History of the City of New York

HIST W3535 History of the City of New York, taught by Kenneth Jackson, is one of the most famous classes at Columbia. It is particularly well-known for its all-night bike tour of the city, led by Professor Jackson.

Requirements

• Lectures
• Readings - Empire City, edited by Prof Jackson, plus a few other urban history/theory books (such as Death and Life of Great American Cities).
• Total of 8 discussion sections throughout semester, with 300-500 word responses due for each section
• Either 1) 15-20 page walking tour of an assigned neighborhood, written in groups of three, or 2) an internship with a local organization.
• Seven walking tours of the city. Extra credit no longer granted for doing more than 7.
• Midterm (20%) and final (40%)
• Optional all-night bicycle tour of the city

Syllabus

1. Course introduction
2. History as destiny: the case of NYC
3. Dutch outpost; English prize
4. Revolutionary battlefield
5. The rise to North American dominance
6. Making the city livable: fire and water
7. Epidemics and sanitation
8. City people: new ways of living in the metropolis
9. Police, prostitution, and public order
10. City boss and ward boss: the legacy of Tammany Hall
11. Making the city livable: cemeteries, parks, and open space
12. New York City and the transportation revolution
13. The draft riots: immigration and race in New York
14. The Brooklyn Bridge and the consolidation of greater New York
15. Tenements and tenement house reform
16. The making of a world city: 1880-1930
17. Black New York
18. Skyscraper city
19. Popular culture
20. Capital of the world: high culture and performing arts
21. NYC in depression and decline: 1930-1977
22. The world that Robert Moses made
23. Conflict and compromise: the city as refuge and haven for dissent
24. If Jane Jacobs returned to New York
25. The return of a giant: NYC Reemergent