The Apollo Theater on 125th Street; the Hotel Theresa is visible in the background. The Hotel Theresa was a vibrant center of black life in Harlem, New York City, in the mid-20th century

Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, long known as a major African-American cultural and business center. A neighbourhood or neighborhood (see spelling differences) is a geographically localised Community within a larger City, Town or The City of New York In New York City, a borough is a unique form of government which administers the five fundamental constituent parts that make up the consolidated city Manhattan Island, in New York Harbor, is much the largest part of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the Five Boroughs which form the City of New York African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa After being associated for much of the twentieth century with crime and poverty, it is now experiencing social and economic gentrification. In the sociological field, crime is the breach of a rule or Law for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a Punishment Poverty (also called penury) is deprivation of common necessities that determine the quality of life including food clothing shelter and safe Drinking water, and Gentrification, or urban gentrification, is the change in an Urban area associated with the movement of more affluent individuals into a lower-class

Location and boundaries

The boundaries of modern Harlem; some landmarks are noted.

Harlem stretches from the East River to the Hudson River between 155th Street—where it meets Washington Heights—to a ragged border along the south. Washington Heights is a New York City neighborhood in the northern reaches of the borough of Manhattan. Central Harlem begins at 110th Street, at the northern boundary of Central Park; Spanish Harlem extends east Harlem's boundaries south to 96th Street, while in the west it begins north of Upper West Side, which gives an irregular border west of Morningside Avenue. Spanish Harlem, also known as El Barrio and East Harlem, is a low income neighborhood in Harlem area of New York City, 96th Street is a major two-way street in East and West Harlem which is a part of the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from the East River The Upper West Side is a neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River Morningside Avenue is a New York City avenue in the borough of Manhattan along the east side of Morningside Park near Columbia Harlem's boundaries have changed over the years; as Ralph Ellison observed: "Wherever Negroes live uptown is considered Harlem. Ralph Waldo Ellison ( March 1, 1914 &ndash April 16, 1994) was a Scholar and Writer. "

The neighborhood contains a number of smaller, cohesive districts. The following are some examples:

• West Harlem (west of St. Nicholas Avenue and north of 123rd Street)
  • Hamilton Heights, around the Hamilton Grange
  • Manhattanville, north of Morningside Heights
• Central Harlem
  • Mount Morris, extending west from Marcus Garvey Park
  • Strivers' Row, centered on 139th Street
  • Sugar Hill
  • Astor Row, centered on 130th Street
• East Harlem (east of Fifth Avenue)
  • Spanish Harlem, south of 116th Street

History

Before the black migration

The first European settlement in what is now Harlem was by Hendrick de Forest and Dutch settlers in 1637. Saint Nicholas Avenue is a major New York City street It runs north-south between 193rd Street and 111th Streets in the New York City borough of Manhattan Hamilton Heights is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Hamilton Grange National Memorial is a National Park Service site in St Manhattanville is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan bordered on the south by Morningside Heights on the west by Marcus Garvey Park, or Mount Morris Park as it is referred to by the people in the neighborhood is located in Harlem in the New York City borough The term Strivers' Row refers to three rows of Townhouses in western Harlem, in the New York City borough of Manhattan on West Sugar Hill is a Neighborhood in the northern part of Harlem, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Astor Row is the name given to 130th Street between Fifth Avenue and Lenox Avenue in Harlem, in the New York City borough Spanish Harlem, also known as El Barrio and East Harlem, is a low income neighborhood in Harlem area of New York City, The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands ^[1] The area was repeatedly ambushed by Native Americans, who were previously the only inhabitants of the land, leading many Dutch to abandon it. ^[1] The settlement was formalized in 1658 as Nieuw Haarlem (New Haarlem), after the Dutch city of Haarlem, under leadership of Peter Stuyvesant. in the past usually Harlem in English is a city in the Netherlands. Peter Stuyvesant (originally Pieter or Petrus, Peter is never mentioned in historical records (c ^[2] The Indian trail to Harlem's lush bottomland meadows was rebuilt by eleven black laborers on behalf of the Dutch West India Company,^[3] and eventually developed into the Boston Post Road. Dutch West India Company ( Dutch: Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie or GWC; English: Chartered West India Company was a company of The Boston Post Road was a system of Post roads from New York City to Boston Massachusetts, containing some of the first major highways in the United In 1664, the English took control of the New Netherland colony and anglicized the name of the town to Harlem. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland New Netherland (Dutch Nieuw-Nederland, Latin Novum Belgium or Nova Belgica) 1614–1674 is the name of the former Dutch territory on the eastern coast On September 16, 1776, the Battle of Harlem Heights, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Harlem or Battle of Harlem Plain, was fought in western Harlem around the Hollow Way (now West 125th St. Events 1400 - Owain Glyndŵr is declared Prince of Wales by his followers Year 1776 ( MDCCLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Positions The British On the evening of the 15th the British were encamped in what is today Central Park, around 96th street ), with conflicts on Morningside Heights to the south and Harlem Heights to the north. Morningside Heights is a neighborhood of the Borough of Manhattan in New York City and is chiefly known as the home of institutions such as Barnard

In 1765, Harlem was a small agricultural town not far from New York City.

