Terry’s Blog

Recently, when a neighbor’s son started medical school, he told me he would have to learn 15,000 new words in the next four years. What I found most interesting was that as a college graduate, his vocabulary already consisted of approximately 15,000 words. Although I don’t have a precise number of new terms, skills or […]

Bill Clinton Loves Being Connected to Harlem By maintaining a satellite office in the Adam Clayton Powell Building on 125th St, Bill remains faithful to Harlem. Some residents feel he abandoned the community in 2011, when he moved his main office downtown to the city’s business district. It’s unfortunate, but understandable that he, like most […]

In July, ‘Hamilton,’ the hugely popular Off-Broadway hip hop musical about Alexander Hamilton will move to Broadway. Now, there’s also ‘Clinton: The Musical,’ a comedy that parodies President Bill Clinton’s highs and lows. Besides Hillary running for president, why this sudden interest in an impeached president who’s been out of office fifteen years, and a […]

Memoir 101 by Terry Baker Mulligan “Write what you know” sounds like wise advice, but if writers didn’t experiment and break new ground, literature might have died under the weight of its own tedium. Today we know that part of the joy in writing is discovery: interviewing subjects, digging through library stacks, visiting neighborhoods or even […]

So, my hubby and harshest writing critic, who mostly reads non-fiction, condescended to finally start reading my new novel, Afterlife in Harlem. He called me from work to say, “You left this morning before I could tell you that your prologue is really good, especially the dialogue. I’m surprised that it held my interest; a […]

Though they lived hundreds of years apart, Bill Clinton and Alexander Hamilton, two white men, were important pioneers in the Harlem community.

kYmberly Keeton, librarian at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, wrote this review of Afterlife in Harlem, which you can read here:  

Kirkus Reviews Afterlife in Harlem AFTERLIFE IN HARLEM Mulligan, Terry Baker October 1, 2014 The shade of Alexander Hamilton helps Bill Clinton and a homeless Harlem waif bond in this cheerfully haphazard fantasia. With President Hillary Clinton settled in the White House circa 2016, first gentleman Bill Clinton is feeling somewhat emasculated—hemmed in by the […]

The fun began on Friday night at a cocktail party; at 1o a.m. on Saturday morning, it was early and still chilly for our outdoor panel discussion on the memoir. Despite the nippy weather, we had a great moderator in Mary Ellen Howard (on left), who asked probing questions. The audience was mixed in age […]

Today we commemorate the thousands of people who died in the 9/11 attacks. Also of note, 226 years ago today, on September 11, 1789 President George Washington appointed Alexander Hamilton as the first United States Secretary of the Treasury. With so many current concerns, why should we care about something that happened 226 years ago […]

On Sunday September 28th, from 2-4 p.m., try to stop by the Missouri History Museum at 5700 Lindell Blvd (at DeBalivere) St. Louis, MO in beautiful Forest Park. A few of us will briefly speak about our books or experiences as writers. I will explain what inspired me to write my new novel, “Afterlife in […]

Coincidence? Did you know that many contemporaries of the Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton, thought he was half black and half white. According to the historian Ron Chernow, President John Adams, who was often at loggerheads with Hamilton, called him “That Creole Bastard.” Such perceptions of Hamilton’s ethnicity have lingered, because W.E. B. DuBois, the early […]

It was September 24, 1964 when I stepped onto the gangway of the Queen Elizabeth. I was ambivalent about going to Bregenz, Austria. No one I knew well had applied to the program, I didn’t want to leave my boyfriend; plus, my Jewish friends from high school wouldn’t travel to Germany. Or Austria. If Jews […]

Mathews-Dickey Boys and Girls Club does such wonderful work in the St. Louis community. A few weeks ago, I had the honor of speaking at their 20th Annual “Sky is the Limit!” Women in Careers Workshop and luncheon, held at Maritz. My talk was about seizing opportunity and not being afraid to try new things. […]

My thanks to Martha Senior, Lonetta Oliver and the students at Flo Valley Community College for inviting me to speak to the students about “Sugar Hill” and the history of  the Harlem.

City Council speaker Christine Quinn came to the rescue of a local imam, whose mosque on Frederick Douglass Blvd. and 116th Street was recently closed down due to construction developments (Via NYDN) Closing curtains? Building costs, lack of grant funding leaves the National Black Theater fighting to keep its doors open (Via NYDN) Red Lobster has swam […]

Thank you Christie Cruise-Harper and the Maryville community for inviting me out to their Community Engagement Committee Book Club!

