Sag Harbor Community Notes, February 23

One of Walter Mosley’s somewhat lesser known yet powerful novels, “The Man in My Basement,” describes an unusual situation. A young black man, Charles Blakey, agrees to rent his basement to an older white man, Anniston Bennet. Bennet insists on living in a cage down there. It seems he wants to atone for racial injustices. The two engage in strained philosophical discussions. The landscape and community described in the novel sound a lot like Sag Harbor. Indeed, Mr. Mosley spent some good 
writing time here and captures the local social dynamics with sensitivity and insight.

Mr. Mosley is just one of a number of prominent black writers with connections to Sag Harbor. A more widely-known novel, “Sag Harbor” by Colson Whitehead portrays one pivotal summer in the life of an awkward... more