James Baldwin

Baldwin sitting in a Triumph Herald on the Bosphorus Ferry © Sedat Pakay

December 13, 2024

New Brooklyn Public Library exhibit features rare photographs of James Baldwin flourishing in Turkey

The Brooklyn Public Library is celebrating the centennial of civil rights activist and writer James Baldwin’s birth with a special exhibition of never-before-seen photographs. Called "Turkey Saved My Life - Baldwin in Istanbul, 1961-1971," the installation features photographs by Turkish photographer Sedat Pakay that shed light on a fertile period in Baldwin’s life when he traveled to the country to distance himself from the racism and homophobia present in America. The exhibition is on view in the lobby of the Central Library through February 28, 2025.
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Events & Things To Do

August 7, 2024

Celebrate 100 years of James Baldwin at the New York Public Library

By Devin Gannon

The New York Public Library is honoring one of its most legendary patrons. Considered one of the best writers of the 20th century, and a key figure in the civil rights movement, James Baldwin discovered his love of reading at his local public library in Harlem. In celebration of what would have been Baldwin's 100th birthday this month, NYPL will present two exhibitions featuring his papers, manuscripts, and other materials never displayed publicly, as well as host book giveaways and discussions on Baldwin's work.
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Events & Things To Do

From top left: Photo of Robert Frost via Wikimedia, Photo of Emily Post via Library of Congress, Photo of Henry Miller via Wikimedia; From bottom left: Photo of James Baldwin by Allan Warren via Wikimedia, Photo of Patricia Highsmith via Wikimedia, and Photo of Margaret Mead via Smithsonian Institution Archives Wikimedia

December 6, 2019

31 literary icons of Greenwich Village

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. One of the city’s oldest and largest landmark districts, it’s a treasure trove of history, culture, and architecture. Village Preservation is spending 2019 marking this anniversary with events, lectures, and new interactive online resources. This is part of a series of posts about the Greenwich Village Historic District marking its golden anniversary. Greenwich Village, specifically the historic district at its core, has been described as many things, but “literary” may be among the most common. That’s not only because the neighborhood has an air of sophistication and drama, but because it has attracted some of the nation’s greatest writers over the last 200 plus years. Ahead, learn about just some of the cornucopia of great wordsmiths who have called the Greenwich Village Historic District home, from Thomas Paine to Lorraine Hansberry.
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History

James Baldwin’s former Upper West Side home receives national landmark status

Photos: (l) Tax photo of 137 West 71st Street, 1964 (a year before James Baldwin bought the building). Courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives; (r) 137 West 71st Street, on the Upper West Side, 2016. Credit: Christopher D. Brazee/NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project

September 12, 2019

James Baldwin’s former Upper West Side home receives national landmark status

By Dana Schulz

In June, the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission designated six sites significant to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, including the former home of James Baldwin on the Upper West Side. Now, the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project tells us that the Baldwin residence at 137 West 71st Street has been added to the National Register of Historic Places, which recognizes his role nationally as relates to LGBT and civil rights history.
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Architecture And Design

Last year’s Pride Parade outside the Stonewall Inn, via Wiki Commons

May 30, 2019

17 LGBT landmarks of Greenwich Village

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

In about a month New York will be in the throes of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, three nights of disturbances from June 28th to June 30th 1969, which are recognized globally as the start of the modern LGBT rights movement. But Stonewall is only one of the scores of important LGBT landmarks in Greenwich Village – the homes of people, events, businesses and institutions dating from more than a century ago to just a few years ago. Thanks to landmark designation, most of these sites still stand. Here are just some of the dazzling array of those, all still extant, which can be found in the neighborhood which is arguably the nexus of the LGBT universe.
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History

April 5, 2019

12 social change champions of Greenwich Village

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

Few places on Earth have attracted more or a broader array of activists and agitators for social change than Greenwich Village. And much of that activity took place right in the heart of the neighborhood in the Greenwich Village Historic District, where that rich history has been preserved through landmark designation for the past half-century. Here are just a few of the many who lived within its bounds and toiled to make the world a better or more just place.
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History

March 9, 2016

First Look At Harlem’s Baldwin Condominiums, Inspired By James Baldwin

By Ondel Hylton

In a corner of Harlem hemmed in by a steep ravine within Jackie Robinson Park and the Harlem River, a residential enclave is undergoing a renaissance. Among a string of four recently finished sale buildings, a seven-story, six-unit condominium has begun work at 306 West 148th Street, between Bradhurst Avenue and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Conceived by Bottom Line Construction & Development (no comment), the 10,000-square-foot building is to be called The Baldwin after the eminent Harlem-born novelist, poet, playwright and social critic, James Baldwin. Channeling the author's spirit, the condo will capture in its residences "the sophisticated details and artistic flare of contemporary Harlem living."
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James Baldwin

New Brooklyn Public Library exhibit features rare photographs of James Baldwin flourishing in Turkey

Celebrate 100 years of James Baldwin at the New York Public Library

31 literary icons of Greenwich Village

James Baldwin’s former Upper West Side home receives national landmark status

17 LGBT landmarks of Greenwich Village

12 social change champions of Greenwich Village

First Look At Harlem’s Baldwin Condominiums, Inspired By James Baldwin

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