Tour Guide: Rebecca Manski (she/her) · Start Location: Columbus Park Pavilion · 2 Hours · 1.5 miles
NYC cops are famous, or you could say notorious, worldwide. So are Manhattan's edifices of justice, from the streets leading between precincts and prisons, to the lofty colonnades holding up the ceilings of the Supreme Court. But have you ever walked through those Manhattan "movie sets" and thought about how they got there? Have you ever wondered: "Where does the NYPD come from?"
Walking south from the jails and courthouses surrounding Chinatown's Columbus Park, through the plazas of justice infrastructure centered around Centre Street and Foley Square, and looking across to the FBI and the USCIS, we'll begin to connect the dots. We will uncover the origins of policing in response to the urban unrest--which was blamed on crowds of immigrants. We'll investigate the intended and actual effects of the moral reform movement and "slum clearance," and the idea that "loitering" in the streets leads to crime. And we'll trace the connections between “urban renewal”, park redesign in response to mobilizations, and changing laws regarding public assembly over time.
We'll find ourselves at Abolition Square (City Hall Park) and see for ourselves how public space and the right to assembly has been curtailed over time. And we'll think it through together: If NYC's system of policing has changed so much over time, what might happen to the system that stands now?
Themes Covered: Development of Historic Five Points, Immigration to NYC, City Government Corruption, Public Space, Carceral Capitalism
Sites Covered: Historic Five Points, Foley Square, City Hall Park, Jacob Javits Federal Building, Collect Pond Park
NYC cops are famous, or you could say notorious, worldwide. So are Manhattan's edifices of justice, from the streets leading between precincts and prisons, to the lofty colonnades holding up the ceilings of the Supreme Court. But have you ever walked through those Manhattan "movie sets" and thought about how they got there? Have you ever wondered: "Where does the NYPD come from?"
Walking south from the jails and courthouses surrounding Chinatown's Columbus Park, through the plazas of justice infrastructure centered around Centre Street and Foley Square, and looking across to the FBI and the USCIS, we'll begin to connect the dots. We will uncover the origins of policing in response to the urban unrest--which was blamed on crowds of immigrants. We'll investigate the intended and actual effects of the moral reform movement and "slum clearance," and the idea that "loitering" in the streets leads to crime. And we'll trace the connections between “urban renewal”, park redesign in response to mobilizations, and changing laws regarding public assembly over time.
We'll find ourselves at Abolition Square (City Hall Park) and see for ourselves how public space and the right to assembly has been curtailed over time. And we'll think it through together: If NYC's system of policing has changed so much over time, what might happen to the system that stands now?
Themes Covered: Development of Historic Five Points, Immigration to NYC, City Government Corruption, Public Space, Carceral Capitalism
Sites Covered: Historic Five Points, Foley Square, City Hall Park, Jacob Javits Federal Building, Collect Pond Park