This year is the 100th anniversary of Black History Month, and the bookstore McNally Jackson put together a list of 100 places in New York’s five boroughs that were significant for Black literary culture.
It’s a pretty comprehensive list of culturally important locations in literature, music, and art. It’s worth clicking around, but the list includes Akwaaba Mansion, the former home of Minton’s Playhouse, Strivers’ Row, The Schomburg Center, and the spot where “The Dinner Party that Started the Harlem Renaissance” was held in 1924.
The research here spans a century, and includes the locations of some of the oldest Black communities in the US, abolitionist sites like the underground railroad stop where Frederick Douglass passed through, the church where Sojourner Truth preached, and the HQs of publications like The Crisis, The Freedom’s Journal, and the New York Amsterdam News. There are also lots of spots where writers lived and worked, including the homes of Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Colson Whitehead, bell hooks, June Jordan, and Zora Neale Hurston. You’ll also find a whole swath of contemporary libraries, bookstores, and event spaces on the list.
The weather’s warming in NYC, so if you’re looking for a rambling afternoon, this is a great tool to get you started.
Image from www.officiallangstonhughes.com
