Meet our 2025 Honorees!
Lana Turner, Cultural Historian
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Lana Turner is quintessential Harlem, a landmark unto herself. A reader, writer, thinker and researcher with a keen interest in the elements of art and style in Black culture and why this meditation matters, she has earned the endearing title of “Queen of Harlem.” She works as a real estate professional, producer, archivist, and preservationist. Always breaking new ground to celebrate Harlem’s history and its institutions, she co-founded The Literary Society, a Harlem-based book discussion group; launched Men Who Cook, initially to support the Children’s Art Carnival in Harlem; and continues to collaborate with others to mount initiatives that preserve the history of Black culture. Also, she is recognized for her impressive collection of vintage clothing which has been featured in fashion, gallery and museum exhibitions.
Martin Spollen and Chen “Jenny” Jie
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The James A. Bailey mansion at St. Nicholas Place and West 150th Street was built in 1888 for the partner of P.T. Barnum in the Greatest Show on Earth. Although designated a New York City Landmark in 1974, by the early 2000’s the mansion was leak-plagued and in massive disrepair. Fortunately, the mansion has been saved by an enterprising couple, Martin Spollen and Chen “Jenny” Jie, who purchased it in 2009 and have been restoring it ever since. The couple has been doing much of the careful restoration with their own hands and, even with cash raised from renting out the mansion as a location for television shows like Law and Order and Boardwalk Empire, they expect that it will take them another 5 to 10 years to complete the restoration.
Photo courtesy of The New York Times
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
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Founded in 1925 and named a National Historic Landmark in 2017, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is one of the world’s leading cultural institutions devoted to the research, preservation, and exhibition of materials focused on African American, African Diaspora, and African experiences. As a research center of the New York Public Library, the Schomburg Center features diverse programming and collections spanning over 11 million items that illuminate the richness of global Black history, arts and culture.
Jane Tillman Irving
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Retired broadcast journalist with WCBS-AM/ Newsradio 880 and WCBS-TV/Channel 2
Meet our 2025 Sponsors!
LANGSTON HUGHES SPONSOR
Harlem Community Development Corporation
W.E.B. DUBOIS SPONSOR
The Family of Gene A. Norman
ARTURO SCHOMBURG SPONSOR
Ayon Studio Architecture • Preservation, P.C.
CCNY Bernard & Anne Spitzer School of Architecture
S. Epatha Merkerson
Dean & Marilyn Blackstone Schomburg
Donna Mussenden Van Der Zee
Meet our 2025 Honorary Committee!
Michael Henry Adams
Simeon Bankoff
James Browne & Emily Wasserman
Jacqueline Finn
Marta Gutman, Ph.D.
Elizabeth Howard
Mitchell Karp & Barry Katz
Steven Kirkpatrick
Sharon Madison & Michael Steinback
Ronald L. Melichar
S. Epatha Merkerson
Christina Norman
Malcolm Punter, Ed.D. MBA
Peggy Shephard
Rita Thompson
Donna Mussenden Van Der Zee
Renee White & Jeff Harman
Lloyd Williams