February is a special month at the Lewis H. Latimer House Museum. We celebrated both Black History Month and Lunar New Year with the Flushing community. Here are some highlights from the busy but fulfilling past month.

Documentary 13TH.

The Joy Luck Club.

Audience discussion after the viewing of 13TH.

The documentary 13TH tells a powerful story of mass-incarceration in America. It was screened at the museum on February 18th. After the viewing, the audience engaged in a passionate discussion on the topic.

The film Joy Luck Club (screened on February 11th), on the other hand, invites audience to reflect on the emotional bondage between mothers and daughters and the reconciliation between different generations in immigrant families.

We didn’t forget to celebrate Lewis H. Latimer’s literature talent and the emerging writers in Queens — Malcolm Boyd and Sherese Francis read their works in fiction and poetry in the museum parlor, accompanied by live performance from saxophonist Leonardo Love.

#saxophone + #fiction. 🎷🎼📚✒️ #storytelling #literature #historichouse #lewislatimer

A post shared by Lewis H. Latimer House Museum (@latimerhousemuseum) on Feb 17, 2018 at 12:16pm PST

At the Lunar New Year Tinker Fest, families from across Queens and Brooklyn enjoyed making ink arts to celebrate the Year of Dog and collaborated on a large scroll of dragon, now ready to fly off from the wall in Tinker Lab.

See you soon again at the Latimer House Museum!

#warmup for the #groupprpject #dragon #scroll for #lunarnewyear #tinkerfest

A post shared by Lewis H. Latimer House Museum (@latimerhousemuseum) on Feb 10, 2018 at 12:40pm PST

On 12/16, we lit up the Christmas tree at Lewis H. Latimer’s home. Local families and children from Latimer Gardens Community Center celebrated at the event with Congresswoman Grace Meng, Councilman Peter Koo, and volunteers from HSBC. The audience also participated in Tinker Fest, organized in partnership with AIA Queens. You can view more photos from the event here.

Support the Lewis H. Latimer House Museum for another bright year in 2018!

Your donation of any amount is valued by the Lewis H. Latimer House Museum and the Lewis H. Latimer Fund, Inc., a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization operating the Museum.

Elias with summer Tinker Lab participants from Latimer Gardens Community Center. Photo Credit: Latimer House Museum

I came to the Latimer House for the first time on a school trip in the Second Grade, in 2009. Since I was a kid, I’ve had a passion for history. I would go to the library and pick up books on random topics. People always ask me “how are you so good at history?” I just laugh and tell them I read. I knew Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb but I learned during the school trip that it was Lewis Latimer who improved on the carbon filament. I also learned that Latimer worked with Alexander Graham Bell on securing a patent for the telephone.  I remember being so captivated by this new information and it has stuck with me since.

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— The Museum Aims to Reach Local School Population

Flushing, NY—The Lewis H. Latimer House Museum has received a federal grant totaling $24,950.00 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as one of 16 grantees in fiscal year 2017, through the Museum Grants for African American History and Culture.

The Latimer House will use this grant to further its mission in education by upgrading its School Program including lesson plans and packages connected to Lewis Latimer and meeting the New York City Common Core and New York State Standards. The funding will also enable the museum to carry out extensive outreach activities in surrounding School Districts.

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The Queens Alumna Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. holds up an honored tradition by making a contribution of $1245.00 on 6/10/2017 to the Lewis Howard Latimer Fund, Inc., to help the museum enhance its educational and programmatic projects, in addition to various activities that pay tribute to Lewis H. Latimer and showcase the contributions of African American scientists to the American way of living.

From right to left, Diane Webster from Delta Sigma Theta, Alfred Rankins and Ran Yan from Lewis H. Latimer House.

Want to join the league of Delta Sigma Theta in affirmation of humanity and support for African American heritage? Make a donation today. 

Lewis H. Latimer House participated in the annual Queens Writes Weekend on 5/20, with the site theme “Rainbow Haikus,” and Queens-based writer Sherese Francis as Site Captain. We were surprised and delighted to learn the love of haikus many writers share, eg. Richard Wright, Sonia Sanchez, and Jack Kerouac all published books of haikus.

Here are some of the haikus the participants wrote we’d like to share with you:

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On April 15, visitors gathered around under the last blossom of cherry trees to see the new outdoor sculpture piece of Lewis H. Latimer House, Light Spectrum, created by Queens-based artist Antonia A Perez. NY1 reporter captured the view of Light Spectrum before the event in this video:

“A Flushing museum brings in a new sculpture to encourage people to learn about an unsung pioneer of electricity.

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The participants of the Electronic Musical Instrument project at The Lewis H. Latimer House Museum have completed their musical instruments!

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8-Week Immersive Class: (best for children 7-13 years old)

1:30pm – 4:30pm on each Sunday

March 26 – May 14

The Tinker Lab class in Biologically-Inspired Robot has been expanded to 8 weeks, building on the foundation of past classes. Students will be able to enjoy a comprehensive experience in programming and design using several different software. To keep the tinkering fun affordable, the new class is set at the same hourly price with the 5-week class in 2016.

Access online registration here.

Download the syllabus for Biologically Inspired Robot.