Harlem was "a synonym for elegant living through a good part of the nineteenth century. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar "^[4] In the early years of that century, Harlem remained a place of farms, such as James Roosevelt's, east of Fifth Avenue between 110th and 125th Streets. As late as 1820, the community had only 91 families, one church, one school, and one library. ^[4] Wealthy farmers, called "patroons,"^[4] maintained country estates largely on the heights overlooking the Hudson River. Service connecting the suburb of Harlem with New York was by steamboat on the East River, an hour and a half's passage, sometimes interrupted when the river froze in winter, or else by stagecoach along the Boston Post Road, which descended from McGown's Pass (now in Central Park) and skirted the salt marshes around 110th Street, to pass through Harlem. An 1811 New York City planning commission opined that Harlem would not be developed for over a hundred years. ^[4] The New York and Harlem Railroad (now Metro North) was incorporated in 1831, to better link the city with the suburb, starting at a depot at East 23rd Street. The New York and Harlem Railroad (now the Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line) was one of the First railroads in the United States, and possibly the first The Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company, or MTA Metro-North Railroad, or more commonly Metro-North, is a Suburban commuter rail service South San Jose (cropjpg||thumb|A suburban development in San Jose California. 23rd Street is a large thoroughfare across the New York City borough of Manhattan. It was extended 127 miles north to a railroad junction in Columbia County at Chatham, New York by 1851. There is also a Town of Columbia in New York Columbia County is a County located in the U Chatham is a Town in Columbia County, United States. New York, United States. In the years between about 1850 and 1870, the village of Harlem declined. Many large estates, including the Hamilton Grange of Alexander Hamilton, were auctioned off as the soil was depleted and crop yields fell. Hamilton Grange National Memorial is a National Park Service site in St The land became occupied by Irish squatters, whose presence further depressed property values. ^[4] The impoverished village was taken over by the city of New York in 1873. ^[2]

125th Street station on the 7th Av. IRT Line

Recovery came when elevated railroads were extended to Harlem in 1880. The IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (also known as the Seventh Avenue Line) is a New York City Subway line A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway or metro(politan system is an electric passenger railway With the construction of the els, urbanized development occurred very rapidly, with townhouses, apartments, and tenements springing up practically overnight. Developers anticipated that the planned Lexington Avenue subway would ease transportation to lower Manhattan, and feared that new housing regulations would be enacted in 1901, so they rushed to complete as many new buildings as possible before these came into force. ^[5] Early entrepreneurs had grandiose schemes for Harlem: Polo was actually played at the original Polo Grounds, later to become home of the New York Giants baseball team, and Oscar Hammerstein I opened the Harlem Opera House on East 125th Street in 1889. Polo is a team sport played outdoors on Horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team The Polo Grounds was the name given to four different Stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City used by Baseball 's New York Giants The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in, that currently play in the National League West Division. Baseball is a Bat-and-ball Sport played between two teams of nine players each Oscar Hammerstein I ( 8 May 1847 - 1 August 1919) was a Theater impresario in New York City. In 1893, Harlem Monthly Magazine wrote that "it is evident to the most superficial observer that the centre of fashion, wealth, culture, and intelligence, must, in the near future, be found in the ancient and honorable village of Harlem. " However, the construction glut and a delay in the building of the subway led to a fall in real estate prices which attracted Eastern European Jews to Harlem in large numbers, reaching a peak of 150,000 in 1917. Presaging their later response to the arrival of black Harlemites, existing landowners tried to stop Jews from moving into the neighborhood. At least one rental sign declared “Keine Juden und Keine Hunde” (No Jews and no dogs). ^[6] Jewish Harlem, however, was an ephemeral entity, and by 1930, only 5,000 Jews remained. The area now known as Spanish Harlem became occupied by Italians. Spanish Harlem, also known as El Barrio and East Harlem, is a low income neighborhood in Harlem area of New York City, Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Italian Harlem is now gone as well, though traces lasted into the 1970s, in the area around Pleasant Avenue. In the early 20th century, Harlem was also home to a significant Irish population, and a large group of Finns. Irish Americans (Gael-Mheiriceánach are citizens of the United States who can claim ancestry originating in Ireland. Finnish Americans are Americans of Finnish descent who currently number about 700000 ^[2]

Arrival of black people

Marcus Garvey Park

Small groups of black people lived in Harlem as early as 1880, especially in the area around 125th Street and "Negro tenements" on West 130th Street. Marcus Garvey Park, or Mount Morris Park as it is referred to by the people in the neighborhood is located in Harlem in the New York City borough The mass migration of blacks into the area began in 1904, thanks to another real estate crash, the worsening of conditions for blacks elsewhere in the city, and the leadership of a black real estate entrepreneur named Phillip Payton, Jr. Harlem experienced another real estate bust in 1904-1905; after the collapse of the 1890s, new speculation and construction started up again in 1903 and the resulting glut of housing led to a crash in values that eclipsed the late-19th century slowdown. ^[5] Landlords could not find white renters for their properties, so Philip Payton stepped in to bring blacks. His company, the Afro-American Realty Company, was almost single-handedly responsible for migration of blacks from their previous neighborhoods,^[7] the Tenderloin, San Juan Hill (now the site of Lincoln Center), and Hell's Kitchen in the west 40s and 50s. The Tenderloin was a once-seedy neighborhood in the heart of the New York City borough of Manhattan. San Juan Hill was a predominantly African American Neighborhood of Tenements on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton and Midtown West, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City that includes roughly the area between ^[8][9] The move to northern Manhattan was driven in part by fears that anti-black riots such as those that had occurred in the Tenderloin in 1900^[10] and in San Juan Hill in 1905^[4] might recur. In addition, a number of tenements that had been occupied by blacks in the west 30s were destroyed at this time to make way for the construction of the original Penn Station. Pennsylvania Station (commonly known as “Penn Station”) is the major intercity rail station and a major Commuter rail hub in New York City

