Mapping Malcolm: A Centennial Series

Join us on Friday, February 28th at 6:30PM for the kick-off of Mapping Malcolm: A Centennial Series, curated by Najha Zigbi-Johnson. This engaging, three-part public series will dive deep into Malcolm X’s lasting influence, examining his impact not only on the Harlem community but also on the broader landscape of New York City and beyond.

In our first program, Malcolm X Expanded: Exploring His Legacy at the Intersections of Black Art and the Built Environment, we’ll bring together organizer Lumumba Bandele, architect Sara Zewde, and Jerald Cooper, the founder of Hood MidCentury Modern to discuss how Malcolm X’s legacy continues to resonate in the worlds of architecture, urban planning, and Black artistic expression. The conversation led by Najha Zigbi-Johnson will be an evening of powerful dialogue and insight, where we explore how history, art, and space intersect to shape our communities today. The program will be followed by a soulful DJ set by Tara, blending music and history to close out the evening.

About Mapping Malcolm:

“For Harlem is where he worked and where he struggled and fought—his home of homes, where his heart was, and where his people are.” Nearly sixty years since the martyrdom of Malcolm X, these words from Ossie Davis’s eulogy remind us that Malcolm’s political and religious beliefs and conceptions of culture have profoundly shaped and been shaped by Harlem. Mapping Malcolm continues the project of reinscribing Malcolm X’s memory and legacy in the present by exploring his commitment to community building and his articulation of a global power analysis as it continues to manifest across New York City today. More specifically, the book explores the limits and possibilities of the archive, the political, material, and philosophical legacy of the Black radical tradition, the Black diaspora, and the state. Oriented toward sovereignty and liberation, Mapping Malcolm brings together artists, community organizers, and scholars to consider the politics of Black space-making in Harlem through a range of historical, cultural, and anti-imperialist worldviews designed to offer new, reparatory pedagogical possibilities. Together, they reconfigure how we understand, employ, and carry forward Malcolm X’s sociopolitical, cross-cultural analyses of justice and power as an everyday praxis in the built environment and beyond.

Events are free and open to all. Registration does not guarantee entrance, so we recommend that you arrive early.

Host or Publisher The Africa Center