6. The Great Lawn at Central Park

Clip from “In Our Hands,” a feature-length documentary celebrating the peaceful June 12, 1982 anti nuclear demonstration. Via YouTube.

The 55-acre Great Lawn in Central Park is America’s first public park and has been the site for many peaceful demonstrations. Among these demonstrations was one which opposed the nuclear arms race. On June 12, 1982, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators congregated on the Great Lawn, marking the largest disarmament demonstration in the nation’s history.

For the past six years, the Great Lawn has been home to the yearly Global Citizen Festival, a music festival which rewards fans with free tickets to see top artists for actions such as calling senators and signing petitions on such issues as health, gender equality, education, and environmental issues.