Many of the residents in Harlem at that time identified as LGBTQ, like poet Langston Hughes and writer Alain Locke. As a result, the new community had a creative outpouring of writing, music, and art. In the '70s, the Pink Triangle was reclaimed as a symbol of pride for the community.Īnother plaque along the Legacy Walk honors the Harlem Renaissance, which took place after World War I when people left the segregated South and fled to Harlem in Manhattan.
One plaque focuses on historic symbols, like the Pink Triangle, an emblem that was placed on LGBTQ people in concentration camps during the Holocaust to further humiliate them. The Legacy Walk pylons feature short biographies for famous LGBTQ figures like Audre Lorde, Oscar Wilde, James Baldwin, Bayard Rustin, Freddie Mercury, and Alan Turing.
