Sabine Blaizin, Deputy Director and Head of Programs at the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, sits down with jah elyse sayers, Research Associate at the Place, Memory & Culture Incubator, to discuss her cultural work and the experiences that brought her to it. She shares about her childhood in the Bronx, her Haitian roots, the family members that shaped her understanding of herself and the world, her art and spiritual journey, and the necessity of coalition-building strategies in protecting communities from displacement.
jah elyse sayers interviews Melody Capote (executive director, Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute) in Melody's office at CCCADI on September 3, 2025.
jah elyse sayers interviews Lynn Elda Kilgore Hendy (treasurer, Save Harlem Now!) in the Hendy home on August 12, 2025. Lynn Kilgore Hendy is a retired television advertising sales and account manager, and local television ratings expert. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. At age one, Lynn moved from North Carolina to New York City, when her father, the Reverend Dr. Thomas Kilgore, Jr., was called to pastor the Friendship Baptist Church in Harlem. Lynn was greatly influenced by her father’s strong advocacy for civil rights and African American history. Since 1986, she and her family have owned and lived in a Harlem limestone townhouse, built in 1901.
jah elyse sayers interviews Glenn Hunter, co-executive director of Harlem Cultural Archives Historical Society and lifelong Harlemite. He talks about his life growing up in Harlem and the community that made him who he is today.
Jerome Haferd and Mikaila Meurer, with Anthony Carrion, interview Franco the Great AKA Franco Gaskin.
Franco the Great (born Frankin Gaskin; 1928) is a street artist based in Manhattan, New York City. He was born and raised in Panama, and is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and English. Franco the Great is also referred to as the "Harlem Picasso".
He earned notoriety by painting storefront security gates in West Harlem neighborhoods. Original pieces of Franco's are found today on 125th Street surrounding the Apollo Theater (between Frederick Douglass Blvd. and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd). Franco's murals on security gates are only viewable when the gates of the stores are closed.
Franco's murals have contributed to making Harlem a tourist destination. His work can also be found inside businesses across United States, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, Spain, Brazil, the Caribbean Islands, Senegal, and elsewhere!
Imani Rashid is an entrepreneur, teacher, visionary, event planner, Godmother to many, leader, Yoruba Priestess, mentor, friend and sister to others and a founding member of Salsa Soul Sisters (the oldest Black lesbian organization in the United States). Imani has dedicated her life to enriching and expanding the education of young children using the principles of Kwanza and creative practices such as drumming and aviation. Imani founded the Yoruba Cultural Center of New York City in Harlem in 1990 to gather Afro-diasporic people, primarily of the NJ-NY-CT area, to share history, language, divination, songs and dances of the Orishas, and the cosmology of the Yoruba People of Southwest Nigeria. The Yoruba Cultural Center closed in 1993, but its community-building and impacts have been lasting, and the center will resume its Saturday Night Lecture Series on Saturday, February 15, 2025.
Martin Spollen and Chen "Jenny" Jie: Recipients of the Tandy & Foster Architectural Heritage Award.
The James A. Bailey mansion at St. Nicholas Place and West 150th Street was built in 1888 for the partner of P.T. Barnum in the Greatest Show on Earth. Although designated a New York City Landmark in 1974, by the early 2000’s the mansion was leak-plagued and in massive disrepair. Fortunately, the mansion has been saved by an enterprising couple, Martin Spollen and Chen “Jenny” Jie, who purchased it in 2009 and have been restoring it ever since. The couple has been doing much of the careful restoration with their own hands and, even with cash raised from renting out the mansion as a location for television shows like Law and Order and Boardwalk Empire, they expect that it will take them another 5 to 10 years to complete the restoration.
Founded in 1925 and named a National Historic Landmark in 2017, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is one of the world’s leading cultural institutions devoted to the research, preservation, and exhibition of materials focused on African American, African Diaspora, and African experiences. As a research center of the New York Public Library, the Schomburg Center features diverse programming and collections spanning over 11 million items that illuminate the richness of global Black history, arts and culture.
Lana Turner, Cultural Historian, Recipient of the A. Philip Randolph-Bayard Rustin Lifetime Achievement Award.
Lana Turner is quintessential Harlem, a landmark unto herself. A reader, writer, thinker and researcher with a keen interest in the elements of art and style in Black culture and why this meditation matters, she has earned the endearing title of “Queen of Harlem.” She works as a real estate professional, producer, archivist, and preservationist. Always breaking new ground to celebrate Harlem’s history and its institutions, she co-founded The Literary Society, a Harlem-based book discussion group; launched Men Who Cook, initially to support the Children’s Art Carnival in Harlem; and continues to collaborate with others to mount initiatives that preserve the history of Black culture. Also, she is recognized for her impressive collection of vintage clothing which has been featured in fashion, gallery and museum exhibitions.
NYC Mayor David N. Dinkins recalls Harlem's Cosmopolitan Tennis Club - the nurturing grounds for Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe. The club was located at 441 Convent Avenue at 149th St. in Manhattan Community District 9.
Contributor Aisha J. describes this photo as "Neighbors gathering in Harlem circa 1980s." Aisha contributed this image following the event "Crafting Memory, Building Legacy" on November 15, 2025. The image depicts four people, one of whom is "Dualeh, Somali seafarer."
Panel Discussion: Bill Miles 1975 film "Men of Bronze". The dialog was comprised of Pulitzer Prize winner Dr. David Levering Lewis, Eric V. Tait, award-winning filmmaker, and Col.Greg Collins of the 369th. examining the impact of the Old Fifteenth, 369th Regiment later dubbed the Harlem Hellfighters