In 1907, black churches began to move uptown. St. Philip's Episcopal Church, for one, purchased a block of buildings on West 135th Street to rent to members of its congregation. ^[11] During World War I, black laborers were actively recruited to leave the southern United States and work in northern factories, thinly staffed because of the war. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All ^[7] So many came that it "threaten[ed] the very existence of some of the leading industries of Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama. "^[12] Many came to Harlem. By 1920, central Harlem was predominantly black and by 1930, blacks lived as far south as Central Park, at 110th Street. Central Park is a large public Urban park in New York City, with about twenty-five million visitors annually The expansion was fueled primarily by an influx of blacks from the West Indies and the southern U. The Caribbean (ˌkærəˡbiən kæ'rəbiən Cariben|Caraïben or Caraïben; Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Caribe is a Region consisting S. states, especially Virginia, South and North Carolina, and Georgia. The Commonwealth of Virginia ( is an American state South Carolina ( is a state in the southern region ( Deep South) of the United States of America. North Carolina ( is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States The State of Georgia ( is a state in the United States and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule As blacks moved in, white residents left; between 1920 and 1930, 118,792 white people left the neighborhood and 87,417 blacks arrived. White flight is a term for the demographic trend in which working and Middle-class White people move away from Suburbs

Between 1907 and 1915,^[13] some white residents of Harlem resisted the neighborhood's change, especially once the swelling black population pressed west of Lenox Avenue, which served as an informal color line until the early 1920s. Lenox Avenue / Malcolm X Boulevard is the primary north-south route through Harlem in the upper portion of the New York City borough ^[7] Some made pacts not to sell to or rent to blacks. ^[14] Others tried to buy property and evict black tenants, but the Afro-American Realty Company retaliated by buying other property and evicting whites. They also attempted to convince banks to deny mortgages to black buyers, but soon gave up. Mortgage discrimination or mortgage lending discrimination is the practice of banks governments or other lending institutions denying Loans to one or more groups ^[15]

These buildings on West 135 Street were among the first in Harlem to be occupied entirely by blacks; in 1921, #135 became home to Young's Book Exchange, the first "Afrocentric" bookstore in Harlem. ^[11]

"Ghettoization"

Employment among black New Yorkers fell as some traditionally black businesses, including domestic service and some types of manual labor, were taken over by other ethnic groups, or the industries in question left New York City altogether. A ghetto is described as a "portion of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social legal or economic pressure The entertainment industry was a major employer in Harlem but relied on income from wealthier whites,^[2] whose numbers dropped significantly after Harlemites rioted in 1935, and who stopped coming to Harlem almost altogether after a second round of riots in 1943. Many Harlemites found work in the military or in the Brooklyn shipyards during World War II,^[16] but the neighborhood declined rapidly once the war ended. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

There was little investment in private homes or businesses in the neighborhood between 1911 and the 1990s. However, the unwillingness of landlords elsewhere in the city to rent to black tenants, together with a significant increase in the black population of New York, meant that rents in Harlem were for many years higher than rents elsewhere in the city, even as the housing stock decayed. Lease Renting is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary In 1920, one-room apartments in central Harlem rented for $40 to whites or $100-$125 to blacks. ^[17] In the late 1920s, a typical white working class family in New York paid $6. 67 per month per room, while blacks in Harlem paid $9. 50 for the same space. ^[18] The worse the accommodations and more desperate the renter, the higher the rents would be. ^[19] This pattern would persist through the 1960s; in 1965, CERGE reported that a one room apartment in Harlem rented for $50-$74, while comparable apartments rented for $30-$49 in white slums. ^[20] The high rents encouraged some property speculators to engage in block busting, a practice whereby they would acquire a single property on a block and sell or rent it to blacks with great publicity. Blockbusting was a practice used by Real estate agents and developers in the United States to encourage white property owners to sell their homes by giving the impression that Other landowners would panic, and the speculators would then buy additional houses relatively cheaply. ^[21] These houses could then be rented profitably to blacks. ^[22]

One of the few condemned buildings that last in Harlem, photographed on May 14, 2005.

The high cost of space forced people to live in close quarters, and the population density of Harlem in these years was stunning—over 215,000 per square mile in the 1920s. Population density (in agriculture standing stock and Standing crop) is a measurement of Population per unit area or unit volume By comparison, Manhattan as a whole had a population density under 70,000 per square mile in 2000. Manhattan Island, in New York Harbor, is much the largest part of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the Five Boroughs which form the City of New York ^[23] The same forces that allowed landlords to charge more for Harlem space also enabled them to maintain it less, and many of the residential buildings in Harlem fell into disrepair. The 1960 census showed only 51% of housing in Harlem to be "sound," as opposed to 85% elsewhere in New York City. ^[24] In 1968, the New York City Buildings Department received 500 complaints daily of rats in Harlem buildings, falling plaster, lack of heat, and unsanitary plumbing. ^[4] Tenants were sometimes to blame; some would strip wiring and fixtures from their buildings to sell, throw garbage in hallways and airshafts, or otherwise deteriorate the properties which they lived in or visited. ^[25]

Harlem has many townhouses, such as these in the Mount Morris Historic District.

