Long before Washington Square Park was a hangout spot for New Yorkers, it once served as a burial ground. Now, a headstone uncovered 14 years ago was unveiled to the public on Friday to bring attention to a piece of the park’s history.

The New York City Parks Department revealed the 224-year-old tombstone belonging to 28-year-old James Jackson to the public on Friday, displaying it in a window of Washington Square Park’s Park House along with a sign explaining it.

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“This exhibit gives New Yorkers an opportunity to learn and share the rich history of our greenspaces,” Anthony Perez, Manhattan borough commissioner for the parks department said in a press release. “Washington Square Park has served untold numbers of New Yorkers over the generations, and we are grateful that we are able to amplify the importance of remembering and respecting the history of the space.”

Up until 1825, Washington Square Park had a “potter’s field,” or a mass grave for the unknown, the very poor or those who died from an epidemic. About 22,000 people who died of yellow fever were buried here, according to The New York Times.

Amid park renovations in 2009, the tombstone of James Jackson, a 28-year-old Irish immigrant and watchman who died in 1799 from yellow fever, was uncovered.

Jackson was apparently born in County Kildare but lived at 19 East George (now Market) Street during his time in NYC.

How his headstone wound up at this park location is a mystery, according to the Parks Department. While more than 2,000 people died the same year as Jackson, only two unidentified bodies were discovered near his headstone. Plus, it was rare for a headstone to be placed in a potter’s field since it was a mass grave. Historians say it was likely moved there from another area.

“History often obscures the quiet actions that derive from friendship, kinship, and empathy. Whoever arranged and paid for James Jackson’s headstone was cognizant of the ways in which the phrase ’native of the county of Kildare Ireland’ would distinguish him from New Yorkers generally, and among his fellow Irishmen in particular,” said Marion R. Casey, a clinical professor of Irish studies at New York University. “He was a young man from a part of Ireland convulsed by rebellion in 1798 who died in a city ravaged by a deadly epidemic in 1799. Now, this 18th-century stone is a 21st-century palimpsest and Jackson can represent all the people for whom our remarkable city is home.”

You can see it now at the window of Washington Square Park’s park house near the Sullivan Street entrance.

* This article was originally published here

The Biden-Harris administration kicks off the 2023 National HBCU Week Conference in Arlington, Virginia on Sunday running through Thursday.

The annual National HBCU Week Conference is the nation’s premier convening of key influencers in the HBCU space.

“Historically Black Colleges and Universities have embodied leadership, excellence, and innovation for centuries, continually punching above their weight and producing barrier-breaking graduates in every field imaginable,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “President Biden’s support for HBCUs has resulted in record investments in these institutions, and our National HBCU Week Conference gives higher education leaders, public officials, advocates and outside partners an opportunity to build on this momentum. At a time when the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, and access in higher education are under attack across our country, working together to support HBCUs and the students they serve is more important than ever before.”

The theme for this year’s HBCU Week Conference is Raising the Bar: Forging Excellence through Innovation & Leadership. HBCU Week provides administrators, faculty, and students an opportunity to meet and interact with key leaders, including federal agency officials and financial executives, private sector representatives and business professionals, and financial aid executives. The conference will include remarks from U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and senior administration officials, and it provides direct information to HBCU administrators and leaders on the subjects related to promoting educational excellence, innovation, and equity.

“HBCUs have been critically important to providing educational opportunity for generations of Black Americans and broader communities of color,” said Executive Director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs Dr. Dietra Trent. “HBCU Week will feature workshops, engagements, keynote addresses and interactive exhibits that will connect vital federal and private resources to the HBCU community.”

The National HBCU Week Conference is coordinated by the White House Initiative on HBCUs in close consultation with the Executive Office of the President and the U.S. Department of Education. The event provides an opportunity for federal agencies, private sector companies and philanthropic organizations to convene and provide useful information and successful models to improve instruction, degree completion and federal engagement, all of which strengthen the role of HBCUs.

The post National HBCU Week kicks off appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

Once a year, the United Nations General Assembly brings the world’s leaders to New York City to take part in a special program that allows them to address the world’s most pressing issues. But when Cuba’s leader, Fidel Castro, and his government’s delegation came to take part in the U.N. General Assembly in September 1960, they faced slights and humiliations from local establishments. 

