History Lessons in NYC, New York

Dinosaurs! Science! Adventure! Break out your pith helmet as we embark upon a brazen expedition through the halls of New York City's world-famous American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Join your maverick tour guide as we deftly navigate this massive 27-building, 1.6 million square foot landmark cultural institution. Learn the science...

Before Awakening as Shakyamuni Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama was a Misfit Seeker (Shramana, Śramaṇa), one of many in a massive countercultural spiritual revolution that gave birth to religions such as Buddhism and Jainism and transformed Hinduism.  During this period, what the German philosopher Karl Jaspers aptly dubbed the Axial Age, there...

On this walking tour, we’ll discover the life of pirates and prostitutes living in the scrappy Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, long before New York was New York. Step into the wooden shoes of the early settlers and see what life was like being an employee rather than a colonist. Based on exciting new research taking place over the last...

Rice around the world is thought of as Asian. But rice is just as African as it is Asian. Oryza glaberrima was cultivated from wild rice that needed humans when the Sahara was drying. That knowledge fueled the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade where Africans were brought west. Rice dominated the United States and particularly South Carolina for two hundred...

In 1930, Max Horkheimer became the director of the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, Germany. Along with his colleagues and a broader orbit of external scholars, he inaugurated the first wave of what came to be called “critical theory.” This course is an introduction to some of the key works and concepts of the Frankfurt School, including...

Numbers are so common, so seemingly intrinsic to human life, that it’s baffling to recall that, for millennia, many humans did not use them at all. How, then, did the use of numbers come to be? Were they, in some sense, discovered? Are they qualities of the natural world or truths outside of time and space? Or, are numbers human creations—concepts...

In 1845, Captain John Franklin left England with two ships on a mission to discover the fabled Northwest Passage that would allow Europe to trade directly with Asia. Because Franklin suspected that there might be a safe water route north of Canada, they sailed into the Arctic Circle. His ships were equipped with the latest technology – steam engines...

For 11 years, rapper Meek Mill has either been in jail or on probation. Today at the age of 32, Meek Mill is well aware of the legal system and the impact it has not only on his life, but of “Young Black America.” Meek, who has been rapping since he was an adolescent, has lyrically chronicled and highlighted the racial and economic injustices that...

Our experience is a journey from the 1500s to the present day. We’ll start with explorers trying to find a route to Asia but then encountered a new land. I’ll share Harlem’s role in the American Revolution and the meeting of Alexander Hamilton and General George Washington. Our group will discuss the Trans Atlantic Slave trade in North, Central...

Meet the badass Brooklynites who brought us the ballot. Behind the stately facades of Brooklyn Heights’ most gracious brownstones lies the history of firebrand feminism! The wise “women of Brooklyn” were doctors, lawyers, educators and orators who made some of the foremost contributions to the Suffrage movement. Join us for a walk through their...

Access billions of names inside the more than 7,000 available databases of Ancestry® Library Edition, including Census and Vital Records, birth, marriage and death notices, the Social Security Death Index, Passenger lists and naturalizations, Military and Holocaust Records, City Directories, New York Emigrant Savings Bank Records, and...

As a new generation of "Master Builders" transform our city at a breakneck pace, we take stock of the megaprojects that have shaped New York, from Rockefeller Center and Roosevelt Island to the newly-minted Hudson Yards. Distinguished urban historians Dr. Lizabeth Cohen, Daniel Okrent, and Dr. Samuel Zipp join urban planner Regina Myer to consider...

"Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?" NYC According to the Census Every ten years the Census provides a unparalleled opportunity to observe the changes in the population living in the hundreds of neighborhoods that comprise New York City.  In this panel discussion, we zoom in on the most significant population shifts as indicated by recent...

Staten Island Style: The Environment, Culture and Historic Preservation The fascinating history of the environmental movement of the 1880’s that is still vigorous today with the efforts of Protectors of Pine Oak Woods will be presented. We will also highlight preservation of the built environment and the controversy over landmarking on Staten Island....

Whisky is the national drink of Scotland, and the most popular spirit in the world: it is a multi-billion dollar industry employing thousands globally and one of the UK’s leading exports. Yet, it is more, much more than this; it’s a story – a story of a drink, a culture, a people, a land and a way of life. From the humblest...