James Baldwin 100

Happy birthday, James Baldwin! August 2nd marks 100 years since the birth of the author and activist. For this special occassion, we’re visiting five NYC sites connected to Baldwin’s enduring legacy.

James Baldwin Residence, 81 Horatio Street — Baldwin lived at 81 Horatio Street from 1958 to 1961, and it’s where he continued working on his third novel, Another Country, which included bisexual characters. (read more)

135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library — Growing up in Harlem, Baldwin was profoundly influenced by the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library, dedicated to Black literature, once saying he read “every single book” here. (read more)

SCHOMBURG CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN BLACK CULTURE, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard — This institution houses one of the country’s most significant collections of African American history and the African Diaspora, including the records of LGBT notables and groups including James Baldwin. (read more)

NOW ON VIEW at the Schomburg:
“JIMMY! God’s Black Revolutionary Mouth.”

The San Remo, 189 Bleecker Street — In 1943, Baldwin moved downtown to Greenwich Village and frequented hangouts like the San Remo, popular with Bohemians, Beats, and gay people — though he also wrote about the racism he experienced here. (read more)

National Headquarters for the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 170 West 130th Street — Baldwin’s civil rights activism brought him back to Harlem in 1963. He met with those planning and preparing for the iconic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in D.C. at its National Headquarters. (read more)

James Baldwin Residence, 137 West 71st Street — Baldwin owned 137 West 71st Street on the Upper West Side from 1965 until his death in 1987. During that period, he wrote about his own sexuality for the first time in his 1985 essay, “Here Be Dragons,” also published as “Freaks and the American Ideal of Manhood.” (read more)