Castro’s government had overthrown the dictator Fulgencio Batista in January 1959 and was in a tense relationship with the U.S. administration. In line with the U.S., some New York City businesses treated the Cubans with contempt: Midtown Manhattan’s Hotel Shelburne wanted the 50-member delegation to put down a $20,000 cash deposit to cover any potential damages they might cause during their stay. When Castro refused to do so, the activist Malcolm X helped arrange for the Cubans to stay at Harlem’s African American-owned Theresa Hotel.

This year marks the 63rd anniversary of the Cuban delegations’ Sept. 19 through Sept. 28, 1960 stay at the Hotel Theresa and local activists held a special event to honor the occasion. 

The Harlem-Cuba Welcome Committee invited this year’s Cuban delegation and President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez to take part in an “Homage to Malcolm X”-themed event to remember when Castro came to Harlem.

“Your presence here today powerfully affirms the ties between our nations and peoples,” said Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz during the Sept. 18 event at the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Center, which is named in honor of her parents. “Let this moment inspire us to carry forward their courageous unfinished work with renewed purpose and moral clarity. On behalf of the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Center, I would like to express our profound appreciation for your visit.”

Díaz-Canel said he appreciated the event and spoke about how Malcolm X had been a powerful inspiration for him when he was a high school student in Cuba. Many young kids took it as an honor to read “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” Díaz-Canel said.

Yuri Gala López, Cuba’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, also told the AmNews that Cuban youth read “The Autobiographyof Malcolm X” and tend to view Malcolm X as an important symbol of Third World activism. 

“Harlem is a community with which Cubans have developed sentimental ties,” López asserted, because it is known as the place where Malcolm X was active. “Several generations of Cubans learn from an early age to admire Malcom X from his biography. We come to know the firm, strong commitment Malcolm X had [to] social justice and his solidarity with peoples of Africa. That is something that we value very much.”

“It is all about the solidarity and friendship and the brotherhood that first started developing between Fidel and Malcolm 63 years ago,” Díaz-Canel said as he spoke a the gathering. “We are all for receiving solidarity from the American people. And once we defeat the blockade––and we are certain we will defeat it––that will be our best tribute to their friendship and solidarity.”

Among the many politicians and activists in attendance for the “Homage to Malcolm X” were Roger Wareham, Esperanza Martell, Councilmember Charles Barron, Professor James Small, Gail Walker, Omowale Clay, Sam Anderson, Zayid Muhammad, former Rep. Charles Rangel, and the current leader of the New York County Democrats, Keith L.T. Wright.

In 1960, when Castro left Midtown Manhattan and came to Harlem, he continued to conduct governmental business. Amsterdam News articles from that period report that the Cuban delegation rented out over 40 of the hotel’s rooms, with Castro residing on the ninth floor. Although security was tight, the delegates were friendly. Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser and India’s Jawaharlal Nehru traveled to Harlem to have talks with the Cubans. And at one point, the then-Soviet Union’s Nikita Khrushchev came up to the Theresa: “The big little premier sought to extend his hand to those who tried to greet him in the police-jammed hallway,” a September 24, 1960 AmNews article said, “but was hurried along by security men to the Castro quarters where the two huddled in secret for about 20 minutes.”  

Castro had told the Amsterdam News that he was excited he could stay in Harlem. “I had always wanted to come to Harlem, but I was not sure what kind of welcome I would get,” he was quoted as saying. “When I got news that I would be welcomed in Harlem, I was happy.” 

A 35-year-old Malcolm X met with Castro and assured him that the slurs the Cubans faced downtown would not occur in Harlem. The newspaper reported that Malcolm X told the Cuban leader: “We in Harlem are not addicted to all the propaganda the U.S. government puts out.” 

Dr. Rosemari Mealy, one of the organizers of this year’s “Homage to Malcolm X” event, explained to those in attendance that the bonds Fidel and Malcolm forged have to be honored. “It is a legacy that we have all inherited: [It’s] when both leaders taught that humanity’s destiny is not locked into a perpetual state of submission and oppression,” said Mealy, the author of the book “Fidel & Malcolm X: Memories of a Meeting” (Black Classic Press, 2013).

“We know that despite the hegemony of global capitalism, racism, poverty, wars, the proxy wars, and the acceleration of environmental degradation, we must never accept defeat. It’s not an option for us.”

The post Harlem—again—welcomes Cuba: recalling historic Malcolm X, Castro meeting appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

You may have noticed that the film industry is, shall we say, experiencing a touch of turmoil these days. While the inescapable successes of Barbie and Oppenheimer balance one side of the scale, an upended system battling multiple strikes and stoppages sits pretty heavily on the other. Which makes the latest edition of the New York Film Festival more essential than ever.

