Museum of New York Homework

Margot Supple
Blog Post #5

   Write a blog post about what the trip made you think, feel, know, and/or wonder. Write 2-3 paragraphs.

  Friday my english class and I went to the Museum of New York for a field trip. We walked through the museum, studying the different protests and activists in New York. We looked at a Dutch protest from the 17th century all the way to Biking protests in the 2000's. The first protest we looked at was in New Amsterdam. Twelve citizens signed a petition against a law stating that any religion besides Christianity you could not worship in public, such as Judaism or Quakers. This was the first record of activism in New York. 
We then moved to suffragists fighting for women's right to vote. I found this exhibit the most interesting. I loved looking at the posters for and against suffragists. It was eye opening to see some of the reasons people had against woman being able to vote, and I thought it was fun to work in groups and discuss them. Looking at the pictures you could see the woman dressing formally and proper, which was a great way to get more people on their side. The way suffragists used campaigning to get people on their side was very interesting to me, and it could be connected to ways people campaign today.
Our last two exhibits were protests for gay marriage and against cars parking in bike lanes. I thought some of the items made for gay parades, like the "gay" doll, were very stereotypical. I was unsure if they were making fun of gay people, or shining light on the subject, but I still thought it could be considered hurtful by some people. The bike protests were very funny, and the activists used comedy to attract attention. I thought this trip was very informative, while also fun and interesting.