Mapping New York Literary History Project
Welcome to Mapping New York’s Literary History, a digital literary history project produced by Lehman College English majors in concert with English professor Bret Maney. To begin exploring our interactive project, open this post.
Entwined Legacies: Piri Thomas and Spanish Harlem
By D. R. | Spanish Harlem has been home to countless authors, artists, musicians and actors. It encompasses 96th Street up to about 140th street from Pleasant Avenue to Fifth Avenue. It is the prototypical urban environment with high crime and constant police sirens. However, there is a charm about it and if you grow up here […]
“Reflecting Absence”: The World Trade Center Memorial Fountains
By Najee Johnson | The twin reflecting pools are located at the World Trade Center and are surrounded by five buildings. As a representation of the twin towers’ absence, the memorial fountains are placed at the former footprints of the North and South towers. The pools give New Yorkers, tourists, family and friends an opportunity […]
The Walls: A Poem
By Jwendlen Nivens | Junior steps into his overalls, / and using a large cellulose sponge / dabs and chisels to clean the pillars. / While the radio plays Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” / He sings along off key and in spanglish / Junior, dust, dirt, and grease become one. […]
A True Cock and Bull Story of Lower Manhattan
By S. G. | The Charging Bull, cast in 1989, currently stands in Bowling Green Park, which is located on Broadway and Morris Street in the historic financial district, in Manhattan, New York City. This massive bronze bull stands in the middle of the street, body leaning to one side in an aggressive stance—a main tourist attraction […]
America, Can You Hear Them now?
By A. C. | At times, there’s an insatiable effort to neutralize the spirit of people. It’s cruel to ask someone to be less them, and consequently become more of something else. In Women Native, Other, philosopher Trinh T. Minh Ha states that “it’s a positivist dream of a neutralized language that strips off all its singularity […]
My Word Is Better than Your Word: A Review of Louise Bennett’s Monologue “Jamaican Language”
By Kiki Melvelle | Who is to say dat your English is betta dan mine?
Hearing Sonny’s Blues at Showman’s in 2016
By S. M. | On a late night in May, I was finally able to visit Showman’s Jazz Club on West 125th Street in Harlem. If you’re not paying attention, you could almost pass right by the place. Although it does have a long awning above the door, it’s just not very flashy at all. […]
Frank O’Hara’s Plaque
By G. G. | I am not an avid traveler by any means; my expeditions have been limited to adventures in movies, books and poetry. Frank O’Hara’s works are known for their diary-like quality, and through them you can explore New York. When I got on the train with my friend one Saturday our destination […]
Jackie and Pee Wee: An Embrace Against Racism
By F. R. | Brooklyn, New York is home to one of New York City’s most iconic locations, Coney Island. On Coney Island, you find attractions such as the Coney Island Beach and Boardwalk, the New York Aquarium, Luna Park, the Cyclone rollercoaster and the original Nathan’s Famous. If you walk down Surf Avenue, past […]
Ode to Orchard Beach
By Maritza Lopez | Orchard Beach, also known as the Bronx or Puerto Rican Riviera, is a man-made beach situated along the Long Island Sound in Pelham Bay Park. It spans 115 acres and is over a mile long with a promenade that allows beachgoers to walk up and down the beach without having to […]
La Marqueta: The Puerto Rican’s Past, New York City’s Present, And the Multiethnic Future
By Luis Machuca | Imagine for a moment that you could sink your teeth into a delicacy that has the ability to transcend space and transport you to a tropical island. That’s the kind of marvelous treasure that La Marqueta has to offer. La Marqueta is a marketplace and retailer established in 1936 by Mayor […]
Christopher Columbus Finally Reaches China(town)
By A. V. | There is a park located on 67 Mulberry Street in Manhattan, New York, close to the Brooklyn Bridge. It was designed by Calvert Vaux in the 1880s and was opened in 1897. Known alternately as Mulberry Bend Park, Five Points Park and Paradise Park, it was renamed in 1911after Christopher Columbus, […]
From Rat to Umpire: A Central Park Journey
By C. C. | It is often bypassed and ignored—after all it is just a rock. Most of the people who actually stop to see and admire it are tourists. More than half of them accidentally come across it while visiting Central Park. Umpire Rock is known to be a schist rock and is located […]
Displaying Christopher Columbus’ Monument in Central Park’s Literary Walk: What Are We Really Celebrating?
By Brandie Failey | Among the many monuments that line Central Park’s Literary Walk, there is a statue of the explorer Christopher Columbus. Huge and eye-catching, it inevitably makes you want to take a closer look at it. Columbus is standing with his arms outstretched while in one hand he holds what appears to be a […]
“Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places”: H.P. Lovecraft in Brooklyn
By Zayna Marjieh | Isn’t it unsettling…that we can walk by a seemingly ordinary place and be completely oblivious to its extraordinary history? 169 Clinton Street in Brooklyn, New York is a completely unremarkable building. It blends into the Brooklyn cityscape like a grain of sand […]
