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.

Video: Our #STEAM #educator Karioki playing with #electronic #guitar and #drum made in #TinkerLab.

8-Week Immersive Class: 1:30pm – 4:30pm on each Sunday, January 22 – May 12 (best for children 7-13 years old.)

The Tinker Lab class in Electronic Instrument has been expanded to 8 weeks, building on the foundation of past classes in Bio Bot. 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.

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On the Friday evening of November 4th 2016, we had a special reading in the house by an Artist Peer Circle of the Queens Council on the Arts. Four writers based in Queens―and with roots in China, Croatia, Kosovo, South Africa, Taiwan, and other parts of the Americas―find, lose, and make their way home through fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Readers: Artrit Bytyci, Malcolm Chang, Catherine Kapphahn, and Doreen Wang.
Facilitator: Tim Fredrick.

Facilitator Tim Fredrick starts the night.

Audience listening in the front parlors.

Queens Writers on the Complexities of Making Home, 11/04/2016

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Our favorite moments of the night include Doreen Wang explaining the two kinds of home — the one you were born into and the one you create by building your own family, Artrit Bytyci telling the story of his grandma being dislocated from her home because of the political turmoil in the communist countries and breaking the mental borders, Catherine Kapphahn’s journey of collecting and putting together pieces of her mom through continuous “guessing, imagining, and searching,” and lastly, how Malcolm Chang faced and combated racial disparity and white supremacy as a Chinese diaspora in South Africa.

We also just simply loved having a group of diverse writers and audience in the historic home of Lewis H. Latimer in Flushing, Queens, echoing his personal path of defining a humane home against all odds.

Doreen Wang in the parlor.

Artrit Bytyci speaking.

Catherine Kapphahn sharing her story.

Malcolm Chang interacting with the audience.

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To read the writers’ biographies, please visit the event page of Queens Council on the Arts or the LatimerNOW Instagram account.

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