Suzanne Wasserman is an historian and filmmaker. She has a Ph.D. in American History from New York University. She is the Associate Director of the Gotham Center for New York City History at the City University of New York, Graduate Center. She is also an historical consultant on Ron Howard's forthcoming film, Cinderella Man, starring Russell Crowe.

Wasserman lectures, writes and consults about New York City history, especially the history of the Lower East Side. She has published widely on topics such as the Depression, Jewish nostalgia, housing, restaurant culture, tourism, pushcart peddling, the Jewish silent screen actress Theda Bara and 19th century saloons. She has taught courses in Museum Studies, Women Studies, Urban Studies, American History and World History. She has worked as a public historian on projects for the Jewish Museum, City Lore, the Tenement Museum, Henry Street Settlement, Clio, Inc. and Steeplechase Films.

Her award-winning film, Thunder in Guyana, is about her cousin, Janet Rosenberg Jagan, who was elected President of Guyana in South America in 1997. She received grants for the film from the director John Sayles, New York State Council on the Arts, NY Women in Film and Television, the Samuel Rubin Foundation and others. The film is distributed by Women Make Movies. She is currently at work on a second film, tentatively titled "NYC History Buffs, Unite!" about people obsessed with NYC history.

Last Updated:
November 9, 2004

Too Little Time; Too Much to Share
Suzanne Wasserman of the City University of New York Gotham Center moderated an engrossing panel that left her audience wanting more.

Suzanne Wasserman had her work cut out for her as she shepherded the panel through the session's allotted time. The interchanges with the conference participants such as Lauren Monsein Rhodes, Education Coordinator for the Weeksville Society, shown above, enhanced a full-session schedule. Lauren shared a tidbit of her own experience as a teenager in the Girls' Leadership Workshop held at the Eleanor Roosevelt Center, one of the three sites featured in the session. Recent graduates from the Girl's Leadership program are pictured in the title photo above.

Suzanne described the session's focus as exploring ways to develop youth participation at historic sites with little staff or money. With five speakers to slot into an hour, she did introductions in short order and settled the audience in for a whole lot of ideas on engaging young Americans.

Allan Dailey, Supervisory Park Ranger, at Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Site and Elayne Seaman, President, Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill, described ways in which Eleanor Roosevelt used her Hyde Park home as a place of civic engagement for both adult leaders and America's young people and how the site is used today to continue her legacy. More

John C. Curwen, Park Ranger, Lowell National Historical Park and Tsongas Industrial History Center, described the park's successes in making the stories of factory work and labor unions resonate with today's visitors. More

Angelica Santomauro, Executive Director, and Evelyn Hershey, Education Director, from the American Labor Museum at the Botto House National Historic Landmark, told of their experiences in changing students from listening passively to engaging actively in the site's story and using it as a tool to teach tolerance. More

Q & A
Suzanne rounded out the the session with some lively Qs & As. The lead off question was typical of the Conference. Participants wanted stuff they could use and panelists obliged. A sampling of the questions follow:

Question: How does your material fit into State Curriculum Standards?

Answers: Tsongas purposely tailors the materials to the State standards and makes the link explicit in the materials and on their website. Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill runs their programs outside of the classroom in the summer. They intentionally broaden the education for their participants beyond that of the schools.

Question: When you tell your Labor story to today's working class children, can you make it a positive story?

Answer: There were plusses. It paid a wage higher than most.

Question: How do you deal with union backlash?

Answer: Try to tie the old story into current issues. The movement of jobs from the Northeast to the South is the beginning of the story of the taking of jobs and eroding unionization. Today, jobs are going overseas.

Throughout the formal session and the Q & A, there was a common thread. Over and over again through words and examples, conference attendees were assured that young people can be engaged, can work together as activists and can make a real difference.