Hamilton Heights and Sugar Hill: Author Talk with Davida Siwisa James
Presented by Save Harlem Now! and the Preservation League of NYS, author Davida Siwisa James talks about her book Hamilton Heights and Sugar Hill: Alexander Hamilton's Old Harlem Neighborhood Through the Centuries, which explores four centuries of colonization, land divisions, and urban development around this historic landmark neighborhood in West Harlem. Following Davida's presentation she was joined in conversation by Jane Tillman Irving.
About the Book: It was the neighborhood where Alexander Hamilton built his country home, George Gershwin wrote his first hit, a young Norman Rockwell discovered he liked to draw, and Ralph Ellison wrote Invisible Man. Through words and pictures, Hamilton Heights and Sugar Hill traces the transition of this picturesque section of Harlem from lush farmland in the early 1600s to its modern-day growth as a unique Manhattan neighborhood highlighted by stunning architecture, Harlem Renaissance gatherings, and the famous residents who called it home.
Stretching from approximately 135th Street and Edgecombe Avenue to around 165th, all the way to the Hudson River, this small section in the Heights of West Harlem is home to so many significant events, so many extraordinary people, and so much of New York's most stunning architecture, it's hard to believe one place could contain all that majesty. Author Davida Siwisa James brings to compelling literary life the unique residents and dwelling places of this Harlem neighborhood that stands at the heart of the country's founding. Here she uncovers the long-lost history of the transitions to Hamilton Grange in the aftermath of Alexander Hamilton's death and the building boom from about 1885 to 1930 that made it one of Manhattan's most historic and architecturally desirable neighborhoods, now and a century ago. The book also shares the story of the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art, one of the fi rst in the nation to focus on arts and music. The author chronicles the history of the James A. Bailey House, as well as the Morris-Jumel Mansion, Manhattan's oldest surviving residence and famously known as George Washington's headquarters at the start of the American Revolution.
By telling the history of its vibrant people and the beautiful architecture of this lovely, well-maintained historic landmark neighborhood, James also dispels the misconception that Harlem was primarily a ghetto wasteland. The book also touches upon the Great Migration of Blacks leaving the South who landed in Harlem, helping it become the mecca for African Americans, including such Harlem Renaissance artists and luminaries as Thurgood Marshall, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Mary Lou Williams, Paul Robeson, Regina Anderson Andrews, and W. E. B. Du Bois.
About the Author: Davida Siwisa James is a Philly native, and she lived in Morningside Heights as a child and Hamilton Heights in West Harlem as a young woman. She has a BA in English from UCLA and attended Penn State Dickinson Law in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Her career has spanned being a university public relations director, performing arts marketing director and a freelance journalist for the twice Pulitzer Prize-winning Virgin Islands Daily News.
Since the publication of Hamilton Heights and Sugar Hill, Davida has exhibited at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at USC and given book signings in New York at Hamilton Heights Public Library, Hamilton Grange National Memorial, The Morris-Jumel Mansion and in Philadelphia at Harriett’s Bookshop and Barnes & Noble.
She has given several virtual presentations and interviews including for Untapped New York Insiders, the Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation in Greenwich Village, the international Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society, the New York Skyscraper Museum, and New Books Network where she was interviewed by Manhattan Borough Historian Dr. Robert Snyder.
Davida’s book has been reviewed by several authors, scholars, the international Journal of Urban Affairs, the Amsterdam News, and the Library Journal.
Her other published works include her memoir The South Africa of His Heart, and Life in Brief, a book of short stories, essays and poems.
About the Moderator: Jane Tillman Irving is a well-known New York City broadcast journalist. She retired after 18 years as a news writer and reporter for WCBS-AM/Newsradio 880. It was her second employment at the station; she worked there as a reporter for 14 years before joining WCBS-TV/Channel 2 in the mid-1980s as a correspondent. She was United States Researcher for productions by BBC television and fflic Films in Wales, and has been a freelance television correspondent for ABC News One (network syndication).
Ms. Irving has been a guest host on WNYC radio’s "On the Media" series and the "New York Beat" talk show. Irving has worked as a news anchor for radio stations WLIB, WBLS and WWRL, all in New York City. She was a frequent guest expert on journalism on Newstalk Television and MSNBC.
From 1990 to 1996, Jane Tillman Irving was an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. She has taught journalism at the City College of New York and the New York Institute of Technology in Manhattan, and guest lectured at Hofstra University.After studying oral history at Columbia University, she became a member of the department’s faculty advisory panel, and of the Oral History Association.
She has won more than 30 awards for journalistic excellence, including the Gracie from the Alliance for Women in Media, the WGA Award from the Writers’ Guild of America, and from the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce.
This author talk is co-presented by Save Harlem Now! and the Preservation League of NYS's Preservation Book Club. Thank you to our sponsor, the Peggy N. & Roger G. Gerry Charitable Trust.