New York City has always been known as the city that never sleeps, and now a new exhibit is set to shine a spotlight on its crucial role during a defining moment in American history.
This week, the Museum of the City of New York will unveil “The Occupied City,” an exhibit that provides an immersive look into how New York emerged as a significant economic and cultural hub, a status it maintains to this day.
Stephanie Hill Wilchfort, the director and president of the Museum of the City of New York, emphasized the city’s integral involvement in the American Revolution. “New York wasn’t merely a backdrop for the revolution,” she explained, describing the city’s contribution as “pivotal.”
“The city was truly at the heart of it all,” Wilchfort continued. “It was shaped by conflicts, debates, and the diverse experiences of its population, who were all navigating an uncertain future during this period.”
Spanning the entire 7,000-square-foot third floor of the museum, the expansive exhibit is set to open on May 1. It serves as a prelude to the United States’ 250th anniversary celebration this summer.
The sprawling exhibit — which will open May 1 as a lead-up to the US’s 250th birthday this summer — will take over the entire 7,000 feet that make up the MCNY’s third floor.
The project, which was two years in the making, includes hundreds of artifacts ranging from Union soldiers’ uniforms and cannons to registries of slaves across the city.
There’s even a section of the wrought iron fence that protected the 4,000-pound statue of King George III at Bowling Green — which Americans famously toppled on July 9, 1776 after the Declaration of Independence was read to Gen. George Washington’s troops.
Many of the artifacts have been arranged to recreate taverns, coffeehouses and more to provide an immersive experience for visitors.
“The Occupied City” follows New York City’s journey from the early days of the revolution through Evacuation Day in 1783 — when the last of the British troops fled the US — and into the Big Apple’s emergence as the capital of the new nation.
But the exhibit doesn’t just regurgitate stories repeatedly told in textbooks — the museum paid homage to several “forgotten and overlooked” New Yorkers who ushered in the new age.
“Stories like that of Charity Clark, who along with other women engaged in home spinning, making their own cloth to resist dependence on British imports, or Haim Solomon, a Jewish immigrant from Poland who joined the Sons of Liberty and advocated for the Patriot cause throughout the war,” said Elisabeth Sherman, the Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe chief curator and deputy director. “Or Harry Washington, who was born in West Africa and enslaved by George Washington, then escaped to fight for the British. His journey ultimately took him from the same streets we walked today, north to Nova Scotia and on to Sierra Leone.
“What struck me most encountering these stories is that the people whose lives unfold in this exhibition, whether their names are familiar to us or brand new, were living through their own contemporary moment. It was as urgent and immediate as our moment is to us today.”
“The Occupied City” will be paired with a series of historical lectures, including one that focuses on Washington.
The MCNY expects the exhibit to remain on view for the next year.
