New York, Feb 13 (EFE).- The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York today launched a platform that aims to explore the history, communities and cultural legacy of the mostly working-class neighborhood of San Juan Hill that existed in and around the area where that important cultural center was built in the 1950s and 1960s.
Much of the San Juan Hill area of Manhattan was razed in the 1950s as part of the Lincoln Square Redevelopment Plan, one of many “urban renewal” programs across the US that displaced more than 7,000 families and 800 businesses, the Lincoln Center recalled in a statement.
He also indicated that the “Legacies of San Juan Hill” page, which was produced in collaboration with the Center for Puerto Rican Studies of the City University of New York (CUNY) and the Schomburg Center for Research on Black Culture, is part of “of an ongoing commitment to confront the injustices in its founding history and to exalt the stories of the people who lived in the neighborhood, as well as the arts and culture that flourished there.”
“Legacies of San Juan Hill,” which will grow over time, began today with a total of 12 items: scholarly essays, interviews with former residents, archival photography and audio, video, and an interactive map, the statement added.
San Juan Hill and the greater area of Lincoln Square, named after both the square and its surrounding neighborhood in the Upper West, from 59th to 72nd streets, were home to the largest black population in the city turn of the century and later of an important Puerto Rican community, he also recalls in the statement.
A series of talks, performances, and interactive events that deeply explore and contextualize the history of San Juan Hill will take place later this spring.
“Personally, even as a lifelong New Yorker, I didn’t know much about the history of this area, despite only recently finding out that my grandmother lived here,” said Lincoln Center Vice President Leah C. Johnson.
“Lincoln Center is committed to questioning our role in this history, ignored for too long, and building a more just and inclusive cultural home for all,” the institution states on the page.
