ARCHIVAL MATERIALS from NYC ON THIS DAY 100 YEARS AGO

“One hundred years ago today” … Follow the calendars of the 1920s with us! We offer posts related to this date in NYC culture and history. Panoramic in scope and local in focus, our site includes articles from NYC newspapers and magazines, plus sound, image and video files and links, all telling the story of the life of the city 100 years ago. Scroll down and pick a month, and start exploring!

Land Acknowledgment

New York City sits on land space that was home to the Munsee Lenape peoples, and under their stewardship, before European colonization. We acknowledge the history of occupation and genocide of indigenous nations, and we honor the diverse indigenous peoples connected to this land.

March 1923

We mark Women’s History Month with posts about a women-led anti-lynching campaign, movies, music, and more, including a guest post about the launch of Time

February 1923

We mark Black History Month with posts about landmark jazz/blues records by Bessie Smith and others, Black dolls, Black poets, the new Spanish sections of Black newspapers, and more …

December 1922

Viña Delmar and flapper fiction, Black and Jewish lawyer Rufus Perry, and more …

November 1922

A sweeping election for the Democratic party, an attempting lynching in Manhattan, and more …

October 1922

A women’s anti-lynching organization; an all-NYC World Series; Rose O’Neill, Margaret Sanger, and Marcus Garvey (pictured); a post for Indigenous People’s Day …

SEptember 1922

Teenager Gertrude Ederle breaks swimming records, the Straw Hat Riots (shown), The Hippodrome, the Goldman Band …

June 1922

For Immigration Heritage Month, we post about music and newspapers for NYC immigrants. Plus: debates about birth control, a tragic Ferris wheel accident (shown) …

May 1922

We mark AAPI Heritage Month with Kuniyoshi paintings and other features. Plus: an anti-prohibition demonstration, the New York Velodrome opens …

April 1922

Joseph Pennel and Edward Hopper exhibit their artwork, the circus is in town, Nella Larsen applies for a job …

March 1922

Women’s History Month! Art of Alice Morgan and Rose O’Neill, politics of Narcissa Cox Vanderlip, birth control activism, the Dolly Sisters (shown) take the stage …

February 1922

It's Black History Month! We feature Countee Cullen, Cecil Gaylord (shown), A'Leila Walker, the Abyssinan Baptist Chuch, and more …

January 1922

Smuggled booze (shown), cigar store robberies, horse-drawn taxicabs, the ongoing fight for women’s rights …

December 1921

A milk strike leads to controversy and commodities, Adam Clayton Powell resigns as pastor from the Abyssinian Baptist Church, NYC celebrates the holidays with parties and protests …

November 1921

Election day! Plus: a pro-immigration, assimilationist exhibition, and the subways roll out their new turnstiles (shown) …

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October 1921

The first all-NYC World Series (shown), plus Black baseball championships. Also: early radio broadcasts, Mayor Hylan records a speech …

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September 1921

Back to school! Plus: he New York Association for the Blind, a cop dies a hero, the Greenwich Village Follies …

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August 1921

Ernestine Rose’s Black arts exhibition at the 135th St. library, a Chinatown parade for a Chinese American WWI hero (shown), Stuart Davis’s diary…

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July 1921

Republican and Socialist candidates for mayor, the Marx Brothers (shown) on stage, Shuffle Along continues its run, a pro-booze parade …

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June 1921

Immigrant Heritage Month, which we honor through music recorded in NYC one hundred years ago for immigrant audiences, and reports of Ellis Island and the new, Draconian, immigration restrictions…

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May 1921

Two revolutions in Black arts: Shuffle Along and Black Swan Records, modern art at the Whitney gallery (pictured), feminist politics, anti-vaccination alarmists …

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April 1921

Avant-garde art (pictured), Tagore in NYC, Black baseball in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan, a circus parade, the Port Authority. Plus: restaurant menus and more ...

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March 1921

Women's history month! Sophie Tucker, Ana Pavlova and Nati Bilbainita on stage; an all-women police precinct; housing for Black women; women garment workers on strike (pictured)... 

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FEBRUARY 1921

We celebrate Black History Month: Jessie Fauset’s children’s stories, Charles Gilpin's controversial award, Ethel Waters meets Fletcher Henderson, Black businesses...

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JANUARY 1921

White supremacy and the KKK in NYC, bomb threats, the Girl Scouts (pictured) vs. poverty, Enrique Caruso's health…

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DECEMBER 1920

Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s Eve, gang murders, literary censorship, Margaret Sanger's birth control campaign, Jack Johnson’s Harlem club…

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NOVEMBER 1920

Charles Gilpin (pictured) in Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones; a consequential Election Day, locally and nationally; white supremacists in the Bronx…

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OCTOBER 1920

Ellis Island/immigration issues (pictured); voter registration; landmark literary moments (Wharton, Millay, Toomer); the World Series hits Brooklyn; Rothstein pleads innocent…

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September 1920

The Wall Street Bombing (pictured); African American doctors and clubs; plus special posts for Labor Day and Hispanic Heritage Month…

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August 1920

Marcus Garvey's pan-African conference (pictured); lesbian culture'; Mamie Smith's "Crazy Blues" and Paul Whiteman's "Whispering;" the first doughnut machine…

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July 1920

Summertime! Coney Island; discrimination in sports; picnics, fireworks, and the July 4 “Americanization Jubilee”…

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June 1920

Immigrant cultures and newspapers in Yiddish, Japanese, Russian, Arabic, and Ladino; women in the entertainment business; socialist cartoons (pictured)…

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May 1920

May Day, Italian anarchist killed in federal custody (pictured), Oscar Micheaux's answer to the KKK, Marcel Duchamp’s avant-garde art movement…

APRIL 1920

The path-breaking Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Louise Bryant, Marius de Zayas’ gallery, the start of baseball, the "Overalls Parade" led by circus elephants (pictured)…

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MARCH 1920

Striking workers, "female impersonators," vaudeville stars (including Helen Keller), the first NY traffic signal (pictured)…

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FEBRUARY 1920

African American History Month: W.E.B. Du Bois, The Crisis (pictured), Marcus Garvey’s U.N.I.A. Harlem jazz. Plus: Scott Fitzgerald, Lunar New Year celebrations…

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JANUARY 1920

The Babe Ruth trade, James Weldon Johnson’s The Age, Dorothy Parker’s job, the Palmer raids, prohibition, combating Spanish Flu (pictured)…

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