James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center unveils iconic table honoring literary legacy

The idea is for the table is to educate people about Baldwin’s legacy in an active way that would allow it to serve as a living memorial for generations to come.”

Ray Pultinas

Fans of author James Baldwin know well that tables have long been a significant motif in his work. They offer a space for philosophical exploration in The Fire Next Time, inspire one of the most memorable lines in If Beale St. Could Talk — in which Fonny promises Tish “I’m going to build us a table and a whole lot of folks going to be eating off it for a long, long time to come” — and are central to his final work, an unfinished play called The Welcome Table. 

“The welcome table was a place of witness, where exiles could come and lay down their souls,” David Leeming, Baldwin’s secretary-assistant and close friend, wrote of the real-life table that hosted many illustrious guests to James Baldwin’s house in St. Paul de Vence, France.

In the spirit of Baldwin’s tradition, The James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center has commissioned Riverdale artist Moses Ros to create a contemporary version of this iconic table. 

Though formally launched in 2018, with the addition of the farmers market component in 2020, the Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center has been a significant part of founder Ray Pultinas’ life for more than 30 years.

While studying English Literature and Letters at the University of Connecticut, Pultinas took a class with Leeming. Later, Pultinas became an English teacher at DeWitt Clinton High School, Baldwin’s alma mater, and Leeming moved to Riverdale, where he lived for several years and frequently attended Pultinas’ literary criticism and Baldwin seminars. Pultinas said this connection with Leeming deepened the bond between Baldwin and the project. 

A few years ago, when a red oak tree fell onto the Dewitt Clinton school grounds after a storm, Pultinas, a steward of the school, convinced the parks department to let him preserve the wood. Dated back to Baldwin’s time on campus, the tree was transported to Dover Plains, New York, where woodworker and sawyer Robert Rising of NYC Slabs cured it and shaped it into an oval table that will one day seat 12 people. 

Rising, a self-described huge fan of James Baldwin, expressed his enthusiasm for the project.

“It’s a wonderful thing to be able to take the wood from a school he went to and repurpose it into something in his honor,” Rising said.

For the table’s design, Pultinas connected with Ros through Ron Kavanaugh of One Book One Bronx.

Ros, a Dominican-American sculptor, painter and printmaker known for his colorful, dynamic takes on language and form in public sculpture, has a mural at Isham Park and will be featured at the Art on Paper fair on Pier 36 in September. He said he expects to complete the Welcome Table in early September, as it is currently approaching the final design stages.

The table will feature an archway along the center, symbolizing an arc of justice — Ros’ favorite design element. It will be engraved with Baldwin’s name, his school class and selected words such as truth, witness, love, respect, compassion and honor.

Ros will also include two Baldwin quotes: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced” and “the place in which I’ll fit will not exist until I make it.”

Besides educating visitors unaware of James Baldwin’s work and impact, Pultinas envisions the table as a vibrant space for not just meals but workshops and forums, particularly those addressing restorative justice.

These events are already an integral part of the learning center’s programming, but Pultinas hopes the table will act as a monument to this mission.

“The idea is for the table to educate people about Baldwin’s legacy in an active way,” Pultinas said, “that would allow it to serve as a living memorial for generations to come.”

The table will initially be featured at the center’s market this autumn and will be rotated through key cultural centers and galleries around the Bronx during the winter months.