Greenwich Village is home to some of the first public educational institutions in New York City, from the city's first free circulating library to the People’s Institute, an educational and community center for working-class adults founded in 1897. The Village’s pedigree as a bastion of free expression has its roots in these institutions, which were at the center of some of the great radical and progressive movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. On this tour, we’ll drop by The New School and discuss how opposition to World War I (and to stodgy uptown academia) inspired the creation one hundred years ago of the school, the first university in the country to offer courses on women's and African-American history. We will also visit the first law school in New York City to admit women, an anarchist educational collective on St. Marks Place whose instructors included Margaret Sanger and Jack London, and other historic sites.
Presented in partnership with the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.
