time portal: Step into the time portal of New York Tenement Museum, walk on its faded carpets and wander across the ages into the recreated homes of immigrant families named Moore, Gumpertz and Baldizzi, according to Metro News. This year, present and past are colliding here. But in one place these scary strangers are Irish, Italian and German. During group tours, old stories are triggering new debates as modern-day political passions sweep the rickety hallways of this low-rise on the Lower East Side. Consider old calumnies about the Irish — religious fanatics, antagonistic to secular democracy, beholden to foreign spiritual leadership in Rome, and very violent as evidenced by the 119 people killed when a mob torched buildings, attacked blacks and rioted over the Civil War military draft in 1863. The museum has held special workshops for staff — to help guides encourage respectful dialogue."Conversations can get heated," says one guide, Kathleen Fletcher. "In this last year I've probably had people bring up the modern day more often than in four previous years here."One thing that riles visitors sometimes: Comparing their ancestors to today immigrants.
(www.immigrantscanada.com). As
reported in the news.
Tagged under time portal, passions sweep topics.
19.10.16