Big Hair, Don’t Care – Harlem Filmmaker Making Movie That Begs Women To Go With The ‘Fro From NYDN: “Rhadamés Julián is working on a hybrid-documentary to untangle the experiences women have had with chemical relaxers, perms and other processes to change the look and texture of their locks. “I want my film to make […]

Hi Everyone- My friend, photographer Jim Cummins is on a mission to save and restore vintage photographs that he shot back in the late sixties of iconic rock star Jimi Hendrix. These are never-before-seen photos from Hendrix’s concerts and recording sessions in New York Jim’s career as a photographer has spanned four decades, and includes […]

Mayor Bloomberg Is Setting His Sights On Reviving 125th Street (NYDN) “Mega-developer Scott Metzner, head of Janus Property Company, beat out 16 competitors in the bidding war for one of the biggest projects — converting the dilapidated 280,000-square-foot former Taystee Bakery factory into a new-age home for startups, eateries and shops. The National Urban League […]

I’ve been in my book club since 1974; this was before the book club craze took off. In 1984, I began writing down the names of our selections on little slips of paper that I kept in my wallet. A few weeks ago, I started entering 39 years of book titles and authors into the […]

Harlem As A Reality Show? Yes, Says OWN. NY Times Magazines Explores Vinateria, A New Restaurant Opened On Frederick Douglass Boulevard The Fire Watchtower in Marcus Garvey Park Is Preparing To Undergo A $4 Million Renovation From NYDN: “The cast-iron fire watchtower — the only one remaining of eight that constituted Manhattan’s emergency alert system […]

In 1963, I still lived at home in Harlem, and the march would take place a few weeks before I headed back to college. My friend Ellen and I decided at the last minute to go down to DC. We tried to join a bus group, but buses were all full, so we took the […]

Martin Luther King Jr. has quite a history in Harlem. In 1958, he was stabbed by a woman during a book signing. He was taken to Harlem Hospital, where he was treated and recovered. Veteran journalist Gabe Pressman remembers interviewing King after the incident: “I was amazed at how calm he was. He said that […]

Last year, I wrote an article about the gentrification of Harlem, noting that some of Harlem’s longtime residents didn’t want their historic community referred to as NoHa and SoHa (north or south of 125th Street). Old timers are thrilled to see their home values increase, but many don’t appreciate the presumptions taken by recent arrivals […]

The blog Harlem Edge picks the top 10 Instagram photos hashtagged with #Harlem Harlem Tennis Champ Shayna Spooner – Is She The Next Venus Williams? Harlem Talk Radio or WHCR – How Do You Listen To Harlem? West 126th Street Is Getting A Modern Facelift Where Two Properties Owned By Roberta Flack Once Stood The Sugar Hill Neighborhood […]

The Mosquito-Carried West Nile Virus Has Invaded Central Harlem – But The Spray Trucks Are Slow To Arrive – Via NYDN Two Views On Mayoral Wannabe Anthony Weiner’s Hopes In Harlem – The NY Times Says He Finds More Support Among Blacks, But Real Clear Politics Offers A Contradiction Charlie Rangel, David Dinkins, and The […]

I know women are upset too, but this is primarily for black guys who publicly use the N-word and might now be crying foul over NFL player Riley Cooper (a white man) doing the same word: My question: What do you expect? When I was growing up in Harlem during the 1950s-60s, the N-word was […]

The Harlem Renaissance Revives Itself As A Cartoon Crimefighting Gangster ‘The Harlem Shadow‘ (Via SuperHeroHype) Harlem’s Rucker Park Played Host To Inaugural Trayvon Martin Invitation Basketball Tournament, With All Proceeds Benefitting The Trayvon Martin Foundation (Via Vibe Magazine) – Lexington Avenue Suffering From A Bad Case Of Gentrification – from NYDN: “Lexington Ave. between 100th […]

So,what do these three ladies, one of whom was born three centuries ago, have in common? First, the reality: All three married prominent politicians who cheated on them. Huma, a beautiful elegant woman of accomplishment is all over the news this week for standing by her husband, just as Hillary and Eliza did. We always […]

This weeks blogroll links to an article and documentary film, “Homegoings”  about black funerals. The film brought on a rush of memories of Sunday mornings with my father on Seventh Avenue in Harlem. The owners of the three funeral parlors, Grifffin-Peters, Rodney Dade and Claude Sterrett were my father’s neighbors and friends. Watch Homegoings – […]

On May 28th, I gave a book talk to 25 dynamic women at the Gatesworth Retirement Community. Their ages ranged from 67 to 92. Many of them have been leaders in the areas of business, education, arts and community service. I told them about life in the famous community called Harlem, and why I was […]

When I got the email informing me “Sugar Hill” was a finalist for two Benjamin Franklin Awards, in Autobiography/Memoir and Multicultural, I figured I might have a shot at winning Multicultural, but not Autobiography because the market is saturated with memoirs. A Franklin is not a Nobel, but it’s a respected award for authors and […]

If there’s ever a phrase or tip that is tossed around more when it comes to a new writer getting started on a manuscript, it’s this one: “Write What You Know.” It’s simple and yet, can open up a number of doos as to what one really does “know.” Should you write about your upbringing? […]

In 1967, photographer Gordon Parks profiled an African American family living in Harlem for an essay that ran the next year in Life Magazine. The result “A Harlem Family,” depicted the gritty struggle of the Fontenelle family – husband and wife Norman and Bessie, and their eight children – who lived on Eighth Avenue in […]

…who would it be? In an effort to cast a preview (yet remain as vague as possible), the plot in Terry’s next book explores the idea of a prominent political figure of the present having an encounter with a prominent political figure of the past. Both are/were real living people, and though the encounter is […]

We’re happy to report that our fearless author cleaned up at the Independent Book Publishers Association awards on May 27, winning both the silver and gold Benjamin Franklin Awards in autobiography/memoir and multicultural writing categories!