Inadequate housing contributed to racial unrest and health problems. However, the lack of development also preserved buildings from the 1870-1910 building boom, and Harlem as a result has many of the finest original townhouses in New York. This includes work by many significant architects of the day, including McKim, Mead, and White; James Renwick; William Tuthill; Charles Buek; and Francis Kimball. McKim Mead and White was a prominent architectural firm in the eastern United States at the turn of the twentieth century There are several people named James Renwick. Jim Renwick (1953– Scottish rugby player Jim Renwick (Canadian politician (1917&ndash1984 William Burnet Tuthill (February 11 1855 - August 25 1929 was an American architect celebrated for designing New York City's Carnegie Hall. Charles Buek was a developer and Architect in New York City in the late 19th and early 20th centuries Francis Hatch Kimball (1845-1919 was an American Architect best known for his work on Skyscrapers in lower Manhattan including the still extant Corbin Building

As the building stock decayed, landlords converted many buildings into "single room occupancies," or SROs, essentially private homeless shelters. The expression " single room occupancy " or more commonly "SRO" refers to a building that houses people in single rooms In many cases, the income from these buildings could not support the fines and city taxes charged to their owners, or the houses suffered damage that would have been expensive to fix, and the buildings were abandoned. In the 1970s, this process accelerated to the point that Harlem, for the first time since before WWI, had a lower population density than the rest of Manhattan. Between 1970 and 1980, for example, Frederick Douglass Boulevard between 110th Street and 125th Street in central Harlem lost 42% of its population and 23% of its remaining housing stock. ^[26] By 1987, 65% of the buildings in Harlem were owned by the City of New York,^[27][28] and many had become empty shells, convenient centers for drug dealing and other antisocial activity. The lack of habitable buildings and falling population reduced tax rolls and made the neighborhood even less attractive to residential and retail investment.

The doorframe of a brownstone designed by William Tuthill in the Mount Morris Historical District in Harlem. William Burnet Tuthill (February 11 1855 - August 25 1929 was an American architect celebrated for designing New York City's Carnegie Hall.

Recent history

After years of false starts, Harlem began to see rapid gentrification in the late 1990s. Gentrification, or urban gentrification, is the change in an Urban area associated with the movement of more affluent individuals into a lower-class This was driven by changing federal and city policies, including fierce crime-fighting and a concerted effort to develop the retail corridor on 125th Street. Starting in 1994, the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone funneled money into new developments. The Empowerment Zone Program consists of three congressional designations. ^[28] Finally, wealthier New Yorkers, having gentrified every other part of Manhattan and much of Brooklyn, had nowhere else to go. The number of housing units in Harlem increased 14% between 1990 and 2000^[28] and the rate of increase has been much more rapid in recent years. Property values in Central Harlem increased nearly 300% during the 1990s, while the rest of the City saw only a 12% increase. ^[28] Even empty shells of buildings in the neighborhood were, as of 2007, routinely selling for nearly $1,000,000 each. ^[29] Former U. S. President Bill Clinton has rented office space at 55 West 125th Street since completing his second term in the White House in 2001. William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III, August 19 1946 served as the forty-second President of the United States See also Executive Office of the President of the United States The White House, formerly known as the Executive Mansion, is the Official residence ^[30]

Culture and environment

As a center of black life

125th Street between Park and Madison Avenue

In the 1920s, Harlem was the center of a flowering of black culture that became known as the Harlem Renaissance. Park Avenue (formerly Fourth Avenue) is a wide boulevard that carries north and southbound traffic in New York City Borough of Manhattan The Harlem Renaissance was named after the anthology The New Negro, edited by Alain Locke in 1925 The Harlem Renaissance was a time of amazing artistic production, but ironically, blacks were sometimes excluded from viewing what their peers were creating. Some jazz venues, including most famously the Cotton Club, where Duke Ellington played, were restricted to whites only. Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29 1899 &ndash May 24 1974 was an American Composer, Pianist, and Bandleader. Others, including the Renaissance Ballroom and the Savoy Ballroom, were integrated. The Savoy Ballroom located in Harlem, New York City, was a medium sized ballroom for Music and public Dancing that was in operation from 1926

This period of Harlem's history has been highly romanticized since the 1920s, though it was the time when the neighborhood began to become a slum, and some of the storied traditions of the Harlem Renaissance were driven by poverty, crime, or other social ills. A slum, as defined by the United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security For example, in this period, Harlem became known for "rent parties," informal gatherings in which bootleg alcohol was served, and music played. Neighbors paid to attend, and thus enabled the host to make his or her monthly rent. Though picturesque, these parties were thrown out of necessity. Further, over a quarter of black households in Harlem made their monthly rent by taking in lodgers, who sometimes brought bad habits or even crime that disrupted the lives of respectable families. Urban reformers campaigned to eliminate the "lodger evil" but the problem got worse before it got better; in 1940, 40% of black families in Harlem were taking in lodgers. ^[31]

The high rents and poor maintenance that Harlem residents suffered through much of the 20th century was not merely the product of racism by white landlords; though precise statistics are not available, wealthier blacks purchased land in Harlem,^[7] and even by 1920, a significant portion of the neighborhood was owned by blacks. ^[5][32] By the late 1960s, 60% of the businesses in Harlem responded to surveys reporting to be owned by blacks, and an overwhelming fraction of new businesses were black-owned after that time. ^[33]

In 1928, the first effort at housing reform was attempted in Harlem with the construction of the Paul Lawrence Dunbar Houses, backed by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. These were intended to give people of modest means the opportunity to live in and, over time, purchase houses of their own. Constructed in 1926 the Dunbar Apartments are a set of buildings in North-Central Harlem in New York City, built by John D John Davison Rockefeller Jr (January 29 1874 &ndash May 11 1960 was a major Philanthropist and a pivotal member of the prominent Rockefeller family. The Great Depression hit shortly after the buildings opened, and the experiment failed. They were followed in 1936 by the Harlem River Houses, a more modest experiment in housing projects. Harlem River Houses are located at 151st street and the Harlem River Drive in the New York City borough of Manhattan, and covers. ^[5] And by 1964, nine giant public housing projects had been constructed in the neighborhood, housing over 41,000 people. ^[24]

Stately Harlem apartment buildings adjacent to Morningside Park. Morningside Park is a New York City public Park in the northern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan.

