The New York Times has a great piece on ‘rent parties’ and how their sleuthing led them from an ephemeral card, saved by Langston Hughes and donated to Yale University, to current residents and descendants.

The Modern School of Harlem

In 1934, Mildred Johnson, the first black student to graduate from the teacher training department of the Ethical Culture society, opened an early years’ school in St. Philip's Episcopal Church on West 152^nd Street. The Modern School started with eight children between the ages of two and six. As it grew, it moved to a number of different locations, all within a ten-block radius.

In 1953, Johnson was able to purchase a building on W. 152nd Street where The Modern School offered a creative progressive education to Harlem children of preschool age through sixth grade, until it closed in 1999. Johnson Edwards (as she was known after her marriage) died in 2007 in New York City at the age of 93.