Why are Friends and family generally poor critics of your writing? ●They already have strong opinions about you. ●They want to please or perhaps wound you. ●They’re busy and time is valuable. ●Often friends become invested in the story and could care less about the writing. ●Family or friends don’t want to be included in […]

Last week I visited CCNY and Columbia on the same day. Their main campuses are twenty blocks apart. Columbia keeps inching closer, but no matter how close it gets, these schools remain in separate worlds. CCNY sits high on a Harlem hill. Columbia’s main campus is on the posh Upper West Side. Both schools have […]

Recently, I read this headline in the NY Times: “Small Bookstores Gain as Barnes & Noble has Mixed Results.” I was happy for small bookstores, but the news didn’t exactly surprise me; it made me wonder if my experience with B&N might be one reason why they’re getting mixed results. Back in the summer of […]

St. Louisan Terry Baker Mulligan’s New Memoir Recounts Experience Of Growing Up In Harlem By Alex Heuer, Mary Edwards and Erin Williams Enlarge image Credit (Provided By: Terry Baker Mulligan) Terry Baker Mulligan in front of 369 Edgecombe in Harlem, the building where she was born and lived until age 12 When born and bred New Yorker Terry Baker Mulligan […]

I recently spent Buddy Morning in the 2nd grade classroom at City Academy, a private elementary school located in the inner city of St. Louis. Each guest was paired with a student, then the teacher guided the children and their buddies through a typical lesson. The morning’s assignment was to write a story. My buddy’s […]

Just read, with great interest, Sugar Hill. It really took me back. I grew up, from birth in 1952 through 1965, in our family home at 459 W. 144th Street (between Convent & Amsterdam). My family was the first of us to move into the block – and that wasn’t until after the war. I remember when […]

I was among the thousands recently attending 2012 Book Expo America in NYC. The night before BEA officially opened, about 20 blocks north, there was a smaller, though much heralded event: the Independent Publishers Awards ceremony (IPPY). As the proud recipient of this year’s first place IPPY for adult multicultural nonfiction, I attended the ceremony. […]

St. Louis author wins IPPY award for Harlem memoir   Linda Austin St. Louis Literature Examiner + Subscribe When Terry Mulligan was new to St. Louis, she grew tired of watching her new friends’ eyes grow big when she said she was from Harlem. The Harlem she knew during the 1950s and ‘60s wasn’t full of […]

Sugar Hill Where the Sun Rose Over Harlem Chapter 6 World War II, Polio and Puberty Uncle Harry, Aunt Cee, Mom, Hunt* In the 1950s the Broadway RKO on 145th Street, and other theaters across America played a major role in helping children conceptualize a world at war and instilling us with a sense of […]

Back in February, I received a call from a woman named Anita who works on Apple’s Retail Communication team at the California headquarters. Someone out there had seen my blog, “The Genius of Apple’s Retail Stores.” I wrote that Apple’s exemplary customer service reflects on the public’s behavior (see 3/26/12 blog). I contend that Apple’s […]

Thank you Publishers Weekly for placing my book on the cover of this week’s March 26th issue: http://magazinesdownload.com/post/2012/03/29/Publishers-Weekly-26-March-2012.aspx

Increasingly, uptown folks are asking, “What’s going on in Harlem? Is it changing too fast? Too slow? Is it losing its black identity?” Step back a moment, revisit history and remember that Harlem evolved from groups who lived here previously. Many of them left legacies that placed the community on the world map: The Lenape […]

Friends and family know I spend Monday mornings at the Apple store. It’s located in the mall and unfortunately, malls are not me favorite places. I’ve shopped enough and I don’t enjoy jockeying for parking spots, but I love Chris, Sean, Debra, Katie, Alan, Dan and a slew of other Apple “Creatives” who’ve helped me […]

I wonder how many other writers struggle with their author name. My book documents Sugar Hill, Harlem during the doo-wop era, when stickball reigned, the Apollo was the hottest ticket in town, and I was a skinny kid named Jeanie Baker. In the public school system, proper etiquette meant first names only, so from 8:30 […]

In 1802, Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton built his estate, the Grange, in Harlem Heights.  As a young girl in the 1960s, I lived across the street from the house. Beyond its historical and architectural significance, it matters symbolically that the home remains in Harlem. Hamilton was one of our earliest leaders who advocated freedom for […]