6. Corona’s Black Heritage Reference Center has over 40,000 Volumes of Material
Louis Armstrong moved to Corona in the 1940s because it was a center of Black American life and culture. Because of racial segregation and discrimination, Black people were forced into separate enclaves across New York. Although Corona wasn’t as big as Harlem, San Juan Hill, Bed-Stuy, or Jamaica, it was still home to a sizable and vibrant Black community in New York.
The neighborhood’s legacy as a relatively safe space for African Americans to live, work, and play is reflected in the Black Heritage Reference Center in the heart of North Corona. Located inside a branch of the Queens Public Library on 100th Street and Northern Boulevard, the Black Heritage Reference Center contains over 40,000 volumes of material related to Black culture and the Black experience in America. A few examples from their extensive collection are the Langston Hughes Collection and the Black Newspaper Microfilm Collection, which holds over 1,400 reels of newspapers dating back to 1831.
