EARLY HISTORY : Harlem,
was once a district of quiet farms, where lived a
few Hollanders, French Huguenots, Danes, Swedes, and
Germans. For three decades the Germans were the
dominant element, with the Irish ranking second. The
immigration waves of the 1880s and 1890s brought in
Jews and Italians. Then the African- American began
to come in from downtown, from the South, and from
the West Indies. There are four Harlems: Black,
Spanish, Jewish and Italian. By the 1930s half a
million people crowded into the largest slum area in
New York.
THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN
COMMUNITY : In spite of their early
ancestral history of abuses, cruelties and struggles
to gain their freedom, and defend their rights, the
African-American community has always moved forward
in this country gaining respect and admiration from
the American people. Over the years they have made
an enormous and outstanding contribution of their
war service, talents, knowledge and creative
abilities to the American Culture which are far too
many to name. America's theater and music halls have
been deeply enriched by black entertainers,
many of which have found their way through the
ghettos climbing the entertainment ladder to wealth
and fame. One of the greatest accomplishments that
the African-American community has been able to
witness in this 21st century is the
Inauguration of the first African-American
ever to be elected to the office of President of the United States, Barack Obama.
This great historical moment will take place in the
month of January, 2009.
HARLEM: Historic Heart of
Black New York: Prior to the 1940s, the
African-Americans that lived in Harlem paid 50%
higher rents than those charged for equivalent
dwellings elsewhere in the city. They practiced
their professions and enjoyed comparative freedom
from oppression and prejudice. Famous clubs and
theaters such as the Apollo, a place where stars
were born and legends made, Cotton Club, the Savoy
and the Audubon ballroom flourished .
The Following articles reflecting on his years in
Harlem were written by Thomas Fleming,
age 90, the longtime executive editor of Reporter
Publishing Company, Northern California's leading
chain of African American newspapers.
THE
HARLEM RENAISSANCE AND THE
FLOWERING OF CREATIVITY
Section:
Between 1915-1920, hundreds of thousands of
African-Americans began to migrate at a fast pace from the
"economically depressed rural South to the industrial cities
of the North to take advantage of urban economic opportunities in steel
mills, auto factories and packing houses. Thousands would
also fan out to the black ghettos of New York City,
seeking work in the bars and cabarets. During the
decade, many positive changes were beginning to
occur within Harlem's African-American community.
Black intellectuals began to show a new intense
enthusiasm for their African heritage. A rising
popular interest in African-American literature
sparked the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance
which was one of this nation's greatest outpouring
of music, literature, art and racial pride.
SPANISH HARLEM: (El Barrio)
Also Called East Harlem:
(Under separate page click
here)It clusters around the
110th street station of the Lexington Avenue subway.
East Harlem covers the area between Fifth Avenue and
the East River from 96th to 142nd Street. The bulk
of the population in this area by the 1930s were
circa 50,000 Puerto Ricans, though it is today
becoming increasingly mixed. The Puerto Ricans
settled here because of low rents and freedom from
racial discrimination. One of the sites not to be
missed in El Barrio is the market place "La
Marqueta," that extends along Park Avenue from 111th
to 116th streets. You will find a large variety of
affordable international food and meat products.
As far as I could remember it was there in the
1940s. Restaurants and cafés
offering such irresistible alluring aromas of
numerous Spanish dishes draw much of their
patronage from visitors to the area..n:ection:
Section:
ITALIAN HARLEM:
(Under
separate page click here)Between 1920
until
WWII, Italian Harlem was
located in current day East Harlem between 96th
Street and 125th Street and from Lexington Avenue to
East River. It was home to an estimated 89,000 first
and second generation Italian Americans. East Harlem
became "Italian Harlem" after Italian immigrants
settled there while they were hired to build trolley
tracks on Fifth Avenue. They followed their jobs and
displaced the previous Irish residents who moved to
other parts of the city or to the suburbs. By 1880,
there were 4,000 people living in East Harlem
Section:
JEWISH HARLEM: East
Harlem was one of the major locations for Jewish
residences. Jewish families first started moving to
Harlem with the construction of the elevated
railroads in the 1870s.In historical documents, it
is described as congested and degraded, suggesting
the reality of poverty at the time. By 1921
Harlem had a population of circa 180,000. Many of
the Jewish merchants established their own shops in
La Marqueta, a haberdashery off 115th and Park
Avenue which is still up and running.
