You can watch a video of this mini-review on Instagram and TikTok.

Part One: 

100 years from now, what will you be remembered for? The lives you touched? The meals you shared? The trends you started? What about the places you went? This year the New York Public Library is celebrating author and activist James Baldwin — for being a card-carrying NYPL member since he was just a chocolate drop. You can see the exhibition items in two places: the Schwarzman building on 42nd Street, and the Schomburg on 135th. 

The collection on 42nd Street, entitled “Mountain to Fire” is a play on the titles of two of his works: Go Tell It On The Mountain, which was his first novel and The Fire Next Time, which was a collection of his essays published 10 years later. The exhibition includes photos, handwritten notes, copies in revision, original covers, personal letters and postcards, and copies of his breakout hit Giovanni’s Room, as well as his features in magazines like Time and the New Yorker dating back to the 60s. 

Being so close to these pieces that you can almost touch them would be inspirational for any Baldwin fan, modern-day activist, or aspiring writer. And it makes me wonder: If so much our work and our creative process is digital these days, what will they put in the glass cases of our 100 year celebrations? Maybe keep a handwritten journal, beloved. 

Speaking of journals, look at this embroidered notebook by Candace Hicks – and watch part 2 to see what other surprises lil Ms. Library has been hiding up her limestone sleeves. Black love and star light, stay shining y’all. 

Part Two: 

You had that one auntie with the front room, where the furniture was covered in plastic and you weren’t supposed to step a single childish foot inside cuz you might mess something up. Well, in true rich auntie fashion, the New York Public Library on 42nd street has invited us into her front room – and it’s some GOODT STUFF in there.  

In part 1, I told ya’ll about how I went to see the Baldwin collection entitled “Mountain to Fire”, well it’s inside of the “Polonsky Exhibition of the New York Public Library’s Treasures” which is a whole lot of words just to say that the public library has some really elite and exclusive stuff that they don’t take out all the time. 

As soon as I realized that it wasn’t just Baldwin, I went on my own little scavenger hunt to find everything and everybody black. In no particular or exhaustive order there was: an original copy of W.E.B. Dubois’ Brownies book, a Renaissance-era bronze sculpture by Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, a color photo of the original cast of the Wiz and the original sheet music for Ease on Down the Road, Augusta Savage’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a painting by Jacob Lawrence (who was the first Black artist to be represented in the MomA), a woven crown by Xenobia Bailey, woodcut prints by Alison Saar (daughter of Betye Saar, also an artist), video of saxophonist Sonny Rollins, 1800’s era busts of a Sudanese man and woman, a Romare Bearden next to a photo of Billie Holliday in the studio, biographies and autobiographies by people who outlived slavery, an original Green Book and photos from the Civil Rights movement plus handprinted flyers from the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and a photo of Zazu Nova, a trans activist who was on the front lines of the stand-off at the Stonewall Inn and that’s not even everything. 

My top 2 were definitely this composition notebook embroidered by Candace Hicks that is just dying to come home with me as my new journal. And seeing Maya Angelou’s handwritten manuscripts from Caged Bird. I kept it very demure by not trying to take these home with me. 

Finally, there was the original Winnie the Pooh. Maybe it’s just me, but his love for honey, vibes, and understated outfits feels like he could be kin? Whatchall think? Is Winnie the Pooh black? 

Anyway, this is a worthwhile pop-in for your midtown lunch break, or a cute friend-date after work. Enjoy and let me know what ya’ll think. Black love and star light – stay shining y’all!