The BroadsheetDAILY – 6/17/22 – Still Working on ‘Absolute Equity’

The Broadsheet – Lower Manhattan’s Local Newspaper

Note to readers: The BroadsheetDAILY will not publish on Monday, June 20, in deference to the federal holiday of Juneteenth. We’ll be back in your inbox on June 21.

Still Working on ‘Absolute Equality’

Juneteenth Observance Planned for Tomorrow

Above: In 1838, abolitionist Frederick Douglass arrived in New York to a Hudson River dock near the site of one of this weekend’s Juneteenth events. Below: Tasha Hunter helped organize tomorrow’s Juneteenth festivities at Pier 25.

Tomorrow (Saturday, June 18), Manhattan Youth will partner with the Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) and the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) to observe the anniversary of Juneteenth—the June 19, 1865 announcement by Union Army General Gordon Granger that slavery had officTrustially been abolished in Texas, the last remaining state of the Confederacy to come under Union control.

The festivities will take place on Pier 25 in Tribeca (between Harrison and North Moore Streets), from 11am through 2pm. Attractions will include food, music, youth activities, and art programming, as well as a vendor village, which will feature black-owned businesses. There will also be live music on the North Esplanade (near Chambers Street, behind Stuyvesant High School).

“I didn’t learn about Juneteenth until about ten years ago, but it began weighing on my mind after the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020,” says Tasha Hunter, who helps manage elementary after-school programs for Manhattan Youth. “I kept asking what can we do to inform more people, and how can we do more community outreach?”

Ms. Hunter, who serves on the HRPT Advisory Council (as well also on its Diversity Subcommittee), adds, “discussion about this event began in April, in the broader context of how can we make our parks more diverse.”

“Events like this, and others around the country, will continue to build awareness and educate the community,” she notes. “The message is about being willing to listen and participate.”

Tomorrow’s Juneteenth festivities will include live music near the plaque dedicated to abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass, where the Battery Park City esplanade meets the bike path, at the north corner of Stuyvesant High School. The plaque is situated near what is believed to be the spot where Douglass, freshly escaped from slavery in Maryland, first arrived in New York on September 4, 1838.

Douglass later wrote, “the flight was a bold and perilous one; but here I am, in the great city of New York, safe and sound, without loss of blood and bone. In less than a week after leaving Baltimore, I was walking amid the hurrying throng, and gazing upon the dazzling wonders of Broadway. The dreams of my childhood and the purposes of my manhood were now fulfilled.”

But, Douglass noted, New York was an intimidating new world: “A man, homeless, shelterless, breadless, friendless, and moneyless, is not in a condition to assume a very proud or joyous tone; and in just this condition was I, while wandering about the streets of New York City, and lodging, at least one night, among the barrels on one of its wharves. I was not only free from slavery, but I was free from home, as well.”

Formerly enslaved persons celebrate Juneteenth in Austin, Texas, in 1900.

Douglass rose to fame in the decades that followed, lived to witness the Civil War, during which he evolved (in succession) from a critic, then an ally, and finally a friend to Abraham Lincoln, who deputized the former slave to lead recruiting efforts to enlist Black soldiers in the Union Army. He attended Lincoln’s second inaugural as a guest of the newly reelected president, who asked Douglass what he thought of the speech. Douglass pronounced it, “a sacred effort.”

A few weeks later, back in New York, Douglass was called upon to deliver a eulogy for the recently slain Lincoln. He said, “it was my privilege to know Abraham Lincoln and to know him well. I saw and conversed with him at different times during his administration, and upon two occasions at least by his special invitation. He was the first American President, who thus rose above the prejudices of his times, and country.”

“One thing will be at once conceded by all generous minds,” Douglass added. “No people or class of people in this country, have a better reason for lamenting the death of Abraham Lincoln, and for desiring to honor and perpetuate his memory, than have the colored people. Abraham Lincoln… was also in a sense hitherto without example, emphatically the black man’s President: the first to show any respect for their rights as men.”

A few days after Douglass’s eulogy in New York, General Granger marched into Galveston, Texas, at the head of a column of 2,000 Union troops, and read the following announcement: “the people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”

What Granger, Douglass, and Lincoln (had he lived) might have found difficult to imagine is that this moment—which they likely envisioned as the end of a tragic narrative—was merely the beginning of a different, longer story, which continues to be written.

Matthew Fenton

Editor’s note: Please see the calendar of events below for more events celebrating Juneteenth this weekend.

