From renter to owner, Sharpton locks in National Action Network’s Harlem foothold for the long haul

The outside of the new location of the National Action Network (NAN) House of Justice is pictured on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Anna Connors) Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] New York (AP) — The Rev. Al Sharpton’s staff and advisers stood around him just outside the doors of a cozy theater, where some of his most fervent supporters waited to greet him in the newly renovated headquarters of the National Action Network.When doors flung open, Sharpton entered to a standing ovation that continued until he was perched behind a lectern, on a stage decorated with a floor-to-ceiling video screen. The Rev. Al Sharpton welcomes people to the new National Action Network (NAN) House of Justice on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Anna Connors) The Rev. Al Sharpton welcomes people to the new National Action Network (NAN) House of Justice on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Anna Connors) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share The audience was not anticipating a call for justice. Instead, the rabble-rousing youth minister turned go-to national advocate was there to declare his organization was officially an owner, no longer a renter, in the historically Black Harlem neighborhood it has called home for more than two decades.“I want to make something permanent,” Sharpton said recently to the gathered crowd of NAN board members, local clergy and other allies. “When people see that you’ve bought a building, they say, ‘Wait a minute, they’re not going nowhere.’” NAN’s new permanent home is the former Faison Firehouse Theater on Hancock Place, near the intersection of 124th Street and Manhattan Avenue. George Faison, a Tony Award-winning choreographer known for his work in the original 1970s Broadway staging of “The Wiz,” had bought the firehouse in 1999 and converted it into a community theater. 6 MIN READ 3 MIN READ 2 MIN READ When Faison had a choice between selling the former firehouse in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood to a large developer or selling it to NAN, he chose the latter, according to Sharpton. “I’m 71 years old — if I was just trying to do it as an Al Sharpton personal fan club, I could just keep renting,” Sharpton told The Associated Press during an interview in his new private office, with large windows overlooking central Harlem.“I’m buying it to show I want this to be an institution. I want it to last beyond me.” Although the renovation is structurally complete and its rooms are functional, Sharpton said he expects his weekly Saturday rallies to resume in the new headquarters this summer. The Rev. Al Sharpton poses for a portrait in his office at the new location of the National Action Network (NAN) House of Justice on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Anna Connors) The Rev. Al Sharpton poses for a portrait in his office at the new location of the National Action Network (NAN) House of Justice on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Anna Connors) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share From renting to owningFounded in 1991, NAN began meeting at P.S. 175, a Manhattan elementary school, during the tenure of the late David Dinkins, New York City’s first Black mayor. Next, NAN rented a space at 125th Street and Madison Avenue. In 2006, Sharpton moved NAN into a rented space at 145th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard, where it operated until January.NAN’s headquarters had been named the “House of Justice” by his late mentor, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.Often organizing from his Harlem headquarters, Sharpton became known staging direct-action protests on behalf of Black men killed, brutalized or persecuted by police in New York City: Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, the exonerated men formerly known as the Central Park Five, and Eric Garner, among others.“Harlem means home,” Sharpton told the AP. National Action Network (NAN) Board Chairman Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson welcomes people to the new location of the NAN House of Justice on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Anna Connors) National Action Network (NAN) Board Chairman Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson welcomes people to the new location of the NAN House of Justice on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Anna Connors) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share The Rev. Al Sharpton shakes hands with National Action Network (NAN) board members and other invited guests at an event welcoming people to the new location of the NAN House of Justice on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Anna Connors) The Rev. Al Sharpton shakes hands with National Action Network (NAN) board members and other invited guests at an event welcoming people to the new location of the NAN House of Justice on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Anna Connors) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share The new NAN headquarters now carries the name “House of Justice Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Workshop,” following the multimillion dollar purchase and renovation of its five floors. Sharpton said he will invite artists to hold salons, poetry readings and jazz nights, as a callback to the Black cultural and intellectual movement of the Harlem Renaissance. Looking out at his supporters during the invite-only reception for the new space, Sharpton reflected not just on the NAN’s past, but on the current cultural and political environment.“We are in trouble,” he said in reference to redistricting fights set off by a recent Supreme Court decision on the Voting Rights Act and the rolling back of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.“We don’t have, in my opinion, the luxury of not nailing down and working together,” Sharpton said. Rev. Al Sharpton, right, and Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, left, speak during the National Action Network’s Saturday action rally at House of Justice in Harlem, Saturday, June 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File) Rev. Al Sharpton, right, and Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, left, speak during the National Action Network’s Saturday action rally at House of Justice in Harlem, Saturday, June 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Building on decades of local and national activismOver the years, the NAN headquarters has become a “can’t skip” campaign stop for Democratic candidates seeking everything from the presidency and Congress to state and local offices. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the House of Justice is typically standing room only for the dignitaries who show up.After the death of his childhood hero James Brown in 2006, the horse drawn carriage carrying the Godfather of Soul’s golden casket stopped outside NAN’s 145th Street headquarters.The organization’s weekly Saturday rallies have also been a venue for families grieving loss through police violence, or for celebrities to speak out and unfairness in the entertainment industry. The casket of singer James Brown is placed in a horse drawn carriage before it is carried through the streets of Harlem in New York, Thursday, Dec. 28, 2006. Among those observing is Al Sharpton, lower left. (W.A. Bridges Jr./Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File) The casket of singer James Brown is placed in a horse drawn carriage before it is carried through the streets of Harlem in New York, Thursday, Dec. 28, 2006. Among those observing is Al Sharpton, lower left. (W.A. Bridges Jr./Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Singer Michael Jackson, right, speaks to the crowd at Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network headquarters, Saturday, July 6, 2002 in Harlem, New York, as Rev. Sharpton, left, listens. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin, File) Singer Michael Jackson, right, speaks to the crowd at Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network headquarters, Saturday, July 6, 2002 in Harlem, New York, as Rev. Sharpton, left, listens. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton delivers her speech at the National Action Network's Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Public Policy Forum as, from left, Assemblyman Keith Wright, Rev. Al Sharpton, and State Senator David Paterson look on Monday, Jan. 17, 2000, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File) First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton delivers her speech at the National Action Network's Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Public Policy Forum as, from left, Assemblyman Keith Wright, Rev. Al Sharpton, and State Senator David Paterson look on Monday, Jan. 17, 2000, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Ashley Sharpton, the youngest of the reverend’s two daughters, grew up around the House of Justice. She and her older sister, Dominique Sharpton-Bright, were there on the day the late pop icon Michael Jackson visited and spoke at the invitation of their dad.“The magic was palpable,” Ashley recalled.Now, as founder and director of NAN’s youth initiatives, Ashley feels deeper stake in the organization’s future.“It’s time for us to step in and take ownership, literally, of what is needed to maintain the legacy, and to continue the fight,” she told the AP. ___Morrison is AP’s race and ethnicity news editor. Morrison runs the Associated Press team covering race and ethnicity in the U.S. and around the world. He previously was a national writer on the AP’s race and ethnicity news team.