Wall Street from the Margins: Rebels, Activists, and Workers
The name "Wall Street" today is synonymous with global finance and trade, and since the 1600s, it has been a center of trade and commerce for Dutch, British, and American settlers. It evokes images of wealthy bankers and financiers, unaccountable plutocracy, and cold capitalism. But Wall Street has not gone unchallenged.
For 400 years, since the first Dutch settlers established the "wall" that this street was to be named after, Indigenous and African peoples continued to find ways to resist their oppression in creative ways. Their struggles gave way to the arrival of newer immigrant communities, and with every generation, whether they were Irish or Italian, Jewish or Chinese, Bengali or Guyanese, the fight against social and economic depredation did not end.
This walk will narrate the story of Wall Street through the perspective of its "Others," the people who made New York from the bottom up. We will learn about New York's first slave rebellions, its first indigenous battles, immigrant struggles, and contemporary protest movements like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter.
Consider it a "People's History" of Wall Street. In the end, we hope you leave with a greater appreciation for grassroots struggle and the ongoing quest for justice.
Note: For private bookings, this tour can be combined with any of our tours covering Lower Manhattan, including "Mecca to Manhattan," "Lower West Side," and "Policing Gotham" (among others).