Celebrating Women’s History Month at the Brooklyn Navy Yard
BY AILEEN CHUMARD
At first glance, the Brooklyn Navy Yard doesn’t seem like a place to find too many stories about women. But looks can be deceiving and history can be revealing. The Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92 offers exhibits, tours, programs and workshops that interpret and celebrate the lives of women at the Yard, then and now. Visitors may be surprised by what they learn.
During the Revolutionary War, before the establishment of a naval shipyard here in 1801, some 11,500 American colonists died of disease and malnutrition aboard British prison ships moored on Wallabout Bay. Fortunately, American Elizabeth Burgin secretly helped nearly 200 prisoners escape to freedom. This little known story is explored in the play “A History of Launching Ships,” which returns to BLDG 92 in March after a sold-out run this past fall.