The Apollo Theater opened on 125th Street on January 26, 1934, in a former burlesque house. Events 1340 - King Edward III of England is declared King of France. Year 1934 ( MCMXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Burlesque is theatrical entertainment of broad and parodic humor which usually consists of comic skits (and sometimes a strip tease) The Savoy Ballroom, on Lenox Avenue, was a renowned venue for swing dancing, and was immortalized in a popular song of the era, Stompin' At The Savoy. The term " swing dance " commonly refers to a group of dances that developed concurrently with the swing style of Jazz music in the 1920s '30s and '40s although In the 1920s and 1930s, between Lenox and Seventh avenues in central Harlem, over 125 entertainment places operated, including speakeasies, cellars, lounges, cafes, taverns, supper clubs, rib joints, theaters, dance halls, and bars and grills. ^[34]

Though Harlem musicians and writers are particularly well remembered, the community has also hosted numerous actors and theater companies, including the New Heritage Repertory Theater,^[2] National Black Theater, Lafayette Players, Harlem Suitcase Theater, The Negro Playwrights, American Negro Theater, and the Rose McClendon Players. ^[35] In 1936, Orson Welles produced his famous black Macbeth at the Lafayette Theater in Harlem. George Orson Welles (May 6 1915 – October 10 1985 was an Academy Award -winning director, writer actor and producer for film stage radio and television Macbeth is among the best-known of William Shakespeare 's plays, and is his shortest tragedy, believed to have been written some time between ^[36] Grand theaters from the late 19th and early 20th centuries were torn down or converted to churches, and Harlem lacked any permanent performance space until the creation of the Gatehouse Theater in an old pumping station on 135th Street in 2006. ^[37]

In the post-World War II era, Harlem ceased to be home to a majority of NYC's blacks,^[38] but it remained the cultural and political capital of black New York, and possibly black America. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including ^[39][40] The character of the community changed in the years after the war, as middle class blacks left for the outer boroughs (primarily The Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn) and suburbs. Brooklyn (named after the Dutch town Breukelen) is one of the five boroughs of New York City. The percentage of Harlem that was black peaked in 1950, at 98. 2%. ^[41] Thereafter, Hispanics and, more recently, white residents have increased their share.

Church of Nazareth, 144th Street and Hamilton Terrace. The building is currently a burned-out shell.

Black Harlem has always been religious, and the area is home to over 400 churches. ^[42] Major sects represented include Baptists, Methodists (generally operating under the name African Methodist Episcopalian, or "AME"), Episcopalians, and Roman Catholic. Baptist is a term describing individuals belonging to a Baptist church or a Baptist denomination. Methodism is a movement within Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the " AME Church " is a Christian denomination founded by Bishop Richard Allen in Philadelphia The Episcopal Church is the official name of the Province of the Anglican Communion in the United States. The Nation of Islam and splinter Black Muslim groups maintain mosques in Harlem, and the Mormon church established a chapel at 128th Street in 2005. The Nation of Islam ( NOI) (أمة الإسلام Ummah al-Islāmu) is a group founded in Detroit, Michigan, For centuries Islam has spread through the African diaspora. While many in the diaspora adhere to more traditional forms of the religion such as Shia and Sunni The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the fourth largest Christian denomination in the United States and the largest and most well-known Many of the area's churches are "storefront churches", which operate out of an empty store, or a building's basement, or a converted brownstone townhouse. A storefront church is a church housed in a storefront building These smaller organizations may have congregations of 15 or 20 people, but there are hundreds of them. ^[43] Judaism, too, maintains a presence in Harlem, including The Old Broadway Synagogue, Temple Healing from Heaven, and Temple of Joy. There is also a non-mainstream synagogue of black Jews known as Commandment Keepers, based in a synagogue at 1 West 123rd Street. The " Commandment Keepers Holy Church of the Living God" are a sect of Black Jews founded in 1919 by Nigerian born Rabbi Wentworth Arthur Matthew, who believe The Abyssinian Baptist Church has been a particularly potent organization, long influential because of its large congregation, and recently wealthy as a result of its extensive real estate holdings. Abyssinian Baptist Church is among the most famous of the many churches in Harlem, New York City

Especially in the years before World War II, Harlem produced popular Christian "cult" leaders, including George Wilson Becton and Father Divine. George Wilson Becton was the "first of the colorful cult leaders in Harlem. George Baker ( c. 1880 September 10 1965) also known as Father Divine, was an African American spiritual leader from ^[44]

Since 1965, the community has been home to the Harlem Boys Choir, a famous touring choir and education program for young boys, most of whom are black. The Boys Choir of Harlem (also known as the Harlem Boys Choir) is a Choir located in Harlem, New York City, United States. The Girls Choir of Harlem was founded in 1988. Manhattan's contribution to hip-hop stems largely from the artists who have Harlem roots, including Kurtis Blow and P. Diddy. Hip hop is a cultural movement which developed in New York City in the 1970s primarily among African Americans and Latinos. Curtis Walker (born 9 August 1959) better known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is one of the first commercially successful rappers and Sean John Combs (born November 4 1969 known by his Stage names Puff Daddy, P Harlem is also the birthplace of popular hip-hop dances such as the Harlem shake, toe wap, and Chicken Noodle Soup. The Harlem shake, originally called the albee, became mainstream in 2001 when G-Dep featured the Harlem shake in his music video Let's Get It " Chicken Noodle Soup " is a song by DJ Webstar featuring Young B

