Category: Exhibits

One of the unexpected outcomes of this wholly unexpected pandemic is the way it has fundamentally changed how we eat and share food. The pandemic has sparked a renewed interest in cooking and has changed the way restaurants, grocery stores, and community farms operate. Some of us are fortunate to have continued, uninterrupted access to fresh food. Others are struggling with food insecurity during a time when a lot of the systems in place to feed hungry New Yorkers have been disrupted. Still others are working in urban farms and in the food service industries that are trying to adapt to a new reality while keeping workers safe. 

The pandemic, and the lockdown on businesses and resources that resulted from it, has highlighted the unsustainability of the buy-rather-than-make mentality of the masses. It has also shone a light on the many New Yorkers who continue to live by an older standard, one that already includes many of the pandemic suggested shopping tips. Communities of color need no guidance on how to shop in bulk or stretch home cooked meals. Many of them continue practices from ancestral homes in the Caribbean or abroad while some maintain the roots of southern cuisine and food storage. 

This turn towards sustainability is reflected in the number of Black people reclaiming their connection to the land, looking backward towards the food justice lessons learned during the Black Power movement of the 1960s. During this time, the Black Panthers and other activist groups emphasized the importance of self-determined food systems and land rights. The ability to eat is the ability to live, so the Black Panthers prioritized providing for the most vulnerable and valuable with their revolutionary school lunch program.   

It is impossible to disentangle food systems from systems of oppression—colonialism, slavery, and the exploitation of migrant workers, which is why conversations about food justice are multifaceted, global, and include discussions of issues like land reparations and indigenous sovereignty. Back in the 1970s, BIPOC activists advocated for boycotts of large agriculture conglomerates like Del Monte to expose how these companies profited from Apartheid in South Africa.

Indigenous communities across America are still fighting for stolen land and calling for decolonization; Black residents in Flint, Michigan are fighting for safe drinking water; Black and Latinx families in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx are demonstrating against environmental racism; migrant farmworkers and low-waged laborers in the meat processing industry are fighting for safe working conditions. We see these issues of inequity and resistance at work all over the country and here in New York, where communities of color are still likely to live in areas with more air pollution, less green space, and less access to healthy food. 

This harsh reality has resulted in a number of organizers dedicated to teaching their communities how to grow their own food at home. Introducing aquaponics, hydroponics and microgreens to city dwellers makes it possible for anyone with a few feet of space to start an urban garden. There are farmers working on a larger scale encouraging BIPOC to make a deeper commitment to land ownership and self determination by sharing their own experience with reclaiming land and the skills to make it fruitful. 

Through city organizations like Green Thumb, local chefs and farmers are hosting workshops at community gardens and community centers. They have adapted to the demands of the pandemic by moving the remainder of this year’s educational offerings online. Larger operations like the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust and Soul Fire Farm in Troy, NY provide educational opportunities that help communities build new relationships to the land and reimagine food systems. Recent updates to their infrastructure have made it possible to expand and increase their online presence through Instagram and YouTube and has introduced them to a wider audience. 

There’s even a community farming initiative at CUNY, housed on the Kingsborough Community College campus in south Brooklyn. The KCC Urban Farm is a space for students and volunteers to learn about urban farming and “explore their roles in local and global food systems.” Fresh produce harvested from the farm is used in classrooms and distributed for free to students and families in need. 

Check out the resources below from the City Tech Library and beyond to learn more about the food justice movement and the BIPOC communities from Puerto Rico to New York to Iowa who are leading the way. 

Websites

• Black Culinary History
• Boricuá Organization of Ecological Agriculture
• Happy Healthy Latina
• Northeast Farmers of Color Reparations Map
• Soul Fire Farm: Farming Practices

Multimedia

EBOOKS from the City Tech Library

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Social Media

Happy Healthy Latina

Soul Fire Farm

Black Food Folks

KCC Urban Farm

This post was written collaboratively by Profs. Wanett Clyde and Nora Almeida

The Open Admissions Strike of 1969 was a dramatic event that radically transformed CUNY. In 1969, a group of City College of New York (CCNY) students occupied campus buildings. CCNY was 97% white despite being in Harlem. Students demanded that the college reorient towards Harlem’s communities of color. They also demanded an education that valued and reflected their diverse backgrounds. Other CUNY campuses were shut down in solidarity, buildings were set on fire, and the police were called in to quash riots. In the end, CUNY students fought for and won change. Their persistence forced CUNY to negotiate their demands, and their protest led to a new open enrollment policy.

