The Peopling of New York
CUNY Honors College Seminar 2
Spring 2013
Professor Peter G. Vellon
Queens College
Powdermaker Hall, 352Q
718-997-5299
peter.vellon@qc.cuny.edu
ITF: Caroline Erb-Medina
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 10:00-4:00; Honors Lounge
caroline.erb@macaulay.cuny.edu
Skype: carolineerbmedina
The second Honors College seminar examines the role of immigration and migration in shaping
New York City’s identity. We will explore themes such as: the factors drawing diverse peoples
to the city since the 17th century; the creation and evolution of ethnic neighborhoods throughout
the city; the role of race, class, religion, and gender in shaping immigrant interactions with the
city; how immigrants have negotiated assimilation and americanization; and institution building.
We will also pay particular attention to how race and class have informed and exacerbated
conflict among various ethnic and racial groups throughout the city. The culminating project for
this course will be a website focused upon the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Course Requirements:
In Class Participation
20 %
Participation is defined broadly. Attendance is required in this course and more than two
absences will adversely affect your grade. However, just attending class is not enough. Students
must keep up with the weekly readings and come to class prepared to participate in discussions.
Consistent, informed, and positive participation will earn students high participation grades.
Negative participation, loosely defined as failing to discuss weekly readings, abusive lateness,
text messaging, dozing off, or engaging in otherwise unproductive activities, will yield a
participation grade closer to zero.
Discussion Leader:
15%
Every class 2 students will each deliver a 12-15 minute presentation of a portion of that week’s
required readings. The presentation must go beyond mere summary and engage the reading’s
arguments, themes, as well as the reading’s broader context. In addition, presenters must raise at
least 3 discussion questions in an effort to kick-start vibrant discourse. Students are encouraged,
but not required, to use PowerPoint presentations, or any media that could potentially create a
more engaging presentation. Schedules will be posted on the course website.
Note: If you are absent the day of your presentation, only formal documentation (ie, doctor’s
note) will possibly prevent you from earning a zero on this assignment. If I accept your
documentation you may give your presentation the following class meeting but only receive a
maximum grade of 10/15. If you are absent again that class you will earn a zero—no exceptions.
On-line Discussion/Posts:
20 %
During the course of the semester students are required to post at least seven responses to the
assigned readings. Your posts should be at least 300 to 500 words, thoughtful, and address
major themes, problems, or interesting aspects of the readings. DO NOT SIMPLY
SUMMARIZE THE READINGS. Your responses must be posted by 7pm the Monday before
our class meeting.
Short Papers
20%
Students will write 2 (3-5 pages) reaction papers this semester. The first will be based upon the
presentation you will give on February 5th detailing the role of NYC in your family’s
migration/immigration experience. Due date February 19th. The second reaction paper requires
you to answer questions based upon the novel Christ in Concrete by Pietro DiDonato. Due due
April 16th.
We will discuss these assignments in more detail in class.
Neighborhood Project:
25 %
The culminating project for Seminar 2 is the compilation and presentation of the course website
dedicated to this particular neighborhood. The neighborhood we will examine is the Lower East
Side of Manhattan. In order to compile the materials needed for a successful website, students,
both individually and collectively, will conduct fieldwork in this neighborhood. In this way,
students will collect and organize a variety of materials (i.e. text, photos, video, interviews, etc.)
that will provide the building blocks of our class-based website. Although we will take a formal
walking tour of the Lower East Side on March 19th and possibly a class trip to the Lower East
Side Tenement Museum, students/groups are expected to conduct their own informal fieldwork
to supplement these trips. I encourage you to update the progress of your fieldwork and overall
research on the course website. Caroline will provide you with the details of how to do this.
The neighborhood project grade will be broken down as follows:

Field Work/Institution Study:
The class will be divided into 6 groups (5 groups of 3, 1 group of 4) who will be assigned
one particular immigrant/migrant stream who has populated, or continues to populate, the
LES. These categories will be arbitrarily assigned. They are:
• Jewish
• Italian
• Chinese
• Puerto Rican
• Dominican
• African American
Groups will explore the history of those groups within the Lower East Side, focusing on
possible themes such as arts & culture, formal institutions, political/neighborhood
organizations, demographics, economy/work/labor.
We will discuss the website in more detail during the course of the semester.
Neighborhood Project Grade Breakdown:
o Group Presentation:
(10%)
Each group will do 15-minute presentation to the class based upon
their fieldwork findings. May 7th.
o Short Paper:
(10%)
3-5-page paper summarizing your fieldwork on the Lower East
Side. Due date May 14th.
o Website Participation:
(5%)
Required Books:




Nancy Foner, From Ellis Island to JFK (Yale University Press,2000)
Tyler Anbinder, Five Points (Penguin,2001)
Christopher Mele, Selling the Lower East Side: Culture, Real Estate, and Resistance in
New York City
Pietro Di Donato, Christ in Concrete
In addition, selected readings have been uploaded to the class website either as pdf files or hyper
links to QC’s electronic library.
Note: Please be advised that the syllabus may change slightly during the semester in the
form of additional readings, schedule changes, etc. When, and if, this occurs I will
announce via e-mail or in class. If this is necessary I will try to provide as much advance
notice as possible. Also, note that the readings are due the day they appear on the syllabus.
Schedule:
January 29
Course Introduction
February 5
City/Neighborhood/Community
Readings:
 Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities,
Introduction, pp. 3-25 [available as E-book on QC library website]
 Lewis Mumford, The City in History, Commercial Expansion and Urban
Dissolution, pp.410-445
 Tyler Anbinder, Five Points, Ch. 1, The Making of Five Points, pp.7-37
 Mele, Chapter 1, The Struggle over Space
Each student gives a 5 minute presentation about how his or her family’s experience with
immigration/migration to NYC. What has been the role of NYC in this experience? More
specifically, reflect upon the role of neighborhood or community. Students should conduct at
least 2 interviews. I also strongly encourage the use of photos or props. Note: Do not simply
provide a genealogical summary—that is not the intention of this assignment.
** Organize groups for Neighborhood Project **
February 14 (THURSDAY)
Context: Race, Assimilation, and Ethnicity
Readings:
 Steinberg, The Melting Pot and the Color Line”
 Walzer, “What it Means to be an American”



February 19
Gerstle, “Liberty, Coercion and Becoming American…”
Kasinitz, Philip, Mollenkopf, John, Waters, Mary C., “Becoming
American/Becoming New Yorkers: Immigrant Incorporation in a Majority
Minority City,” The International Migration Review, Winter 2002, 1020-1036
Marcuse, Peter, “The Enclave, the Citadel, and the Ghetto: What Has Changed in
the Post Fordist U. S. City, Urban Affairs Review 33, 2: 228-264
The Peopling of NY: The Colonial Period
Readings:
 Binder & Reimer, Ch.1
 Harris, Ch.1, “Slaves in Colonial NY” [available as E-book on QC library
website]
 Foote, Ch. 5, “Black & White Manhattan” [available as E-book on QC library
website]
** 1st Short Paper due today **
February 26 Old and New Immigrants/Migrants
Readings:
 Anbinder, Ch. 2, 12, 13
 Nancy Foner, From Ellis Island to JFK , Ch. 1
 Mele, Chapter 2, Different and Inferior: The Ghetto at the Turn of the Century
** Begin reading Christ in Concrete **
March 5
Ethnic Neighborhoods
Readings:
 Anbinder, Ch. 3 (How they Lived)
 Foner, Ch. 2
 Zhou Min, 2001, “Chinese: Divergent Diversities in Immigrant New York,” in
Nancy Foner, Ed., New Immigrants in New York.
 Mele, Chapter 3, Urban Metropolis versus the Legacy of the Slum
March 12
How they Worked
Readings:
 Foner, Ch 3 & 4
 Anbinder, Ch. 4
 Lee, “Entrepreneurship and Business Development among African Americans,
Koreans, and Jews: Exploring Some Structural Differences”
 Chin, “When Coethnic Assets Become Liabilities: Mexican, Ecuadorian, and
Chinese Garment Workers in New York City”
March 19
WALKING TOUR: Immigrant New York – Lower East Side @ 2:15pm
March 26
NO CLASS -- SPRING RECESS
April 2
NO CLASS -- SPRING RECESS
April 9
Race, Class, Ethnicity
Readings:
 Foner, Ch. 5
 Lessinger, “Class, Race, & Success: Two Generations of Indian Americans
Confront the American Dream”
 Crowder, Kyle, “Residential Segregation of West Indians in the New York and
New Jersey Area: the Role of Race and Ethnicity, International Migration
Review, 33
 Mele, Chapter 4, Reengineering the Ghetto: Ethnicity, Race, and Cultural
Divisions in the 1950s
April 16
Changing Neighborhoods, Urban Renewal, and Race/Color
Readings:
 Anbinder, Ch. 11
 Orsi, “The Religious Boundaries of an Inbetween People: Street Feste and the
Problem of the Dark-Skinned Other in Italian Harlem, 1920-1990”
 Mele, Ch. 5-6
** Short Paper on Christ in Concrete is Due **
April 23
Multicultural Geography and Neighborhood Conflict
Readings:
 Anbinder, Ch. 9 “Riot” (Five Points)
 Rieder, Ch.3 & 6
(Canarsie)
 Mele, Ch. 7-9
April 30
Assimilation, Adaptation, & the Second Generation
Readings:
 Foner, Ch. 6 & 7
 Lopez, Nancy, “Unraveling the Race-Gender Gap in Education: Second
Generation Dominican Men’s High School Experiences,” in Kasinitz,
Mollenkopf, and Waters, Becoming New Yorkers: Ethnographies of the New
Second Generation, Chapter 2, 28-56
May 7
Group Presentations
May 14
Website Preparation/Wrap Up