March on Washington organizers set up headquarters in Harlem apartment, now a landmark
NEW YORK - A Harlem apartment building was once the national headquarters for the March on Washington, and where the majority of the planning and organizing took place.
Now, the building is on the national register of historic places and is a New York City landmark.
Along W 130th Street near Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, the quiet row of brownstones still looks similar to Spring 1963, when it offered a backdrop for the movement towards action for all Americans. Inside 170 W 130th Street, Bayard Rustin led the effort to organize the March on Washington, galvanized by a community that shared a care for others.
Save Harlem Now! President Valerie Jo Bradley has been on a mission to share the stories from those walls.
"The planning was 90 days, so a phenomenal amount of work occurred in this building," Bradley said, "and it is an unassuming building, and it was unassuming then."
Nearby Friendship Baptist Church, whose pastor led the NYC SCLC chapter, donated the space in its annex, which had previously been a community center named for Sojourner Truth dating back to 1910, where Jacob Lawrence learned art as a little boy.
Another Harlem establishment also played a role. The Apollo Theater led one of the largest fundraising campaigns for the event, bringing together activists and celebrities for a night of celebration. With lots of support, Rustin and his team pulled off one of the largest single events in American history, catapulting the country towards the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts the following two years.
In 2018, Save Harlem Now! won landmark status for the entire block for its significance, which is still home to the New Amsterdam Musical Association, the nation's oldest Black union for musicians.
While it may not look like much, the building bears more historical weight than most. The facade of brick below the plaster was designed by New York's first licensed Black architect Vertner Woodson Tandy.
"You're not only just preserving buildings, you're preserving the history that existed in these buildings," said Bradley, "and when people don't know it, we need to have plaques to remind them of that."
As an historic landmark and an LGBTQ+ landmark in honor of Rustin's role, 170 W 130th Street stands strong, protected by those keeping spaces alive for Harlem's past, present and future to thrive.
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