Lewis Latimer museum, free in Queens

This is a shockingly nice museum in Queens that is free! If you want to see a place that completely rewrites the "standard" history of New York City, you have to get out to Flushing and see the Lewis Latimer House Museum. I went on a weekend, and it’s one of those spots that makes you realize how much of the "great men of history" narrative we’re fed is missing the most interesting people.

Lewis Latimer was a genius who lived in this beautiful Queen Anne-style house from 1903 until he passed away in 1928. Most people think of Thomas Edison or Alexander Graham Bell when they think of the lightbulb or the telephone, but Latimer was right there in the thick of it. He was a self-taught draftsman and inventor who actually drafted the drawings for Bell’s telephone patent. Even cooler, he’s the one who patented the carbon filament that made lightbulbs actually last long enough to be useful for regular people.

The house itself is a vibe, a wood-frame Victorian standing in the middle of a modern Queens neighborhood. It was actually moved from its original location nearby in the 80s to save it from being torn down. Inside, they have a permanent exhibition called "Light Up the World" that goes through his life, from being the son of self-emancipated slaves to his time in the Union Navy and his career as a Black pioneer in a super segregated industry.

What I love about this place is that it isn’t just a dusty old house. This place is legit. They have quite a brand new, fancy setup of a big museum here. The galleries connect his work to modern technology and civil rights. One room is set up as a "Latimer Lab" for STEAM stuff, and another gallery focuses on his family’s story and their involvement in the early civil rights movement.  

Lewis Latimer basically invented the light bulb and we got the white history of it in school, that's what this museum is about. They even have the Steven Universe short playing on loop at the front about him.

Click on QUEENS for more free and cheap stuff, hidden gems of NYC that hardly anyone goes to.