Council Member Thomas-Henry praises Langston Hughes Library

I'm open in all ears.

Chair, if I can take a point of privilege.

My next thing is a comment.

So I am a Queens girl through and through.

So Queens Public Library is my library.

I have four branches in my district.

But I have to say my favorite is the Langston Hughes Library and Cultural Center.

Over 55 years in the community, and I don't know if you heard it when Shakira testified, but the largest, the largest black history reading collection in all of New York City is housed at Langston Hughes Library and Cultural Center.

So, Chair, when you ask about how do people learn about them, I'm going to just tell everybody in this room how you're going to learn about Langston Hughes and the cultures in my district.

If I can for a second, you open the door.

All right.

Over 55 years, and this is not just a library, this is a cultural institution.

I want you to understand it didn't start as a library.

It started as neighbors getting together to build something during the civil rights movement and Black Panther era when our communities were poverty stricken and no one wanted to invest.

And it was neighbors and individuals, some of those neighbors and individuals who serve on that board today who are in this room that built this library over 55 years ago.

This is a library where I walked my kindergarten graduation.

I could speak, say my numbers from one to ten in at least five different languages, one of them being Swahili.

Swahili.

And this was 40 plus years ago.

And 40 plus years later, that same librarian who taught me now watches and helps teach my children today.

So again, this is a cultural institution in the community of Corona East Umhurst, the 21st Council District.

Also the home of the Langston.

of the Louis Armstrong House and Museum.

So when we talk about history, Corona has built history.

It is part of history.

It was where Martin Luther King interned.

It was where the famous Malcolm X house that was bombed is today.

It was where Harry Belafonte once called home.

It was where our great former assemblyman, Jefferyon Arbery, advocated to repeal the Rockefeller drug laws.

It is where the first black president of Queensborough, Helen Marshall Hale from, who held this council seat.

So when you want to know where to go to learn about some history, come to my district in Corona and visit the Langston Hughes Cultural Center and the Louis Armstrong House and Museum.

Because one thing that a lot of these collection house, the Louis Armstrong Center just finished the Corona collection, where individuals who grew up on the block with Louis.

Louis taught these young people as children how to play the trumpet, are able to tell those stories.

So when we talk about capital investments taking too long, we don't have too long for those stories to be told the way that they're told in these institutions.

So I give back my time and say thank you.