COURSES – FALL 2026 / Old Courses / HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY
Coordinators: Ilene Winkler, Sandra Abramson, Michael Wellner
We continue the history of New York City that you don’t learn in school.
This semester we will focus on the first half of the 20th century. Many of us grew up listening to stories from our parents and grandparents: the Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance, the Roaring Twenties and Prohibition, the Grand Concourse, the garment industry and its unions, the opening of the Holland Tunnel and the George Washington Bridge, the Depression of the 1930s, and World War II.
Now we will look back at this history to see how it has impacted the New York we live in today.
A WEEK / TUESDAY / 1:00 – 2:30 PM / AUDITORIUM / RECORDED
| A Week Tuesday – | ||
| Date | Presenter | Title |
| Feb 03 | Debbi Honorof | The Harlem Renaissance |
| Feb 17 | Michael Wellner | The Roaring Twenties |
| Mar 03 | Judy Weis | Votes for Women |
| Mar 17 | Ilene Winkler | New York is a Union Town |
| Mar 31 | Stuart Parker | Robert Moses in the 1930s |
| Apr 21 | Sandra Abramson | The Great Depression |
| May 05 | TBA | Fighting Fascism at Home and Abroad |
Other Classes:
- BEETHOVEN: THE LATE YEARS
- POWER OF PLAY
- BALZAC: PÈRE GORIOT
- CHAIR MEDITATION
- BOOK CLUB: CREATIVE NONFICTION
- EMOTIONAL DICHOTOMIES WITHIN
- EARTH: GEOGRAPHY
- ERAS IN AMERICAN HISTORY
- TIME: THE WONDER OF IT
- FEDERALIST PAPERS: AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONALISM
- MORAL TALES FOR OUR TIMES
- THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV
- TIMELESS WRITINGS: THE CANTERBURY TALES
- GREAT DIRECTORS, PRODUCERS, ACTORS
- ORAL INTERPRETATION OF POETRY
- GREAT EXPECTATIONS
- CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- WOMEN LEADERS
- ART AND PRACTICE OF ARCHITECTURE
- SMARTPHONE PHOTOGRAPHY
- THE TWILIGHT ZONE
- WORLD OF RELIGION
- OLD TESTAMENT AS LITERATURE AND IN THE ARTS
- HEALTH AND MEDICINE
- SHAKESPEARE: HAMLET
- POWER: THE GLORY OF IT
- JAZZ: YESTERDAY AND TODAY
- IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE, CAN IT?
- FLAWED GREATNESS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON
- PORTRAIT OF A LADY
- STAR-CROSSED LOVERS
- ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A BRAVE NEW WORLD?
- WOMEN SPIES
- DAISY MILLER & WASHINGTON SQUARE
- BEETHOVEN: THE MIDDLE YEARS
- ALL THE KINGS MEN
- JAZZ AT NOON
- WORLD OF THEATRE
- WONDERFUL BOOKS OUT LOUD: SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHEM
- THE SCARLET LETTER
- THE GREAT GATSBY
- TOCQUEVILLE'S DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA
- MEXICO: SOUTH OF OUR BORDER
- HISTORY OF MEDICINE
- HARLEM RENAISSANCE
- CONSTRUCTION: BEYOND BRICKS AND MORTAR
- ACTING WORKSHOP I
- THEATER TALKBACK
- BOOK CHATS
- ADVENTURES IN DINING
- SE HABLA ESPAÑOL
- FOOD: BEYOND JUST CALORIES
- TONI MORRISON: THE LEGEND
- INVISIBLE MAN BY RALPH ELLISON
- SIXTIES
- ELIZABETH GASKELL
- WEEK IN PARIS
- CLASSICAL MUSIC
- CREATIVE WORKSHOP
- MUSIC OF THE HEART
- EMILY DICKINSON CIRCLE
- SYMPOSIUM
- NYC AND ITS ENVIRONS: PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS
- RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHY
- WATER
- FOLK MUSIC AND MELLOW ROCK
- CONTEMPORARY BRITISH CULTURE
- AUSTRALIA – THE LAND DOWN UNDER
- HUCKLEBERRY FINN
- AGING
- FASCINATING ISLANDS
- BLACK WOMENS VOICES
- THE NOBEL PRIZES
- READING EDITH WHARTON
- WOMEN IN GREEK DRAMA
- THE NEAR EAST
- HISTORY OF GERMANY
- A PASSAGE TO INDIA
- INDIE FILMS
- SLAVERY'S ROLE IN U.S. CAPITALISTIST DEVELOPMENT
- RISE AND FALL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
- READING THE RABBIS
- RACE RELATIONS IN AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT
- MYTHOLOGY
- LITERARY HEROINES
- HOWARDS END
- HOUSE OF MIRTH
- FABULOUS FIFTIES
- COMEDY CENTRAL
- READING BLACK LIVES
- BORDERS AND BOUNDARIES
- MOZARTS WOMEN
- ANTISEMITISM: PAST, PRESENT, FACTS, MYTHS
- AFRICAN CONTINENT
- PRESENTERS SHOWCASE
- INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
- ACTING CLASS
- FOREIGN AFFAIRS
- LAW & ORDER
- POINT OF VIEW
- ARTISTS AND THEIR WORK
- MODERN OPERA
- MOVERS & SHAKERS
- SOCRATES AND THE PROBLEM OF PHILOSOPHY
- FASCINATING NONFICTION
- GREAT CONVERSATIONS
- GREAT PLAYS
- SHAKESPEARE: CYMBELINE