Wentworth Downtown

Lower Manhattan City Council Rep Seeks Conversion of Local Jail to Women’s Facility, In Lieu of Demolition and Reconstruction

City Council member Christopher Marte is proposing to convert the existing Manhattan Detention Center, located in Chinatown (on White Street, between Baxter and Centre Streets), into a jail for women, rather than demolishing the facility and erecting a much-larger jail in its place, as the Mayor Eric Adams controversially plans to do.

Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra Presents Free Juneteenth Concert

June 19, 3pm, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage

June 19 is Juneteenth, a day that marks the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Until last year, Juneteenth had been celebrated annually but informally every year since June 19, 1865, the date that news of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation—signed more than two years earlier—finally got to Texas, the last state of the Confederacy to sanction slavery. On June 17, 2021, President Biden designated Juneteenth a federal holiday.

This Sunday, at 3pm, the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra presents “Good Trouble,” a Juneteenth tribute concert, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. The concert’s featured work will be the world premiere of KCO Music Director Gary S. Fagin’s “Good Trouble,” inspired by the late Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis. The “Good Trouble” libretto, sung by soloists from Broadway and beyond, pays tribute to Representative Lewis, and also includes texts by Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, James Baldwin, and Barbara Jordan.

Register here to see the concert live in person at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, or live-streamed. All tickets are free, with a suggested donation of $10.

The Madding Crowd

Your Share of Space Downtown Comes to 535 Square Feet

Updated census data and demographic metrics from the Population Fact Finder compiled by the Department of City Planning (DCP) indicate that the headcount of residents in Community District 1 (CD1), a collection of neighborhoods encompassing 1.5 square miles, bounded roughly by Canal, Baxter, and Pearl Streets, and the Brooklyn Bridge, swelled from 60,978 in 2010 to 78,390 in 2020, an increase of 28.6 percent.

CB1 Opposes Demolition of Wagner Park Pavilion

Town Hall Meeting Reviews Controversial Plan

City Council member Christopher Marte hosted a Battery Park City Resiliency Town Hall meeting on Wednesday, June 15, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. This meeting focused on plans by the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) to complete the South Battery Park City Resiliency Project. That project will require BPCA to close Wagner Park, starting after Labor Day, for at least two years, in order to construct resiliency measures that are intended to make the space resistant to rising sea levels and storm surges associated with climate change that will be more severe than Hurricane Sandy.

Rent Goes Up Downtown

Monthly Cost of Local Apartments Jumps by More Than 25 Percent Since Last Year

A new analysis by real estate brokerage firm Douglas Elliman indicates that in May, Lower Manhattan apartment rentals have reached their highest-ever median level, at $4,495. This plateau represents at 28.6 percent increase from May of last year, when the median rental price for a Downtown apartment was $3,495.

EYES TO THE SKY June 13 – 26, 2022

Morning Planets, Summer Triangle, Peak Sun

Chart via John Jardine Goss; courtesy of EarthSky.org.

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn… that’s their order outward from the sun, and it’s the order you’ll see June’s planetary lineup, stretched across our morning sky (Earth is situated between Venus and Mars). See all five planets with the unaided eye until Mercury slips away in the morning twilight in early July.

The Calendar

Friday, June 17

11am-5pm

Take a self guided tour of the tall ship Wavertree, and visit the 12 Fulton Street galleries to view the exhibitions “South Street and the Rise of New York” and “Millions: Migrants and Millionares aboard the Great Liners.” Free. Also Saturday and Sunday.

3pm-4:30pm

Outlook Hill, Governors Island

Japan Per­form­ing Arts will per­form ​“Gujo Odori” and ​“Nishi­mon­ai Bön Odori,” two of the Big Three Bön Odori dances of Japan. These two dances are cul­tur­al­ly dis­tin­guished with hun­dreds of years of his­to­ry and are typ­i­cal­ly per­formed at a wide vari­ety of cul­tur­al occa­sions in Japan. Free.

7pm

Wagner Park

Singer/songwriter Terre Roche leads this weekly singing program with the beautiful backdrop of the setting sun in NY Harbor. Open to all. Free.

8pm

Brookfield Place waterfront plaza

Outdoor movie screening from the Tribeca Film Festival. Oscar winner Julia Roberts plays a sassy, low-level law-office worker who becomes obsessed with a case involving a California utility company that’s accused of polluting the drinking water in a small town. Free with registration.

Saturday, June 18

8am

Building 11, Nolan Park, Governors Island

Test your soil samples for heavy met­als con­tent using Urban Soil Insti­tute’s pXRF instru­ment. Results will be ready with­in 10 min­utes, along with rec­om­men­da­tions for soil reme­di­a­tion best practices. Free.

