Immigration

Eugene O’Neill and Ireland: A Talk by Dan McGovern

April 9, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The American Irish Historical Society has announced “Eugene O’Neill and Ireland,” a talk by Dan McGovern, president of the Eugene O’Neill Foundation, Tao House, has been set for Thursday, April 25th, at 6:30 pm.

Eugene O’Neill was the only American playwright to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. It was at Tao House in Danville, California, where O’Neill wrote his greatest plays, including Long Day’s Journey Into Night and The Iceman Cometh. [Read more…] about Eugene O’Neill and Ireland: A Talk by Dan McGovern

Rochester’s Near Northside and Neighborhood Change

March 26, 2019 by Linda Day 2 Comments

Neighborhoods change. Ours was changing when my single parent mom managed to buy a modest house for cash in Rochester’s Near Northside in 1952. My mom was an immigrant from Toronto whose own mother had emigrated from England.

She had grown up in this working-class immigrant neighborhood somewhat northeast of downtown. In 1937, she graduated from Vocational High, located in the Bausch and Lomb plant. In 1952 she was newly divorced and had been hired to work on an assembly line – she could walk to work. [Read more…] about Rochester’s Near Northside and Neighborhood Change

22nd International Fenimore Cooper Conference Call for Papers

March 8, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The 22nd International James Fenimore Cooper/Susuan Fenimore Cooper Conference has been set for September 25-28, 2019, at SUNY Oneonta.

This years conference will examine Cooper within this tension between native purity and immigrant amalgamation.

Organizers have announced they are seeking papers that address the role of Cooper and his contemporaries in forging an American identity out of the cultural mixture of overlapping empires and immigration. [Read more…] about 22nd International Fenimore Cooper Conference Call for Papers

All the Nations Under Heaven Revised

February 21, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

First published in 1996, All the Nations Under Heaven: Immigrants, Migrants, and the Making of New York (Revised, Columbia University Press, 2019), written by Frederick M. Binder, David M. Reimers, and Rovert W. Snyder, chronicles the role of immigrants and migrants in shaping the history and culture of New York City.

This updated edition of a classic text brings the story of the immigrant experience in New York City up to the present with new material on the city’s revival as a global metropolis with deeply rooted racial and economic inequalities. [Read more…] about All the Nations Under Heaven Revised

HDC Searching For NYC’s Latino Heritage

January 7, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Historic Districts Council of the City of New York is seeking information on historic place and events related to the city’s Latino Heritage.

The main altar of St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, in the Financial District of New York, is embellished with a painting called The Crucifixion, by the Mexican artist Jose Vallejo. Many of the paintings that decorate this church, including The Crucifixion, were donated by Archbishop Nunez de Haro from Mexico City in the late 18th Century.

In 1965, St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church was designated a landmark of the city by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, one of the earliest designations in the city. [Read more…] about HDC Searching For NYC’s Latino Heritage

The Case Against Peter Stuyvesant

December 16, 2018 by Alan J. Singer 16 Comments

There is a Stuyvesant Square in Manhattan at 16th Street and 2nd Avenue with a statue of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of its New Amsterdam colony, a Stuyvesant High School, and a Stuyvesant Town residential development.

At least one group wants these places renamed and the statue removed. According to Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the head of the Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center “Peter Stuyvesant was an extreme racist who targeted Jews and other minorities including Catholics and energetically tried to prohibit them from settling in then New Amsterdam.” [Read more…] about The Case Against Peter Stuyvesant

Catholic Missionary to the Adirondacks Father Fitz

November 13, 2018 by Roy Crego Leave a Comment

The Rev. John G. Fitzgerald, or “Father Fitz,” as he was known to contemporaries, was the first resident Roman Catholic priest in Old Forge. He is fondly remembered as a missionary to the widely scattered working people of the region and as a prolific builder of churches. His obituary in 1925 and local histories rightly focus on his time in Old Forge, but Father Fitzgerald had a significant career prior to that. His early assignments reveal a resourceful and energetic clergyman who made an impact across the Adirondacks and North Country. He served the people of northern New York State for a total of 49 years providing faith, culture, and kindness.

John Gerald Fitzgerald was probably born November 19, 1850 in Deptford, Kent, England (now part of Greater London). His parents, Patrick Fitzgerald and Joanna O’Connor, were both born in Ireland. John was educated in Catholic schools in England, namely: Blackheath; Sedgley Park in Wolverhampton; and St. Edmund’s in Ware, Hertfordshire. Records from St. Edmund’s show that a John Fitzgerald attended the school from 1868 until 1871. Soon after, John emigrated to the United States where he attended St. Joseph’s Provincial Seminary in Troy, NY. He was sponsored by the recently established Diocese of Ogdensburg. At seminary, John served as choirmaster and developed what would become a lifelong interest in music. He was ordained at Troy by Bishop Bernard J. McQuaid of Rochester on June 10, 1876. [Read more…] about Catholic Missionary to the Adirondacks Father Fitz

Scorsese’s ‘Gangs of New York’ and New York History

June 24, 2018 by Robert Chiles 4 Comments

Because I teach urban history, immigration history, and in particular New York history, I often have students inquire about the merits of Martin Scorsese’s 2002 film “Gangs of New York.”

Here are a few observations about the movie and about New York history. [Read more…] about Scorsese’s ‘Gangs of New York’ and New York History

The Alien & Sedition Act of 1798

June 6, 2018 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Terri Halperin, an instructor at the University of Richmond and author of The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798: Testing the Constitution (John Hopkins University Press, 2016), helps us explore the Alien and Sedition Acts and their origins. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/188

An Immigration Exhibit at the NYS Library

May 16, 2018 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

The New York State Library has a new exhibit, “A Nation of Immigrants,” which focuses on the past and present immigrants in the United States.

The centerpiece of the exhibit is a two-page spread from the July 2, 1887 issue of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, which appeared less than a year after the Statue of Liberty was dedicated. The caption reads, “New York — Welcome to the Land of Freedom — An Ocean Steamer Passing the Statue of Liberty: Scene on the Steerage Deck.” [Read more…] about An Immigration Exhibit at the NYS Library