Museum of the City of New York highlights Black heroes that made significant contributions to our city and world

NEW YORK - Black history is American History.

A tour of remarkable activists and artists found in exhibits and in the archives at the Museum of the City of New York tells the stories of heroes that made significant contributions to our city and the world.

CBS2's Dave Carlin met with Sydney Stewart, the museum's manager of student learning and experiences, to find out more. 

One of the people they discussed was Elsie Richardson.

"She was a major mover and shaker in Bed-Stuy, bringing Black folks together in the community, but not just Black folks, community folks, at a time when the government had largely disinvested from the Bedford-Stuyvesant community," Stewart said.

Albro and Mary Lyons had a boarding house in the early 1800s. It was also a site of the Underground Railroad. 

"Their boarding house was set on fire, so they had to escape," Stewart said. "So they ultimately then chose to flee for Rhode Island."

Bayard Rustin was a Black gay pacifist.

"Bayard Rustin was a chief Organizer of the [1963] March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and so he did a lot of the back-end work," Stewart explained. "There's one image of him that I love of him showing a bus route. He organized the entire bus routes to get thousands and thousands of people to Washington, D.C., from all over the country."

"He faced time in prison, at points on chain gangs, for the organizing he was doing for both the civil rights movement and also for pacifist movement," Stewart added. 

The Museum of the City of New York has the third largest collection of costumes in New York City. 

"We house 12 dresses of Marian Anderson's," Stewart said. "Marian Anderson was a famous, prolific contralto singer ... We know that Marian Anderson was the first African-American to sing at a presidential inauguration and that was in the 1950s at the Eisenhower inauguration."

"Even though she wasn't welcome at every space that she could have, she made space where she was able, to be able to sort of share her voice with the world," Stewart added. "I grew up reading children's books of Marian Anderson's and to know that we as a museum house her gowns is very, very special."

Museum leaders say they are thrilled to shine spotlights on these important, fascinating historical figures and make sure the next generation learns all about them.

"And they give us a lesson to learn about how to really move society forward," Stewart said. "We have a unique opportunity with this to be able to highlight the contributions of Black New Yorkers to the city and also beyond." 

The Museum of the City of New York is located at the top of Museum Mile at 103rd Street and Fifth Avenue.