New York City’s Latinx small-business owners were frequent victims of urban renewal “slum clearance” during the 1950s. By the next decade, they wielded the federal War on Poverty to reimagine the relationship between government and Latinx New Yorkers, brokering between them to address hunger, public health, and the plight of credit-starved entrepreneurs. This lecture explores the history of Gotham’s Latinx storefronts—especially bodegas—during this transition. It reveals what their overlooked experiences teach us about the power of place in shaping community. It also offers new insights into how Latinx business owners helped to transform the trajectory of postwar New York.
The Bodega: Place, Urban Redevelopment, and Political Power in Postwar New York with Historian Pedro A. Regalado
7 pm
Huxley Theater
Free
About the Presenter
Pedro A. Regalado is an assistant professor of history at Stanford University, where he researches the history of race, immigration, planning, and capitalism in urban America. His book, Nueva York: Making the Modern City, traces the history of New York City’s Latinx residents throughout the twentieth century. It demonstrates how Gotham’s ability to fulfill its pluralistic, democratic promise increasingly depended on Latinx presence, work, and popular reception. Regalado has been awarded the Michael Katz Award for Best Dissertation from the Urban History Association. He was also a finalist for the Ralph Henry Gabriel Prize for Best Dissertation from the American Studies Association. His work has been featured in the Journal of Urban History, Boston Review, the Washington Post, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Born in the Dominican Republic, he was raised in New York City’s Washington Heights.
The New York State Museum is a program of the University of the State of New York
New York State Education Department