History of slavery in New York exhibit

[kwassa]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/arts/design/27slav.html?8hpib&oref=login

A 'Main Event' in Old New York
By GLENN COLLINS

excerpt:
The $5 million exhibition, "Slavery in New York," will open to the public on Oct. 7. Its story begins in the 1620's and ends on July 5, 1827, when black New Yorkers celebrated emancipation in their state. Late next year, a sequel exhibition, "Commerce and Conscience," will extend the chronicle past the Civil War.

The show is a potentially controversial one for the society, a 201-year-old institution that has stirred debate since it was re-energized by two wealthy, conservative businessmen, Richard Gilder and Lewis E. Lehrman, the forces behind an Alexander Hamilton exhibition that earned mixed reviews from historians last year.

"Many people, blacks as well as whites, have some trouble having the story of slavery told in a major public venue," said James Oliver Horton, the Benjamin Banneker Professor of American Studies and History at George Washington University, who is the exhibition's chief historian. "But we do not have the right not to tell the story."

Spanning 9,000 square feet in 10 galleries, "Slavery" will be half again as large as the Hamilton show. Since the topic "is difficult and sensitive, we must be impeccable historically," said Dr. Louise Mirrer, the society's president.

[msgadget]

1. Once again,

thank you, Kwassa!