John Lennon’s New York Activist Era

In August of 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono moved to New York City to seek a fresh start in his post-Beatles life. It was a city they would come to love deeply. Initially, they rented an apartment on Bank Street in downtown Greenwich Village, where they lived for a couple of years. It was a very big departure from the expansive estates they’d enjoyed in the UK, but that cozy vibe suited them just fine.

They quickly connected with the local arts and activism communities in the city, eager to put their fame towards supporting various causes that were important to them. The new documentary, One to One: John & Yoko, is a deep dive into this particular period in Lennon’s life.

One of the first events they got involved in was a benefit to encourage the release of John Sinclair, a Michigan poet arrested in 1969 for possessing two joints. He was serving a ten-year sentence. The John Sinclair Freedom Rally took place in December ’71; in March of 1972, Sinclair was released.

Buoyed by the successful outcome of that protest event, Lennon was on board with an idea to perform a series of concerts across the US, highlighting unjustly persecuted figures in area jails and raising money for their release (in the end, it didn’t quite go to plan).

Jerry Rubin, co-founder of the Youth International Party (which became known as the “Yippies”) glommed onto Lennon, eager to use his celebrity for a variety of causes. One to One captures some extraordinary phone conversations highlighting Lennon’s initial excitement, then his growing wariness over the ever-more outrageous plans Rubin had. The final straw was a series of planned protests in Miami against both the 1972 Democratic and Republican conventions; Lennon bowed out, concerned over Rubin’s stunts that seemed purposely primed for violence.

Despite that disillusionment, it didn’t dim Lennon and Ono’s involvement with other social justice issues.

In February 1972, then-local news reporter Geraldo Rivera exposed horrendous conditions at Staten Island’s Willowbrook State School facility, which had been built to care for mentally disabled children. Rivera’s documentary caused a huge uproar, both locally and nationally. Watching it in their Village loft, John and Yoko (both parents themselves) were horrified at the conditions the children lived in. This led to two concerts (One To One) at Madison Square Garden to benefit the facility; the shows were held in August of ’72.

Almost exactly a year earlier, George Harrison had held his groundbreaking Concert for Bangladesh at the Garden, performing an afternoon and evening show, and raising awareness of the suffering in that part of India. Famously, most of the money raised was mishandled, enraging Harrison.

One-To-One featured Lennon in his first (and only) solo concert since leaving the Beatles. The two shows (like the Bangladesh concert, one in the afternoon, one in the evening) featured Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, and Sha Na Na, and raised 1.5 million dollars to help kids with special needs, including those at Willowbrook.

After that show, Lennon would only do two more public performances, one in 1974 as a surprise guest at Elton John’s show, and one in 1975 where he joined others to celebrate the music mogul Sir Lew Grade.

Two years after settling in their cozy downtown loft, John and Yoko moved to the Upper West Side, upgrading to a luxurious apartment in The Dakota for greater security. Lennon famously eased into being a “house husband,” caring for their son Sean and enjoying a quiet, domestic life.

But for those first two years in New York City, he navigated his post-Beatles life by trying to bring about the changes he’d wistfully voiced in 1971 on “Imagine.”

One to One: John & Yoko hits IMAX theaters on April 11 and regular theaters on April 18. Buy tickets here.

-Cindy Grogan

-Photo: John Lennon at the John Sinclair Freedom Rally (public domain)