The visit to the Museum of the City of New York was a great learning experience. I often found myself reading and researching about how New York City became the city that it is, and often read excerpts on the history of New York and immigrant stories. Visiting the exhibit in the museum of the city of New York shown us from different time periods and decades, this exhibit taught me a lot. We read about the early immigrant settlement in New York City and the existence of slavery in the city. We then moved onto the Industrial Revolution, where we learned about working conditions in the factories and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.
We gradually moved into modern times during the era of War. World War I and World War II and its effects on the people of New York. What stood out to me the most was the last exhibit about the Black Lives Matter movement. Since that is the most recent and something that I have seen first-hand. A timeline of events had taken place since Trevaughn Martin’s murder in 2012 and gradually onto George Floyd’s case in 2020. I remember moving to the United States on July 3rd, 2013. I was in my uncle’s car on the way from the airport to their home in Old Westbury, when the radio jockeys were discussing Trevaughn’s case and talking about racial profiling and “stop and frisk,” all these terms I had no idea about. Eventually, my cousins explained it to me what those meant and that was basically the beginning of my impression that America may not be the perfect place I thought it would be before I moved. Then, onwards, I was always working with different non-profit organizations and have attended various protests for racial profiling and was actively supporting for justice for George Floyd.
That exhibit stuck out to me the most. Overall, the exhibit changed my perspective in many ways. As our host had said, “New York City’s history is all about social movements, and is full of activism and protests.” Since it is one of the most diverse cities in the world, it taught me how New York City eventually. Became home to these diverse groups of people.
