New York During the Revolution

This episode of All of It explores The Occupied City, a major new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York that reexamines the pivotal yet often overlooked role New York played during the American Revolution. Host Alison Stewart is joined by Sarah Henry-Wall, senior scholar at the museum, and Peter Christian Eigner, director of the Gotham Center for New York City History, who discuss how the British occupation of New York from 1776 to 1783 transformed the city into a war zone, a political battleground, and the nation’s first capital. The exhibit highlights the city’s complex social fabric—where loyalists and patriots lived side by side, where the Battle of Golden Hill marked the first bloodshed of the Revolution, and where thousands of enslaved people escaped to join the British cause, only to be documented in the historic Book of Negroes. Through immersive, interactive displays—including a simulated cannon view, a rope to pull down a digital statue of King George, and a memorial wall honoring Black Loyalists—the exhibit invites visitors to empathize with the lived experience of 18th-century New Yorkers. The conversation underscores how New York’s revolutionary history is not just about battles, but about division, survival, and the long-term shaping of the city and nation.