Voting Rights and
Citizenship Calendar Unveiled
A recent gathering
of scholars, professors, politicians and members of the Department
of Education was held at the New-York Historical Society to
celebrate the publication of the CUNY/New York Times Knowledge
Network Voting Rights and Citizenship Calendar. The Calendar
targets students, educators and the general public who wish
to be more informed about American history and civic life and
is expected to reach millions of people in New York City, across
the country and around the world. It will be introduced to
a national and international audience through distribution
to high schools, colleges and universities. Moreover, partnerships
with civic and community leaders will assure that the Calendar
is available to those who are not affiliated with a school
or college. In an effort to reach out to as many individuals
as possible, the Centro de Estudios Puertorriquenos at Hunter
College will translate the Calendar in Spanish. There are plans
to translate it into additional languages in the months ahead.
The 17-month Calendar, the brainchild of CUNY Vice-Chancellor Jay Hershenson,
will create a common thread for readers to understand how
suffrage began as a privilege for the few and became a right
for all citizens. Most significantly, it will emphasize the
importance of the exercise of those rights through the electoral
process so that voices can be heard and every vote can be
counted.
Hershenson
along with Dr. Richard K. Lieberman, Director of the LaGuardia
and Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College, and Dr.
Steven A. Levine, Education Coordinator at the Archives and
other colleagues, began working this past winter on gathering
documents, photographs and sketches to contribute to the Calendar.
To help develop the Calendar’s content, an advisory committee
of prominent educators at CUNY was established, including award-winning
historians, political scientists, sociologists, senior administrators,
directors of major institutes and centers, technology experts
and students. To view the Calendar and links to related resources
and informational materials, visit www.cuny.edu/votingcalendar.#