Then again, while the details may change from one year to the next, the festival’s objectives have remained remarkably steady throughout its six decades. NYFF has always been thoughtfully curated, with a sensibility that is simultaneously current and timeless. “I hope that [this year’s] festival does what it has done every year since 1963,” affirms artistic director Dennis Lim. “Which is simply to make a case for cinema as a vital art form, and prove that the art of film is in robust health despite the disruptive changes that have always been part of its history.” 

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He and his team at Lincoln Center have more than achieved their goal, with an impressively strong slate that’s likely to serve as a substantial sneak preview for the upcoming awards season.

Many of the movies at NYFF will be making their North American premieres, after having screened to ovations at international festivals. Among the high-profile films already drawing rave reviews is Todd Haynes’ May December, which has been tapped for opening night on September 29. Longtime Haynes muse Julianne Moore stars as an ex-teacher married to the former student (Charles Melton) she once seduced, while Natalie Portman plays the actor portraying her in a film exploring—or is that exploiting?—their relationship.

The festival will close on October 13 with another long-awaited title: Michael Mann’s Ferrari, in which Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz, and Shailene Woodley play the titular Italian car magnate, his wife, and his mistress. In between, you’ll find a must-see lineup that includes Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, starring Jacob Elordi as Elvis and Cailee Spaeny as his (barely) teenage bride; Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, in which he directs himself alongside costar Carey Mulligan; and Yorgos Lanthimos’ steampunk Frankenstein fantasy Poor Things, which is already earning Emma Stone serious Oscar buzz. 

That said, it’s also worth looking beyond the marquee names to find your own unexpected discoveries. “I always suggest that people take a chance on something they have never heard of,” Lim says, pointing in particular to the festival’s Currents and Revivals sections. There are several gems among the former, including James Benning’s documentary Allensworth, about the complex history of a California town founded and run by African Americans at the turn of the 20th century. And classic film fans won’t want to miss new prints of Jean Renoir’s 1947 noir The Woman on the Beach, starring Joan Bennett, or Lee Grant’s 1980 drama Tell Me a Riddle, featuring Melvyn Douglas as an aging patriarch.

Yet another consistent strength of this festival is its vast range of foreign films. This year, the biggest issue will be narrowing down so many compelling options. 2022 Oscar winner Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car) returns with Evil Does Not Exist, about a gentrified Japanese village. Agnieszka Holland’s fraught drama Green Border tracks a Syrian family of refugees through Eastern Europe, and Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest offers a portrait of beatific domestic tranquility…as seen from the perspective of a Nazi commandant. There are also promising new films from Hayao Miyazaki, Catherine Breillat, Wim Wenders, Steve McQueen, Andrew Haigh, and Aki Kaurismäki (among others).

And yes, many of these movies are likely to sell out. But don’t despair: Lim promises that “we are always able to get people in from standby lines for every screening, even the most popular ones.” So scan the schedule, grab some cinephile friends, and get ready to start placing those early Oscar bets.

The 2023 New York Film Festival runs from September 29 to October 15 at Lincoln Center, with encore screenings on October 14 and 15. Tickets and schedules are available at filmlinc.org/nyff2023. Standby lines form before showtime at the corresponding venue, and rush tickets will be announced and available throughout the festival online or via newsletter.

* This article was originally published here

The Empire State Building already shone in a rotation of countries’ flags colors to honor Hispanic Heritage Month, however, the celebrations are set to continue! On October 15th, the Empire State Building will host a showing of the movie Selena.

The 1997 biographical drama follows the life and work of Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla. Guests will have the rare opportunity to watch the film in the World’s Most Famous Building—quite the upgrade from your tiny apartment couch!

Tickets to the screening will include complimentary drinks and snacks to enjoy during the film.

After the credits roll and the film concludes, visitors will get to ogle a 360-degree views of New York City from the 86th floor and 102nd Floor Observatory, included with the ticket.

Selena will begin playing at 8pm. Guests are encouraged to arrive a half hour earlier (7:30pm) to go through the Empire State Buildings’ exhibits beforehand.

Movie Night tickets at the Empire State Building cost $135/pp. Learn more on the Empire State Building website.

The post The Empire State Building To Screen A ‘Selena’ Movie Night This October appeared first on Secret NYC.

* This article was originally published here