9am

Battery Urban Farm

Join us at The Battery Urban Farm for some projects for all ages in the vegetable farm. Free.

10am-4pm

African Burial Ground National Monument, Duane Street between Broadway and Lafayette Street

Music, drumming, dancing and singing; libation; speakers; tours. In the case of inclement weather, event will be held in the lobby of 290 Broadway and inside the African Burial Ground National Monument Visitor Center. Free.

10:30am

Skyscraper Museum

After a history lesson on the celebration of Juneteenth and how African-American culture has impacted this country, kids will learn why mindfulness is important and connect to their foundations to stretch to new heights in a 30-minute yoga session! Ages 6+. RSVP required.

11am

Livestream

Livestreamed tour of Anne Frank’s Amsterdam to mark the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Diary of a Young Girl. Watch the livestream from home, or at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. The guide will walk along the last 600 meters of the route Anne and her family took on their journey to their hiding place. See the famous Westerkerk Church, the outside of the house where Anne and her family were in hiding for over two years, and the beautiful Prinsengracht canal. $36.

11am

Outdoor movie screening from the Tribeca Film Festival at the Brookfield Place waterfront plaza. A rat who dreams of becoming a gourmet chef teams up with an inexperienced kitchen worker at one of Paris’ finest restaurants. Free with registration.

11am-2pm

Juneteenth Celebration

Pier 25

Vendors, food, music, youth activities, art, and more, celebrating Juneteenth. Presented by Manhattan Youth; live music courtesy of the Battery Park City Authority. Free.

11am-5pm

King Avenue, Governors Island

This mar­ket features a rotat­ing line­up of the city’s emerg­ing mak­ers, design­ers, artists, and small busi­ness­es, and offers hand­craft­ed jew­el­ry, art, appar­el, bath and body care, table­ware, home fur­nish­ings, arti­sanal pack­aged food and more.

11am-6pm

Nolan Park, Governors Island

Dozens of folk bands, artists, and per­form­ing arts orga­ni­za­tions use the his­toric porch­es of Nolan Park for per­for­mance and edu­ca­tion, high­light­ing artistry rang­ing from tra­di­tion­al folk to old-time, blues, roots, blue­grass and Americana. Each ​“stage” or porch is curat­ed and pro­duced by an arts orga­ni­za­tion and will rep­re­sent a spe­cif­ic folk com­mu­ni­ty in New York City. Free

2pm

Brookfield Place waterfront plaza

Outdoor movie screening from the Tribeca Film Festival. When her parents suspect that she’s a lesbian, a high-school student is sent to a sexual-rehabilitation camp. Free with registration.

2pm

Belvedere Plaza

Celebrate Juneteenth with music and art! Also known as Emancipation Day, Juneteenth originated in 1865 in Galveston, Texas, and commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. Take a horse ride and learn about horsemanship and history with the Federation of Black Cowboys. Make a Juneteenth flag you can take home. Music by Chaney Sims Band. Free.

3pm

Arts Center, Governors Island

The Sun Seekers is an hour-long participatory performance led by Amy Khoshbin for River to River Festival set in Amy and Jennifer Khoshbin’s (a sister duo) immersive installation at The Arts Center at Governors Island. The performance promotes healing through disconnecting with technology and reconnecting with ourselves, each other, and the natural world. Free.

5pm

Outdoor movie screening from the Tribeca Film Festival at the Brookfield Place waterfront plaza. A struggling musician deals with his family and his new love interest against the backdrop of Minneapolis nightclubs. Free with registration.

6:30pm

Pier 17

Concert.

7pm

The Seaport

Creating an immersive space made up of larger-than-life lenticular photographs, Rose DeSiano merges past and present together in an installation of mirrors, historic images, and optical illusions. Dedicated to inclusivity and equity in representation, she has worked with the photographic archives of the South Street Seaport Museum to bring to the surface lost histories while celebrating the community and workers of the South Street and the New York Harbor. Free.

8pm

Brookfield Place waterfront plaza

Outdoor movie screening from the Tribeca Film Festival. A Black police detective from Philadelphia forces a bigoted Southern sheriff to accept his help with a homicide investigation after a wealthy Chicago businessman is murdered in a small Mississippi town. Starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. Free with registration.

Sunday, June 19

9am

Aboard the Wavertree

Hour-long vinyasa-based yoga practice on the deck of the tall ship Wavertree. Accessible and challenging for all levels. The practice will be followed by a tour of Wavertree for anyone who wishes to participate. Free.