CUNY had a reputation for student activism before 1969. In the 1930s and 40s, the colleges that would become CUNY, were major centers of student activism. Many students had Eastern European and Italian immigrant backgrounds that embraced trade unionism and social protest. During the 1950s, CUNY was one of the few places where students on the left in the United States dared to organize openly and in the turbulent 1960s, CUNY became a focus of student protest.

Continue reading “CUNY’s Open Admissions Strike of 1969”

On May 1, people celebrate International Workers Day all over the world. May 1, or May Day, commemorates the historic struggles and gains made by workers and the labor movement. May Day was born in their struggle for a humane workday. With the rise of industrialism, employers imposed working days of 12-16 hours, and work weeks of 6-7 days. When industrialization took off in the late 1800s, workers organized into unions and joined pro-labor organizations. One of their earliest rallying points was the fight for the 8-hour work day. May 1, 1886, was chosen as the date for a universal strike.

On that day, more than 300,000 workers (40,000 in Chicago alone) walked out of their jobs across the country. In the following days, more workers joined, and the number of strikers in Chicago grew to almost 100,000. Unfortunately, their celebration was quickly overshadowed by violence. On May 3, Chicago police fired at strikers, killing at least two. On May 4, a protester hurled a bomb at the police during a meeting in Haymarket Square. For many Americans at the time, the “Haymarket incident” forever tied May Day to anarchists, socialists, and other “radical” groups.

Despite this, the observance of May Day went international. When the International Socialist Congress met in France after the Haymarket Incident, its members resolved to hold a “great international demonstration” on May 1, 1890. Workers across Europe observed this May Day with protests and marches. In the years that followed, European workers embraced May Day—so much so that most Americans then associated it with international socialism rather than unionism. Wary of its “radical” roots, the United States officially dropped it in favor of Labor Day in early September. However, unions and other groups still observe May Day here. In fact, workers at Amazon, Whole Foods, and Target are calling for a May Day General Strike this year, to demand better working conditions during the Covid 19 pandemic.

For more on the fascinating history of May Day, give a listen to this podcast with CUNY Professor Haverty-Stacke about the U.S. origin of May Day and why the holiday has been forgotten or overlooked here. Peter Linebaugh’s The Incomplete, True, Authentic and Wonderful History of May Day tells the holiday’s story from a radical left perspective.

The City Tech Library was one out of 50 libraries in the country to be selected by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and American Libraries Association to host Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibition. The exhibition will examine how American reacted to Nazism, war, refugees, and genocide before and during the Second World War. The exhibit’s opening date is October, 2021.

As part of the conditions of the grant, the City Tech Library will host 4 public events that will examine common themes between now and the events surrounding the Holocaust. Our three primary goals are to educate middle, high school and college students on the history of the Holocaust; to host public events survivors and scholars who will bring their experiences and knowledge to the public; and to emphasize the ways in which the Holocaust was both unique to its historical moment and yet germane to the twenty-first century.

The grant also includes a $2,000 cash award to go towards public programming. It also includes an expenses paid trip to Washington D.C. to train project directors. Prof. Keith Muchowski is the project director of the exhibit.

For more information about the traveling exhibit, visit the official exhibit website, the official ALA press release, and the other libraries selected out of the grant.

For more information, contact Prof. Keith Muchowski or Prof. Junior Tidal.

Americans and the Holocaust: A Traveling Exhibition for Libraries is made possible by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the American Library Association.  

Americans and the Holocaust was made possible by the generous support of lead sponsor Jeannie & Jonathan Lavine. Additional major funding was provided by the Bildners — Joan & Allen z”l, Elisa Spungen & Rob, Nancy & Jim; and Jane and Daniel Och.

The Museum’s exhibitions are also supported by the Lester Robbins and Sheila Johnson Robbins Traveling and Special Exhibitions Fund, established in 1990.

Late last week we installed part 1 of The Great War in Broad Outlines. The Ursula C. Schwerin Library will be showing this traveling exhibition from the Embassy of Belgium in five installments this September and October in recognition of the centennial of the First World War. City Tech is located in downtown Brooklyn, within walking distance of the Cadman Plaza greenmarket (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays), Brooklyn Heights Promenade, and Brooklyn Bridge. Come see part 1, the first six of thirty panels, between now and September 14, and make the rest of this special exhibition part of your late summer and fall.
For directions and times that the library is open, check our website here.