Come Into My House: Marcella Lowery, Actress & Harlem Resident

The series profiles New York City residents who turn ordinary and extraordinary places into refuges of safety, comfort, and community. It focuses on how people respond to housing insecurity, crime, and gentrification when social systems fail to provide needed resources. The series centers culture, spirituality, memory, and creativity as tools for claiming sanctuary, centering joy, and maintaining a sense of self. Marcella Lowery is featured as a long-time Harlem resident known for organizing tenant rights and supporting neighbors through housing court and eviction. Her community presence spans everyday conversations in local businesses and broader social engagement, reflecting a nonjudgmental approach to others.

"“Come Into My House,” a new video series, explores how everyday New Yorkers create spaces of belonging, joy, and resilience in their communities. The first installment features Marcella Lowery, who played Elvin's mother Francine Tibideaux on “The Cosby Show,” and is known locally as the mayor of 116th Street."

"In a city where housing insecurity, crime, and gentrification dominate the headlines, how do everyday New Yorkers create spaces of belonging, joy, and resilience? “Come Into My House” explores the answers through intimate profiles of New York City residents who've transformed both ordinary and extraordinary spaces into refuges of safety, comfort, and community."

"At a time when the city's most vulnerable communities face unprecedented challenges and our social systems often fail to provide the resources communities need to survive, “Come Into My House” will reveal how people use culture, spirituality, memory, and creativity to claim sanctuary, center joy, and maintain a sense of self."

"What most people may not know: this NAACP Image Award nominee has lived in Harlem for almost 40 years, where she's organized for tenants rights and lent emotional support to many neighbors as they navigated housing court and eviction. Coined by many as “The Mayor of 116th Street,” Lowery can strike up a conversation with the young man stocking shelves at the local bodega just as easily as she can talk about Cabernets with the managers at The Winery."

Read at City Limits