2pm

Outdoor movie screening from the Tribeca Film Festival at the Brookfield Place waterfront plaza. An L.A. step-dancer tries to fit in at an Atlanta college and gain acceptance from a fraternity. Free with registration.

3pm

Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place

Join the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra for a special Juneteenth concert. See story above. Free; suggested $10 donation.

5pm

Outdoor movie screening from the Tribeca Film Festival at the Brookfield Place waterfront plaza. Denzel Washington directs and stars in this uplifting true story, which chronicles the rise of a debate team at a small all-Black college in Texas during the 1930s. Free with registration.

8pm

Brookfield Place waterfront plaza

Outdoor movie screening from the Tribeca Film Festival. Unemployed goofs are wrongfully jailed for a robbery they did not commit. Unable to sustain being in stir, they break out to find the real thieves. Free with registration.

Between the Waters

River to River Festival Offers Free Dance, Music, Theater, and Open-Door Museums

The 21st annual River to River Festival, Lower Manhattan’s annual, free summer arts celebration, began Sunday, June 12, and will continue through Sunday, June 26. The 15 days of live dance, music, theater and visual arts will present nine separate performances and events, at venues spread across the length and breadth of Lower Manhattan venues, to an audience of tens of thousands spectators.

CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS

Swaps & Trades, Respectable Employment, Lost and Found

To place a listing, contact editor@ebroadsheet.com

Lower Manhattan Greenmarkets

Tribeca Greenmarket

Greenwich Street & Chambers Street

Wednesdays and Saturdays, 8am-3pm (compost program: Saturdays, 8am-1pm)

Bowling Green Greenmarket

Broadway & Whitehall St

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8am-5pm (compost program: 8am-11am)

World Trade Center Oculus Greenmarket

Tuesdays, 8am-5pm

The Outdoor Fulton Stall Market

91 South Street, between Fulton & John Streets

Indoor market: Monday through Saturday,11:30am-5pm

CSA pick-up: Thursday, 4pm-6pm; Friday, 11:30-5pm

Outdoor market: Saturday 11:30am-5pm, May through Thanksgiving

Today in History: June 18

Due to an editing error, the Day in History published yesterday (June 16) was for June 17. Today, we present the Day in History for tomorrow, June 18.

On this day in 1928, Amelia Earhart arrived in Southampton, England, the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Twenty hours earlier, she had lifted off from a runway in Newfoundland in her Fokker F.VIIb/3m, named “Friendship.” Nine years later, during an attempt to become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe by plane, Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean.

860 – Swedish Vikings attack Constantinople.

1178 – Five monks at Canterbury report explosion on moon.

1682 – William Penn founds Philadelphia.

1812 – The War of 1812 begins when the U.S. declares war against Britain

1815 – Battle of Waterloo; Napoleon and France defeated by British forces under Wellington and Prussian troops under Blucher

1873 – Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for voting for President

1928 – American aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.

1940 – Charles de Gaulle, speaking on the, BBC tells the French people to defy Nazi occupiers.

1940 – Winston Churchill’s “this was their finest hour” speech urging perseverance during Battle of Britain delivered to British House of Commons

1959 – Louisiana Governor Earl K. Long is committed to a mental hospital; he has the hospital’s director fired and replaced with a crony who proclaims him sane.

1980 – Indian “human computer” Shakuntala Devi sets a world record by mentally multiplying two random 13-digit numbers in 28 seconds. She correctly answers that 7,686,369,774,870 × 2,465,099,745,779 = 18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730

1981 – The AIDS epidemic is formally recognized by medical professionals in San Francisco, California.

1996 – Ted Kaczynski, suspected of being the Unabomber, is indicted on ten criminal counts.

2015 – Pope Francis blames human selfishness for global warming in his encyclical “Laudato Si (Be Praised), On the Care of Our Common Home”

Births

1723 – Giuseppe Scarlotti, composer

1854 – Edward Wyllis Scripps, publisher/journalist

1886 – George Mallory, mountain climber (“because it is there”)

1915 – Red Adair, oilman

1942 – Paul McCartney, musician

1952 – Isabella Rossellini, actress

Deaths

1629 – Piet Hein, Dutch naval commander and folk hero, shot by cannonball at 51

1982 – John Cheever, author, dies at 70

1984 – Alan Berg, American radio talk show hostand attorney. An outspoken abrasive combative talk show host, he was murdered in his driveway by members of The Order, a white nationalist group who took umbrage at his comments.

2011 – Clarence Clemons, saxophonist known as “The Big Man” in the E-Street Band), dies of complications from a stroke (b. 1942)

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