This site will feature what will become known as The Welcome Table to include seating to accommodate a class size of 35 students in honor of James Baldwin’s last play and his own custom of greeting his friends around a table. “The welcome table was a place of witness, where exiles could come and lay down their souls.” (Leeming, James Baldwin 374) This table will be used for a variety of instructional purposes to include demonstrations, projects, “maker” activities, science experiments as well as for sorting fruits and vegetables, preparing and serving food. The table will also be partly shaded at all times for the comfort of visitors. The table will function as a tangible aspect of the memorial to James Baldwin that educates visitors about his life, his learning, his writing and his enduring contributions to American society.
James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center 