Since the arrival of blacks in Harlem, the neighborhood has suffered from unemployment rates higher than the New York average (generally more than twice as high),^[45] and high mortality rates as well. Unemployment occurs when a person is available to work and currently seeking work but the person is without work. In both cases, the numbers for men have been consistently worse than the numbers for women. Unemployment and poverty in the neighborhood resisted private and governmental initiatives to ameliorate them. In the 1960s, uneducated blacks could find jobs more easily than educated ones could, confounding efforts to improve the lives of people who lived in the neighborhood through education. ^[46] Infant mortality was 124 per thousand in 1928 (twice the rate for whites). ^[47] By 1940, infant mortality in Harlem was 5% (one black infant in twenty would die), still much higher than white, and the death rate from disease generally was twice that of the rest of New York. Tuberculosis was the main killer, and four times as prevalent among Harlem blacks than among New York's white population. Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or T u' b' erculosis Bacillus --> is a common ^[47] A 1990 study reported that 15-year-old black women in Harlem had a 65% chance of surviving to age 65, about the same as women in India. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Black men in Harlem, on the other hand, had a 37% chance of surviving to age 65, about the same as men in Angola. Angola, officially the Republic of Angola (República de Angola Pronounced ʁɛˈpublikɐ dɨ ɐ̃ˈgɔlɐ Repubilika ya Ngola is a country in south-central ^[48] Infectious diseases and diseases of the circulatory system were to blame, with a variety of contributing factors including the deep-fried foods traditional to the neighborhood, which may contribute to heart disease. Soul food is an American Cuisine, a selection of Foods and is the traditional cuisine of African-Americans of the Southern United States and of

Harlem has one of the highest asthma rates in the United States. Asthma is a chronic Condition involving the Respiratory system in which the airways occasionally constrict become inflamed, and are Increased risk of asthma may be brought about by high particulate matter from the diesel emissions of buses and trucks, which levels are higher in Harlem than elsewhere in New York City. Particulates, alternatively referred to as particulate matter (PM or fine particles, are tiny particles of solid or liquid suspended in a gas ^[49]

Crime

Not surprisingly, as a neighborhood with a long history of marginalization and economic deprivation, Harlem has long been associated with crime.

In the 1920s, the Jewish and Italian mafia played a major role in running the whites-only nightclubs in the neighborhood and the speakeasies that catered to a white audience. Mobster Dutch Schultz controlled all liquor production and distribution in Harlem in the 1920s. Dutch Schultz ( August 6, 1902 &ndash October 24, 1935) was a New York City -area gangster of the 1920s and 1930s

Rather than compete with the established mobs, black gangsters concentrated on the "policy racket," also called the Numbers game, or "bolita" in Spanish Harlem. The numbers game, or policy racket, is an illegal Lottery played mostly in poor neighborhoods in U Spanish Harlem, also known as El Barrio and East Harlem, is a low income neighborhood in Harlem area of New York City, This was gambling scheme similar to a lottery that could be played, illegally, from countless locations around Harlem. According to Francis Ianni, "By 1925 there were thirty black policy banks in Harlem, several of them large enough to collect bets in an area of twenty city blocks and across three or four avenues. "^[50]

By the early 1950s, the total money at play amounted to billions of dollars, and the police force had been thoroughly corrupted by bribes from numbers bosses. ^[51] These bosses became financial powerhouses, providing capital for loans for those who could not qualify for them from traditional financial institutions, and investing in legitimate businesses and real estate. Remarkably, one of the powerful early numbers bosses was a woman, Madame Stephanie St. Clair. Stephanie St Clair ( 1886 – 1969) was a legendery Bookmaker in Manhattan 's Harlem neighborhood

Shoes hanging from a lamppost in Harlem

The popularity of playing the numbers waned with the introduction of the New York State lottery, which has higher payouts and is legal, but the practice continues on a smaller scale among those who prefer the numbers tradition or who prefer to trust their local numbers bank over the state. Lotteries in the United States are run by individual jurisdictions

1940 statistics show about 100 murders per year in Harlem, "but rape is very rare. "^[31] By 1950, essentially all of the whites had left Harlem and by 1960, the black middle class had gone. At the same time, control of organized crime shifted from Jewish and Italian syndicates to local black, Puerto Rican, and Cuban groups that were somewhat less formally organized. ^[50] At the time of the 1964 riots, the drug addiction rate in Harlem was ten times higher than the New York City average, and twelve times higher than the United States as a whole. Of the 30,000 drug addicts then estimated to live in New York City, 15,000 to 20,000 lived in Harlem. Property crime was pervasive, and the murder rate was six times higher than New York's average. Half of the children in Harlem grew up with one parent, or none, and lack of supervision contributed to juvenile delinquency; between 1953 and 1962, the crime rate among young people increased throughout New York City, but was consistently 50% higher in Harlem than in New York City as a whole. ^[52]

Injecting heroin grew in popularity in Harlem through the 1950s and 1960s, though the use of this drug then leveled off. In the 1980s, use of crack cocaine became widespread, which produced collateral crime as addicts stole to finance their purchasing of additional drugs, and as dealers fought for the right to sell in particular regions, or over deals gone bad. Crack cocaine or crack is a solid smokable form of Cocaine. It is a freebase form of cocaine that can be made using baking soda ( Sodium bicarbonate

In 1981, 6,500 robberies were reported in Harlem. The number dropped to 4,800 in 1990, perhaps due to an increase in the number of police assigned to the neighborhood. With the end of the "crack wars" in the mid 90s and with the initiation of aggressive policing under mayor Rudolph Giuliani, crime in Harlem plummeted. The crack epidemic refers to a six year period between 1984 and 1990 in the United States during which there was a huge surge in the use of Crack cocaine in major KBE Per, "Postnominal letters should be included when they are issued by a country or organization the subject has been closely associated with In 2000, 1,700 robberies were reported. There have been similar changes in all categories of crimes tracked by the New York City Police Department. ^[53] In the 32nd Precinct, for example, in Central Harlem, between 1993 and 2004, the murder rate dropped 68%, the rape rate dropped 70%, the robbery rate dropped 60%, burglary dropped 81%, and the total number of crime complaints dropped 62%. ^[54]

