• Boxes designed to help residents find or donate books by and about author James Baldwin

• Detroit ACE, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and Detroit Public Library partnered to launch the reading campaign

• Initiative also completes the work started by celebrated artist Sabrina Nelson whose landmark exhibit on the iconic American writer debuted last fall

The City Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship (Detroit ACE) has partnered with veteran Detroit creative Sabrina Nelson, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and the Detroit Public Library to host James Baldwin Sidewalk Libraries across the city.

Detroit ACE will join Nelson and exhibit curators Omo Misha and Ashara Ekundayo at 5 p.m. on Friday, September 26 at the unveiling of the box at Nelson’s home at 579 E. Kirby St. near the College for Creative Studies. ACE encourages residents across the city to visit the box close to their homes.

Remarks will be made by:

Lacey Holmes - City of Detroit Project Manager for Arts Initiatives

Ashara Ekundayo - Co Curator Artist Frontline Prophet: James Baldwin

Sabrina Nelson - Artist Frontline Prophet: James Baldwin

Lance Wheeler - Vice President of Learning & Engagement at The Wright Museum

Representative from Detroit Public Library

The sidewalk libraries will continue the celebration of the late American writer and civil rights activist that began last September with Nelson’s landmark exhibition Frontline Prophet: James Baldwin at the Wright Museum. The exhibit celebrated the author’s 100th birthday. In the last three years Nelson’s “Frontline Prophet: James Baldwin” has been exhibited in Detroit, Chicago, Harlem and Long Island New York, New Orleans, Oakland CA, and Paris, France.

“The launch of this campaign this September at the Autumn Equinox, one year after the powerful exhibit honoring him, highlights how both parts of this project are coming together, continuing the celebration of Baldwin’s genius through art and literature,” said Lacey Holmes, project manager for arts initiatives at Detroit ACE. “Last year’s exhibit and our shared mission to keep his works present in our communities is how artists, writers, creatives live forever.”

The chosen artists and library box locations are: 

Donald Calloway – Irwin House Gallery

Location: 2351 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit, MI 48208

Clifton Perry – Detroit People’s Food Co-op

Location: 8324 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, 48202

Jozie Bullard –Ashara Ekundayo & Dr. Angela Wellman

Location: 18305 Lancashire St, Detroit 48223

Miriam Uhura - Home of Sabrina Nelson

Location: 579 E. Kirby St, Detroit, 48202

Markus Fulp – Yellow Brick Road Arts Alley

Location: 14208 East Jefferson, Detroit 48215. Between Lakewood and Newport streets.

Brittini Ward– Burrell Trail Arts Alley

Location: 7601 Harper Ave, Detroit 48213. Between Townsend and Baldwin streets.

Ivy Lilly – Bailey Park Arts Alley

Location: 2701 Elmwood Detroit, 48207. Between Charlevoix and Hunt streets

Khristyn Richardson-Passage to Wellbeing

Location:14600 Korte St, Detroit, 48215. Between Manistique and Philip streets.

In addition to the nine libraries that ACE is sponsoring, there is a sidewalk library at The Wright, which was embellished by Ifoma Stubbs.

The libraries are designed to give Detroiters a chance to “borrow” or leave a Baldwin book to share his genius. The first 200 books were donated by the Detroit Public Library.

Nelson, a professional interdisciplinary artist for more than 39 years, kicked off a year-long celebration of Baldwin by launching the exhibition in New York’s Harlem neighborhood in 2023. The exhibition highlights the artist’s deeply personal perspectives on the iconic writer and includes works from a seven-year sketchbook study as well as works on paper and canvas and projected video installations. In an exhibit of more than 40 unique depictions of Baldwin and his contemporaries, Nelson presents imagery and text culled from the lectures, writings, and social-political themes that were highlights of Baldwin’s work on critical culture, identity, race and sexuality. She used multiple styles – from painting, drawing and sculpture, to performance art.

About Sabrina Nelson

Sabrina Nelson is a lecturer and ‘artivist who uses her art as a medium for activism. She has worked for Detroit’s College for Creative Studies for 30 years, teaching African American Art History. She also has served on the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp faculty and been a guest curator for the Carr Center and the Detroit Music Hall Performing Arts Center. She earned her BFA in Fine Arts from CCS in 1991. She was 2021-2022 Kresge Arts Fellow, and her work was featured on PBS in 2020 & 2022.

About Detroit ACE

Detroit ACE (Detroit City Arts) partners with organizations across the region to enhance and grow investment in fine and performing arts, culture and history with a special focus on artistic entrepreneurship and support for Detroit’s creative workforce. Twitter,  Instagram  and Facebook. Take a look at five years’ worth of ACE work @heyzine.com/flip-book/ae8130edcc.html.