Celebrate James Baldwin’s Day with a jazz concert, film screening and walki

Join us for a special evening of film, music, and community in St. Nicholas Park, presented by African Film Festival, Inc., Maysles Cinema, Harlem One Stop and NYC Parks as part of AFF’s 2025 Summer Series.

Come early and stay late. Sign up for the walking tour of James Baldwin's Harlem. The tour starts at 5:00 pm. RSVP in advance required. Meet us at St Nicholas Park on the plaza where we will also have art making and drawing tables, where you can draw images of your Harlem after the tour. There will be a giveaway of Baldwin's only children's book, Little Man, Little Man which celebrates and explores the challenges and joys of black childhood set against the backdrop of Baldwin's Harlem.

David Lee Jones and the Harlem Grove Band will perform at 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM and at 8:30 PM, we’ll screen I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck’s acclaimed documentary built around the powerful words of James Baldwin.

This moving, visually striking film connects Baldwin’s reflections on race and resistance to the present-day struggle for justice in America.

Bring your blankets, lawn chairs, and loved ones for a night under the stars.

Free and open to all. In case of rain, the screening will take place at Maysles Cinema.

About the David Lee Jones:

Saxophonist David Lee Jones was born and raised in Houston, TX,. From 1976 to 1978 David attended Texas Southern University in Houston where he studied Music Education with a minor in Jazz Studies. He graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1984 with a B.A. in Jazz Composition and Arranging.

After graduating Berklee in ‘84 David moved to New York City and began working with Organist Jack McDuff and subsequently Jimmy McGriff..In 1992 David began working jazz/R&B singer Phyllis Hyman and The Mingus Big band. In 1993 David toured Europe with The Mingus Band and recorded the Grammy nominated CD entitled “Gunslinging Birds”. In between his 3 year tenure with Phyllis and the Mingus Band he joined the Grammy award winning jazz / rap group “Digable Planets” in which he became the principal horn arranger for the live shows. He played on, wrote and arranged all the horn arrangements for their Sophomore record entitled “Blowout Comb”, subsequently touring the world with them and appearing on numerous television shows such as MTV, Arsenio Hall, Jay Leno, David Letterman and the 1994 Grammys (featuring Clark Terry). That year Digable Planets won a Grammy for “Best Rap Group or Duo. Presently David leads and tours with his various bands in the NYC Tri-State area and abroad.

Since his residence in New York, David has also worked and recorded with Sade, Melba Moore, Jennifer Holliday, Anita Baker, The Ellington Orchestra, The Cab Calloway Orchestra, George Benson, Clark Terry, Shirley Scott, Jean Carne, Roy Ayers, Norman Connors and Aaron Neville to name a few.

About the Film:

I Am Not Your Negro

Directed by by Raoul Peck / U.S., Germany / 2016 / 95 mins

Based on James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript Remember This House, I Am Not Your Negro is Raoul Peck’s powerful meditation on race in America. Through Baldwin’s words and rich archival footage, the film traces the lives and assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr., connecting the Civil Rights era to present-day movements against racial injustice. A stirring reflection on history, memory, and what it means to be Black in America.

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