So many of my non-New York friends ask me how I stay sane in the city during the summer. Well, first things first, I try to leave the city as often as I possibly can. There is something about the hot sun hitting all of the brick buildings that makes me feel like a pizza being cooked each time I step outside of my house. One of the ways I have learned to enjoy NYC is to visit as many museums and galleries as possible during the summer. It’s a great way to catch up on exhibits I missed seeing during the academic year. It’s also a great way to spend a cool day in an air conditioned building, looking at amazing art for an afternoon.
The Met has been on my list to revisit. They have so many innovative exhibits and have been doing a much better job (in my opinion) at showcasing Black artists and themes in Black art; past and present. I also love that it is located on Museum Mile and I can easily stop by the Museum of the City of New York or the El Museo del Barrio, just a few blocks away. I always love heading a bit southwest to check out the Whitney Museum and strolling along the highline afterward. If it’s not too hot, I love to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and find myself enjoying the Brooklyn Museum.
As a proud trustee of the Tenement Museum, it is also one of my favorite museums to visit. The museum has a new-ish exhibit showcasing Joseph Moore and his family. Moore was an African American New Yorker, whose story represents a new glimpse into Black New York from the 1860s and 1870s. There are so many other tours you can enjoy if you are interested in the lives of Italian, Irish, German, Jewish, Asian, or Puerto Rican New Yorkers.
One of my favorite gems is the National Museum of the American Indian at the tip of lower Manhattan. Located in an old customs building, you may have gotten your passport in one of the offices or conducted your Global Entry interview there. The museum has some traditional exhibits and every now and again, some truly mind blowing exhibits by Native American artists. I am never disappointed when I visit the museum…or its fantastic gift shop.
Hopefully, during the hot (or rainy) days this summer, you will explore some of the dozens of museums, large and small, located in the city. There are museums that cater to transportation, Black art, Chinese Americans, sex, quilts and folk art, African art, to name just a few. It’s New York; explore the many gems hiding in plain sight.
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of book “How to Build a Democracy: From Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan to Stacey Abrams” and “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream” and is co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.