'HOOD HISTORY:The South Bronx, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and East New York in Historical Perspective
January 9, 2001

Some of the most exciting new scholarship done on New York history investigates specific neighborhoods in fine-grained detail, and many of the areas under the magnifying glass are not in Manhattan. For all their particularity, the recent studies probe general concerns of interest to all city dwellers - issues of racial transformation, new immigrant arrival, political relations between local communities and city government. Scholars Craig Wilder, Wendell Pritchett and Evelyn Gonzalez looked at three neighborhoods (Bedford-Stuyvesant, East New York, South Bronx), and considered the history of culture, people and politics, noting contrasts and commonalities.

March 15th, 2001 6:30-8:30 p.m.
SWEATSHOPS THEN, SWEATSHOPS NOW

Have things changed since the bad old days? Yes and no. Experts and activists compared conditions in the New York garment trades, past and present.

Speakers included Amy Hall, Manager of Social Accountability, Eileen Fisher, Inc.Trinh Duong, Board Member, Chinese Staff and Workers Association. Assemblyman Felix. W. Ortiz, 51st District, author ofBehind Closed Doors : a Look into the Underground Sweatshop Industry. Edgar Romney, Executive VP of UNITE. Daniel Soyer, Assistant Professor of History, Fordham University, author,Jewish Tenement Sweatshops. Carmen Whalen, Assistant Professor, Puerto Rican and Hispanic Caribbean Studies Department Present and History Department, Rutgers University, author, Latinas and Latinos in NYC's Garment Industry.

April 10th, 2001 6:30-8:30 p.m.
HISTORY AND PROSPECTS OF THE MARITIME PORT

From Dutch days to WWII, the Port was crucial to the City. Then, the boats decamped to Jersey. Why? Will some (should some) be coming back? How crucial will harbor developments be to the region's future?

Kent Barwick, President, Municipal Art Society. Jameson Doig, Professor of Politics and Public Affairs, Chair, Department of Politics, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, author ofEmpire on the Hudson: Entrepreneurial Vision and Political Power at the Port of New York Authority (forthcoming). Steve Jaffe, Curator, South Street Seaport. Rep. Jerrold L. Nadler, Member of Congress, 8^th District. Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff, Attorney, Lacher & Lovell‑Taylor. James T.B. Tripp, General Counsel, Environmental Defense Fund. Chris Ward, Chief of Planning, Port Authority of NY and NJ.

April 26^th, 2001 6:30-8:30 p.m.
THE HISTORY OF JAZZ IN NEW YORK CITY (WITH PARTICIPANTS IN KEN BURNS' JAZZ DOCUMENTARY)

Jazz was not a native New York growth, but the transplant sure flourished here. Why? How did the metropolis shape the music, and vice versa? Our panelists- participants in Ken Burns' marathon docuhistory, Jazz- tackle the questions.

Gary Giddins, Staff Writer, Village Voice and author,Visions of Jazz: The First Century andBing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams. Margo Jefferson, New York Times.Robin D. G. Kelley, Professor of History and Africana Studies, New York University, author,Yo' Mama's Disfunktional! : Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America. Dan Morgenstern, Director, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers, authorJazz People. Albert Murray, author,Trading Twelves : The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray. Geoff Ward, Writer, PBS Series,Jazz and co-author with Ken Burns,Jazz: A History of America's Music.

May 10^th, 2001 6:30-8:30 p.m.
WHY DID THE COMPUTER REVOLUTION TAKE PLACE IN SILICON VALLEY, NOT SILICON ALLEY, AND WHAT WILL BE THE RELATION BETWEEN THE TWO IN THE FUTURE?

Having been a crucial crucible for communications technologies since the early nineteenth century - telegraph, movies, radio, tv - we seem to have dropped the ball on computers? How come? And how will the two coasts fare in the coming internet era?

Jason Chervokis, Primedia, co-founder @NY. Dan Dubno, producer and technologist, CBS News. Stuart W. Leslie, Department of the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, The Johns Hopkins University, author,Learning from Silicon Valley, forthcoming. Alan Meckler, Chairman and CEO, Internet.com Corporation. Mitchell Moss, Director, Taub Urban Research Center, New York University.

May 24^th, 2001 6:30-8:30 p.m.
NYC'S HOUSING CRISIS: HAS IT ALWAYS BEEN HERE? WILL IT EVER GO AWAY?

Have New Yorkers always found decent and affordable housing to be in short supply? If so, why? And what's the prognosis for a different future?

Yolanda Garcia, Executive Director, Nos Quedamos. Irene Baldwin, Executive Director, Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development. Peter Marcuse, Professor of Urban Planning, School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Columbia University, Coauthor,Globalizing Cities : A New Spatial Order? Richard Plunz, Professor, School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Columbia University, author,A History of Housing in New York City. Peter Salins, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, SUNY, author ofScarcity by Design : The Legacy of New York City's Housing Policies.Douglass Turetsky, Director of Policy, Analysis and Advocacy, United Neighborhood Houses and former editor, City Limits.Kathryn Wylde, President and CEO, New York City Partnership and Chamber of Commerce.

June 7^th, 2001 6:30-8:30 p.m.
THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF HEROIN IN NEW YORK CITY

As early as the 1920s, the overwhelming majority of U.S. heroin addicts lived in the New York City area, and the city had emerged as the center of the country's drug trade. How did this happen? How have New Yorkers dealt with the big H since then, and where does the deadly relationship go from here?

Claude Brown, author,Manchild in the Promised Land. Stanley Crouch, critic and author,Always in Pursuit : Fresh American Perspectives. Ric Curtis, Director, Heroin in the 21^st Century Project, Associate Professor, Anthropology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY. Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director, Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation. Robert Newman, President and CEO, Continuum Health Partners. Eric Schneider, Assistant Dean and Associate Director for Academic Affairs, Adjunct Associate Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania, author ofThe Golden Spike: Heroin in the Postwar City (in progress).

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