About:

About:
Established in 1982 at LaGuardia Community College/ CUNY with a mission to collect, preserve, and make available primary materials documenting the social and political history of New York City. We hold nearly 5,000 cubic feet of archival records and 3,200 reels of microfilm with almost 100,000 photographs and 2,000,000 documents available on our website.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Nelson Mandela and New York City


COUNCIL SPEAKER PETER F. VALLONE AND MAYOR DAVID DINKINS (BACK TO CAMERA) WELCOME NELSON MANDELA, JUNE 20, 1990. MANDELA MADE A 12-DAY TOUR OF THE U.S. AFTER BEING FREED FROM 27 YEARS OF IMPRISONMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA. 
Steven A. Levine 
Coordinator for Educational Programs

As we sadly observe the passing of Nelson Mandela, I thought it an appropriate time to look at his connection to New York City through some of the Archives’ documents. The documents show that in the 1980s and early 1990s, when the brutal apartheid government continued to imprison Mandela and his comrades on Robben Island; New York City, in response to activism from anti-racist and labor organizations, took strong stands against the apartheid government of South Africa. 
In 1984 New York City passed economic sanctions against South Africa and the banks and companies that did business with it, and named the corner of 42nd St and Second Avenue, in front of the South African U.N. mission “Nelson and Winnie Mandela Corner.”  When Nelson Mandela was finally released from prison in 1990, he was given a hero’s welcome, highlighted by a ticker tape parade, an ecumenical service at Riverside Church, and a huge rally at Yankee Stadium, an inspiring moment I was fortunate enough to attend. 
Even after South Africa released Mandela in 1990, the City Council continued to support local sanctions and the need to “impress upon the Congress of the United States the need to continue economic and political sanctions against the government of South Africa until freedom and equality are established for all.”
I hope you will take the time to look at the documents.  If you are interested in learning more about Nelson Mandela’s visit to NYC or about its connection to the South African freedom struggle, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

VIDEO: Professor Emerita Janet Lieberman Remembers Prohibition

         
  Professor Emerita Janet Lieberman

Steven A. Levine 
Coordinator for Educational Programs

Eighty one years ago today, the United States ended Prohibition, its failed experiment in making alcohol, the nation’s  most popular drug, illegal.  From 1920-1933, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution banned the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes."  Watch a video of La Guardia Professor Emerita Janet Lieberman describing how easy it was to consume alcohol during Prohibition and a Universal Newspaper Newsreelproduced when Prohibition was repealed.
Fiorello La Guardia was also a leading opponent of Prohibition.  To learn more about his views on Prohibition and their similarities to current arguments in favor of marijuana legalization; you can read “Marijuana Legalization Arguments Similar to La Guardia's Arguments Against Prohibition” on the Archives’ blog. 
If you are so inclined, you can also make a toast to the 21st Amendment that made your drink possible today.