NY Historical SOciety

The New York Historical Society was an enlightening exhibition. the interior of the exhibition was a dim hallway with various exhibit of World War II. Most of the patrons consisted senior men and women, that  possibly were growing up during the War or maybe born during/after the war. The exhibit had a black and white photography-esque theme much like the Civil War exhibition. The most noticeable of all the artifacts was the "Cyclotron" at the beginning of the exhibition. It help create what would make the first two nuclear weapons ever used during wartime. it caught my eye as soon as I stepped in the hall. it is amazing that something the size of a Cadillac had a hand in destroying two whole cities. It was created during the infamous "Manhattan Project", soon after Dr. Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt expressing his fears of the Nazi's plans for creating "new" bombs. For New York City to be trusted with a project like this, instead of a city closer towards the interior of the nation, where it would be less vulnerable from theft and attack,  makes me feel like New York City is one of the most powerful cities of this country. another exhibit which i personally liked as a big boxing fan was the photo of Harlem citizens gathered around a single radio at what appears to be a fight party. Joe Louis had served a German boxer a first round knock out before the United Stated entry into World War II. Until now I had only known of Jesse Owens accomplishments in the Berlin Olympics. the faces of the party goers in the photo showed so much hope and joy i can't even begin to put it into words. The final exhibit (of the hall) that i like was a sculpture crated by Isamu Noguchi, called "Noguchi On the Atomic Bombings". It was a model for a proposed bell tower that never got put into action. It is a wooden sculpture with 5 suspended clay shapes that were stand ins for bells. the bells were intended to ring in the wind "sounding a ghostly reminder of the souls lost" in honor of Hiroshima. Reading the article on the exhibit kind of moved me. After leaving the dim hallway exhibition I stepped into a well lit hallway with a newspaper themed mural. A political cartoon by Oliver Harrington quickly caught my eye. "War Aims" displays a ghostly figure of a soldier holding a document titled "War Aims" which had the goals of African American soldiers who entered the war. a quote by Paul Robeson next to it stated "Today's struggle of the negro has become part of the worldwide struggle against fascism" the quote is rather moving because when you think of the oppression that plague African American people, you could say that fascism indeed started in America. the hall continued to discussed segregation and had supported claims that America is indeed fascist. Believe the "story" the Exhibit was trying to convey was to make New York look like the hero of the war in a sense. Almost Everything that helped The united states win the war was started in new york. from the atomic bomb to african american troops enlisting in the war.