Open House New York and Black Gotham Experience invite you to explore Before Belonging, a special audio walking tour comissioned for OHNY Weekend and analyze the non-neutral nature of architecture; how it directs pathways, shapes opinions, and stages conversations. Gain a new perspective of the public square through its forgotten histories.

Before Belonging: Museum of the American Indian to the African Burial Ground (Podcast) Follow Black Gotham Experience founder Kamau Ware on a walk up Broadway from the Museum of the American Indian to the African Burial Ground to reimagine Lower Manhattan as a spiritual journey informed by architecture. “Before Belonging” examines the transitions of Black and American Indigenous bodies to the changing landscape of what we know as New York City. Participants will follow along with an audio tour making stops, pausing to reflect, and breathing in psychic spaces.

About Black Gotham Experience Founded in 2010 by artist and historian Kamau Ware, Black Gotham Experience creates media at the intersection of scholarship and aesthetics that illustrate the impact of the African Diaspora missing from collective consciousness as well as the public square. BGX reimagines the spaces directly impacted by the African Diaspora as human stories explored through interactive walks, talks, events, and art. For more information about Black Gotham Experience visit blackgotham.com.

Note: A earlier version of this series included two additional companion pieces—Other Side of Wall Street: The Kongo and Black Gotham Experience: Between Spaces. Black Gotham Experience is no longer able to offer these experiences during OHNY Weekend.