Activist New York

Catalog description

This course is a historical survey of community-based and grassroots activist politics in New York City. We trace the co-development of grassroots activism and institutional politics from the mid-19th century forward, with a particular focus on the Depression and the periods immediately following World War II, the fiscal crisis of the 1970s, and the contemporary period. We will trace the ways in which contemporary activism and organizing methods have taken shape and the transformation of tenant activism into community development. The questions of how and why groups have followed "insider" and "outsider" strategies even as they have changed the city politically and socially will be at the forefront of our inquiry.