Teacher Development Presentations
by Edward T. O'Donnell, Ph.D.

New York City Topics  

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Or click on the images below to access a full description of each presentation

The Making of the Multicultural City: Immigration and New York City - How and why did New York become the nation’s (indeed, the world’s) ultimate multicultural city?  This presentation examines the story of successive waves of immigrants such as the Irish, Germans, Chinese, Italians, and Jews, as well as the experiences of African Americans.  In so doing, it explains the vibrant ethnic enclaves they established (i.e., Little Italy, Little Germany), the struggles they endured to earn a living, and the contributions they made to the city.   Particular attention is also paid to the nativist movement.

The Making of the Empire City: How NYC Emerged as America's Leading Metropolis - in 1790 New York City trailed Boston and Philadelphia in population and economic activity, but by 1850 it stood supreme. What happened in these years that allowed NYC to surge ahead of its competitors to become (and remain) the Empire City? This talk focuses on the impact of immigration, the Erie Canal, entrepreneurial culture, and urban problem solving.

Rage and Reform: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911: On March 25, 1911 146 women, most of them young Italian and Jewish immigrants, perished in a garment factory fire in lower Manhattan. The tragedy shocked the nation and spurred a wide range of Progressive Era labor reforms.

The Struggle for Open Space: The Story of New York's Parks - the city planners who drew up NYC's famed grid plan in 1811 set aside only 3 percent of Manhattan island for parks. By the 1840s, city officials began to recognize this colossal error and commenced a program of park building. Central Park is the most famous effort, but equally important were the radical initiatives in the 1890s to knock down blocks of tenements in crowded immigrant neighborhoods to build parks for the masses.
Also available as The Making of Central Park | Walking Tour Option: Central Park

Streets of Fire: The New York City Draft Riots of July 1863 - At least 118 people were killed, including a dozen free blacks who were lynched, when New York City erupted in the deadliest insurrection in American history in July 1863. This talk examines the key social, political, and economic conditions that underlay this dark but important chapter in Gotham's history. Also available as Gotham Goes to War: New York City and the Civil War
Walking Tour Option: Draft Riot Sites

Consolidation: How 40 Cities and Towns Merged to Form Greater New York in 1898 - Before 1898, New York City was made up of Manhattan and part of the Bronx.  The rest of what we now know as the five-boroughs was a collection of 40 separate cities and towns, including Brooklyn, the nation’s third largest metropolis.  But a group of visionary political and business leaders in the 1890s led a successful movement for “Consolidation,” and on January 1, 1898 Greater New York was born.  What was the thinking behind this bold plan and how did they accomplish it? Walking Tour Option: Brooklyn Bridge to Brooklyn Heights

Shedding the Light on Poverty: The Work and Impact of Jacob Riis - Jacob Riis was one of the most influential and effective Progressive Era reformers. This presentation examines Riis' pioneering investigative photography and book, How the Other Half Lives (1890) and how they led to greater public awareness of urban poverty and significant reforms in tenement housing laws.
Also available as part of a wider talk on urban reforms, including settlement houses, labor law, and public health.
Walking Tour Option: Lower East Side | Museum Options: LES Tenement Museum or Ellis Island

Brooklyn Bridge and Brooklyn Heights - Brooklyn, of course, was its own city until 1898. The presentation looks at the rivalry between Brooklyn and New York, the rise of Brooklyn Heights as the city's first commuter suburb, the monumental effort to build the Great Bridge (1869-1883), and the eventual creation of Greater New York in 1898.
Walking Tour Option: Brooklyn Bridge and/or Brooklyn Heights

The Industrial Revolution and the Transformation of New York City - This presentation explores the extraordinary transformation of Gotham from a city of small-scale artisan production (cobblers, coopers, jewelers, etc) in the 1820s to a booming industrial metropolis by the 1890s. Particular attention is paid to the key factors in this process such as entrepreneurial culture and cheap labor, as well as the impact it had on workers, urban life, and civic values. Also available as The Capital of Capitalism: The Great Entrepreneurs in NYC History or The Labor Movement in New York City
Walking Tour Option: Labor History Sites

The Rise and Fall of Tammany Hall, NYC's Notorious Political Machine - In this talk we trace the remarkable rise of Tammany Hall from a fraternal and charitable society founded in the 1780s to a political machine that dominated city politics from the 1840s to the 1940s. How did Tammany cultivate and hold onto the immigrant vote? What role did corruption play in its success? How did Al Smith manage to transform it into a pro-reform organization in the early 20th century?
Walking Tour Option: Lower East Side

Philip Payton and the Making of Black Harlem - Harlem was supposed to be an exclusive neighborhood for the city's upper class whites, but when the real estate bubble crashed after 1900, a vast stock of new housing was left unoccupied. This presentation examines the story of the young and enterprising African American named Philip Payton who overcame racist resistance to fill Harlem's empty houses and apartments with blacks. By 1910 Harlem was fast becoming the most important African American neighborhood in America, paving the way for the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.
Walking Tour Option: Harlem

Ship Ablaze: The General Slocum Disaster of 1904 - Based on O'Donnell's book, Ship Ablaze (Random House, 2003), this presentation tells the extraordinary story of NYC's deadliest day before 9/11, the day a steamboat fire on the East River claimed more than 1,000 lives. It also led to the demise of Manhattan's Little Germany, as most of the victims lived in the neighborhood. It's a fascinating look at Progressive Era Gotham.
Walking Tour Option: The East Village / Little Germany

Other Talks include -

East Side, West Side, All Around the Town: The Story of the NYC Subway

Reaching for the Sky: The Making of the Empire State Building

Drop Dead: 1970s New York as a City in Crisis

The Great Builder?: The Controversial Work and Legacy of Robert Moses

The Destruction of Penn Station and the Rise of the Preservation Movement

The Settlement House Movement

Don't See A Topic That's Right for Your Group? Feel free to ask about additional offerings, or adaptations of the above.