Night Market, and music from Sammus. [Read more…] about Geographies of Gender at Brooklyn Museum