“For More Than a Century, New Yorkers Have Said the Rent Is Too Damn High”

New York City’s renters have been shaping local politics since the rent strikes of the early 1900s. A new museum exhibit illustrates some of the early struggles.

The rent strikes and the changes they helped usher in are the subject of a new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York. The exhibit, set to open this weekend, delves into the history of local housing activism, part of a broader show called Activist New York.

Photo: A rent strike in Harlem, New York City, September 1919.

Credit: International Film Service, published by the New York Times.