Hidden Voices of New York City: Sylvia Rivera Student Workshop (Grades 3-5) - 9:30am

Educators! Register your students in grades 3-5 for this virtual workshop to learn more about the life and activism of Sylvia Rivera, as the final installment of our Hidden Voices of New York City virtual series.  

Students who participate in this series receive access to a diversity of perspectives, develop historical thinking skills necessary to develop an understanding of the past and how it influences our present and future, and build skills in civic agency through exposure to the stories of people who organized within and beyond the city of New York to improve the city at-large for all New Yorkers. 

This 1-hour workshop includes an active chat for class participation and student activities to do during the program. Told like a story in “chapters”, Sylvia Rivera’s life, work, and legacy will be explored through a close examination of images and historic artifacts. 

About Sylvia Rivera 

“I’d like to do a lot more for the movement, but the movement just doesn’t want to deal with me.” Sylvia Rivera (1951-2002) was integral to the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in New York City and was one of a group of LGBTQ+ New Yorkers who led the Stonewall riots in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan to protest unfair treatment of the community at a time when homosexuality was illegal in 49 of the 50 states. Rivera faced marginalization within the community for her transgender identity and fought, alongside other members of the transgender community, to create safe spaces for transgender youth in the city, including the safe house Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), the first organization led by transgender women of color in the country. 

About the Workshop 

In this virtual workshop, students will learn about the gay liberation movement and the efforts of individual activists and organizations in the city to advance the interests of LGBTQ+ New Yorkers at a time when queerness was policed and stigmatized in the city and throughout the country. Students will engage Sylvia Rivera’s story to understand how transgender New Yorkers contributed much to the movement, but were excluded from the gay liberation dialogue to advance LGBTQ+ rights. 

Free. Registration required. Educators who register their class will be provided with a zoom link in the days before the program. This program is presented as a webinar for student privacy. Participants are not visible on camera and chat comments are visible only to the Museum. 

About the Hidden Voices of New York City Virtual Program Series 

Hidden Voices of New York City is a six-part virtual workshop series for grades 3-5 from the Museum of the City of New York that highlights and honors the individual and collective experiences of a diverse swath of New Yorkers.  

Students who participate in the Hidden Voices of New York City virtual student series will sharpen their historical thinking skills through engagement with primary and secondary source materials, hone skills in civic agency through exposure to the stories of people who organized within and beyond the city of New York, and gain an understanding of how the past influences our present and future.  

The professional learning portion of the Hidden Voices of New York City series is designed to support educators with the best teaching strategies to bring these stories into the classroom, including activities and discussion strategies for grades 3 to 5. Learn more about these changemakers through thought-provoking guest speakers and primary source analysis that will expose multiple perspectives about the era in which they lived, the challenges they faced, and the legacy they left in New York. The Hidden Voices project is aligned to the Passport to Social Studies curriculum.   

Learn more at www.mcny.org/hidden-voices 

Can't make the 9:30 am program? We are offering a second program on June 14th at 11:30am!

Sign up here: Sylvia Rivera Student Workshop – 11:30am