Environmental Advocacy

Environmentalism

More than 100,000 New Yorkers celebrated the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, forming the largest gathering in the nationwide celebration. New Yorkers flocked to Union Square for speeches and concerts. Mayor John V. Lindsay closed Fifth Avenue to cars, enabling marches and picnics in the blocked-off streets.

Nuclear Disarmament

On June 12, 1982, the largest protest in American history converged in New York, as an estimated one million protestors marched from Central Park to the United Nations to demand an end to nuclear weapons.

Bicycle Advocacy

On April 7, 1973, some 400 cyclists chanting “Bikes don’t pollute” rode through midtown Manhattan in a “Bike-In” that called for separate lanes to encourage bicycling and provide safety on city streets.

Historic Preservation

On August 2, 1962, architect Philip Johnson, urban activist Jane Jacobs, and dozens of others picketed outside Pennsylvania Station to protest plans to tear down the 1910 Beaux-Arts masterpiece. Their campaign was the culmination of over a decade of struggle to protect city landmarks. Although they lost the battle over Penn Station, the building’s demolition helped lead to the passage of New York’s 1965 landmarks preservation law.