Politics and activism in Harlem

The Red, black and green flag of the Universal Negro Improvement Association

1910–1945, as Harlem became the capital of black America

Soon after blacks began to move into Harlem, the community became known as "the spiritual home of the Negro protest movement. The Pan-African flag, also referred to as the UNIA flag, Afro-American flag or Black Liberation Flag, is a tri-color Flag consisting of three The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA is an international self-help organization founded by Marcus Garvey. "^[55] The NAACP became active in Harlem in 1910 and Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association in 1916. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is one of the oldest and most influential Civil rights organizations Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr, National Hero of Jamaica (17 August 1887 10 June 1940 was a Publisher, Journalist, Entrepreneur, Black nationalist The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA is an international self-help organization founded by Marcus Garvey. Year 1916 ( MCMXVI) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year The NAACP chapter there soon grew to be the largest in the country. Activist A. Philip Randolph lived in Harlem and published the radical magazine The Messenger starting in 1917. Asa Philip Randolph ( April 15 1889 &ndash May 16 1979) was a prominent twentieth century African-American civil rights leader It was from Harlem that he organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP was a Labor union in the United States organized by the predominantly African-American Pullman Porters W.E.B. DuBois lived and published in Harlem in the 1920s, as did James Weldon Johnson and Marcus Garvey. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (duːˈbɔɪz ( February 23, 1868 August 27, 1963) was an American Civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson ( June 17, 1871 – June 26, 1938) was an American author politician diplomat critic journalist poet anthologist

The earliest activism by blacks to change the situation in Harlem itself grew out of the Great Depression, with the "Don't Buy Where You Can't Work" movement. ^[44] This was the ultimately successful campaign to force retail shops on 125th Street to hire black employees. Boycotts were originally organized by the Citizens' League for Fair Play in June 1934 against Blumstein's Department Store on 125th Street. A boycott is a form of Consumer activism involving the act of voluntarily abstaining from using buying or dealing with someone or some other organization as an expression of The store soon agreed to more fully integrate its staff. This success emboldened Harlem residents, and protests continued under other leadership, including that of preacher and later congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., seeking to change hiring practices at other stores, to effect the hiring of more black workers, or the hiring of members of particular protesting groups. Rev Adam Clayton Powell Jr ( November 29 1908 &ndash April 4 1972) was an American politician who represented Harlem ^[56]

Communism gained a following in Harlem in the 1930s, and continued to play a role through the 1940s. ^[55] 1935 saw the first of Harlem's five riots. The Harlem Riot of 1935 was Harlem 's first Race riot, sparked off by rumors of the beating of a teenage shoplifter. The incident started with a (false) rumor that a boy caught stealing from a store on 125th Street had been killed by the police. By the time it was over, 600 stores had been looted and three men were dead. The same year saw internationalism in Harlem politics, as Harlemites responded to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia by holding giant rallies, signing petitions and sending an appeal to the League of Nations. NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page The League of Nations was an International organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920 ^[57] Such internationalism continued intermittently, including broad demonstrations in favor of Egyptian president Nasser after the Suez invasion of 1956. Gamal Abdel Nasser (جمال عبد الناصر Gamāl ‘Abd an-Nāṣir; - January 15 1918 September 28 1970) was the second President ^[58]

The neighborhood enjoyed few benefits from the massive public works projects in New York under Robert Moses in the 1930s, and as a result had fewer parks and public recreational sites than other New York neighborhoods. Robert Moses ( December 18 1888 – July 29 1981) was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Of the 255 playgrounds Moses built in New York City, he placed only one in Harlem. ^[59]

In 1937, the Harlem River Houses, America's first federally subsidized housing project, were opened. Harlem River Houses are located at 151st street and the Harlem River Drive in the New York City borough of Manhattan, and covers. Other massive housing projects would follow, with tens of thousands of units constructed over the next twenty years. ^[60]

Black Harlemites took positions in the elected political infrastructure of New York starting in 1941 with the election of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. to the City Council. He was easily elected to Congress when a congressional district was placed in Harlem in 1944, leaving his City Council seat to be won by another black Harlemite, Benjamin J. Davis. Benjamin J "Ben" Davis (September 8 1903 - August 22 1964 was an African-American communist who was elected to the city council of New York City representing Ironically, Harlem's political strength soon deteriorated, as Clayton Powell, Jr. spent his time in Washington or his vacation home in Puerto Rico, and Davis was jailed in 1951 for violations of the Smith Act. Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act ( of 1940 is a United States federal statute that makes it a criminal offense for anyone to knowingly or willfully advocate ^[61]

The year 1943 saw the second Harlem riot. A black soldier knocked down a policeman who then shot him. An onlooker shouted that the soldier had been killed, and this news spread throughout the black community and provoked rioting. A force of 6,600, made up of city police, military police and civil patrolmen, in addition to 8,000 State Guardsmen and 1,500 civilian volunteers was required to end the violence. Hundreds of businesses were destroyed and looted, the property damage approaching $225,000. Overall, six people died and 185 were injured. Five hundred people were arrested in connection with the riot.

