Social Studies teacher, Mr. Robert Sandler shares that last week his NYC History class toured the Lower East Side and Chinatown. We visited St. Augustine’s church and Haitian priest Nathaniel taught us about the slave pews from the 19thc that persisted even after New York abolished slavery. He showed students the wheel male slaves operated during services. They also toured the Eldridge Street Synagogue and learned about the Kosher Meat Strike (1902) and how Jewish mobster Meyer Lansky organized a gang of tough Jews to beat up and intimidate pro-Nazi Bundists in 1938.
Students then explored Doyers Street, the “Bloody Angle” where Mock Duck’s tong battled with On Leong’s crew at an opera house in 1905. We then examined Lin Zexu, the Fujanese hero who fought against British opium trade in China & Sister Peng the infamous snakehead that smuggled illegal immigrants in the 1990s before the Golden Venture tragedy led to her imprisonment. They also visited the church where Al Smith (the progressive Governor and presidential candidate who fought for labor unions and working class New Yorkers) served as an altar boy. They also ate many tasty snacks along the way including bialys, Malaysian beef jerky, egg custard, pork buns, and bubble tea! (photos courtesy of Mr. Sandler)
