A plan to sell Langston Hughes’ Harlem home has been derailed — at least for now ― thanks to the tenacious work of poet and teacher Renee Watson.
About a month ago, Watson launched an ambitious campaign to raise money to rent and renovate the home where the author, best known for the poetry that defined the Harlem Renaissance, lived for the last two decades of his life.
The owner listed the ivy-covered brownstone for sale several years ago with an asking price of $1 million, but took it off of the market when it did not sell. Through an online fundraising drive, Watson says that her nonprofit organization “I, Too, Arts Collective” has raised almost enough money to sign a three-year lease but is still actively working to reach its goal of $150,000.
Watson, who lives in Harlem, became concerned about the ongoing gentrification of historic Black neighborhoods. A native of Portland, Oregon, she even authored a young adult fictional book titled This Side of Home, which explores the issue.
“I’ve been wanting to do something for a while,” says Watson, who ran an arts and performance nonprofit in Portland before relocating to Harlem years ago. “It had been on my heart for sometime. And I said, ‘I have to do something before we lose this home.’”
Harlem has come to personify gentrification. Chain department stores and trendy restaurants have displaced some of the neighborhood’s historic establishments. Even President Bill Clinton headquartered his office on West 125th Street, just down the street from the famous Apollo Theater.
But experts and scholars have long worried that the gentrification of Black communities has forced longtime residents out due to rising rent costs.
