5/9 – New York City Cartmen, 1667–1850
The Gotham History Forum’s Last Spring ’13 Event
New York City Cartmen, 1667–1850
Thursday, May 9, 2013, 6:30-8 PM
Elebash Recital Hall
CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street
The cart men—unskilled workers who hauled goods on one horse carts—were perhaps the most important labor group in early American cities. Revised and re-issued in 2012, New York City Cartmen, 1667–1850 (NYU Press) uncovers the forgotten world of one-horse cart drivers who monopolized the movement of private and commercial goods in New York City from 1667-1850. The cart men dominated the city streets while proving politically adept at preserving and institutionalizing their economic and racial control over this entry-level occupation. The cart men possessed a hard-nosed political awareness, and because they transported essential goods, they achieved a status in New York City far above their skills or financial worth. The cart men’s culture and their relationship with New York’s municipal government are the direct ancestors of the city’s fabled taxicab drivers. This is a stirring street-level account of the growth of New York, growth made possible by the efforts of the cart men and other unskilled laborers.
This Forum will be FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. No reservations required. A live stream of the event will be available on the Graduate Center’s Video Commons.
Also
Gotham Center Director Suzanne Wasserman’s new film,Meat Hooked! — a documentary about meat and the rise and fall and rise again of
butchers and butchering in and around NYC — will be screened at the Women-Made Films festival in Brooklyn.
May 30, 2013, 6:30 p.m.
BLDG 92 , Brooklyn Navy Yard Center
63 Flushing Ave (at Carlton), Brooklyn
$8/$5 members
718-907-5992 | info@bldg92.org
Click here for more information