1946–1969, the civil rights movement

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Harlem was the scene of a series of rent strikes by neighborhood tenants, led by local activist Jesse Gray, together with the Congress of Racial Equality, Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited (HARYOU), and other groups. A rent strike is a method of protest commonly employed against large Landlords In a rent strike a group of Tenants come together and agree to refuse to pay their Jesse Gray (1924?-1988 was a leader of Rent strikes in Harlem in the 1960s and served as a New York State Assemblyman from 1972 to 1974 Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited, more commonly called HARYOU was a social activism organization founded by Dr These groups wanted the city to force landlords to improve the quality of housing by bringing them up to code, to take action against rats and roaches, to provide heat during the winter, and to keep prices in line with already-existing rent control regulations. Rats are various medium sized long-tailed Rodents of the superfamily Muroidea Cockroaches (or simply "roaches" are Insects of the order Blattaria. According to the Metropolitan Council on Housing, in the mid-1960s, about 25% of the city's landlords charged more for rent than allowed by law. ^[62]

Many groups mobilized in Harlem in the 1960s, fighting for better schools, jobs, and housing. Some were peaceful and others advocated violence. By the early 1960s, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) had offices on 125th street, and acted as negotiator for the community with the city, especially in times of racial unrest. They pressed for civilian review boards to hear complaints of police abuse, a demand that was ultimately met. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. had become chairman of the House Committee of Education and Labor at the start of the 1960s, and was able to use this position to direct federal funds to various development projects back home. ^[63]

The influence of the southern nonviolent protest movement was muted in Harlem. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the black leader most respected in Harlem,^[64][65] but at least two dozen groups of black nationalists also operated in New York. Martin Luther King Jr ( January 15, 1929 April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, Activist and prominent leader The most important of these by far was the Nation of Islam, whose Temple Number Seven was run by Malcolm X from 1952 - 1963. The Nation of Islam ( NOI) (أمة الإسلام Ummah al-Islāmu) is a group founded in Detroit, Michigan, Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little; May 19 1925 February 21 1965 also known as El-Hajj Malik El- Shabazz, was an African American ^[66] Malcolm was assassinated in the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights in 1965, and the neighborhood remains an important center for the Nation of Islam. The Audubon Ballroom was a theatre and ballroom located in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, north of Harlem. Washington Heights is a New York City neighborhood in the northern reaches of the borough of Manhattan.

The largest public works projects in Harlem in these years was the construction of public housing, with the largest concentration in East Harlem. ^[67] Typically, existing structures were torn down and replaced with city-designed and managed properties that would, in theory, present a safer and more pleasant environment than those available from private landlords. Ultimately, community objections halted the construction of new projects. ^[60]

From the mid-20th century, the terrible quality of local schools has been a source of distress. In the 1960s, about 75% of Harlem students tested under the grade levels in reading skills, and 80% tested under grade level in math. ^[68] In 1964, residents of Harlem staged two boycotts to call attention to the terrible quality of local schools. In central Harlem, 92% of students stayed home. ^[69] In 1977, Isiah Robinson, president of the New York City Board of Education, was quoted as saying that "the quality of education in Harlem has degenerated to the level of a custodial service. "^[2] As of May 2006, Harlem is the heart of the charter schools movement in Manhattan; of the 25 charter schools operating in Manhattan, 18 are in Harlem. Charter schools are elementary or secondary schools in the United States that receive public money but ^[70]

In 1963, Inspector Lloyd Sealy made history becoming the first African American officer of the NYPD to command a police station, the 28th precinct located in Harlem. Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Lloyd George Sealy (b January 4 1917) (d January 4 1985) was the NYPD's first African American officer to graduate from the F African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa ^[71] At this time however, community relations between Harlem residents and the NYPD were strained as civil rights activists requested that the NYPD hire more black police officers, specifically in Harlem. In 1964, 85% of the Police assigned to Harlem's three precincts were white. ^[72] Police brutality and corruption was often alleged by Harlem residents to have occurred^[73] and with the low percentage of black officers on the NYPD, relations between the black community and the police department remained strained. A riot broke in the summer of 1964 following the fatal shooting of an unarmed 15-year-old black teenager by an off duty white police lieutenant. The Harlem Riot of 1964, an urban rebellion resulting from African American protest of police brutality One person was killed, more than 100 were injured, and hundreds more were arrested. Property damage and looting were extensive and the riot would later spread out of Manhattan and into the borough of Brooklyn into the community of Bedford-Stuyvesant, the heart of Brooklyn's African American community. Bedford-Stuyvesant (pron \ˈstī-və-sənt\ (also known as Bed-Stuy) is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City, USA, borough African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa In the aftermath of the riots, the federal government funded a pilot program called Project Uplift, in which thousands of young people in Harlem were given jobs during the summer of 1965. Project Uplift was a major short-term program of the Great Society. The project was inspired by a report generated by HARYOU called Youth in the Ghetto,^[74] and HARYOU was given a major role in organizing the project, along with the National Urban League and nearly 100 smaller community organizations. Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited, more commonly called HARYOU was a social activism organization founded by Dr The National Urban League ( NUL) formerly known as the National League of black men and women, is a Civil rights organization based in New York City ^[75]

In 1966, the Black Panthers organized a group in Harlem, agitating for violence in pursuit of change. The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxist / Maoist African-American organization established Speaking at a rally of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, Max Stanford, a Black Panther speaker, declared that the United States "could be brought down to its knees with a rag and some gasoline and a bottle," the ingredients of a Molotov cocktail. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (or SNCC, pronounced "snick" was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement The Molotov cocktail, also known as the booze bomb, alcohol bomb or Molotov bomb, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary ^[76]

In 1968, Harlemites rioted after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Two died -- one stabbed to death in a crowd and another trapped in a burning building. Mayor John Lindsay helped to quell the rioting by marching up Lenox Avenue in a "hail of bricks" to confront the angry crowds. John Vliet Lindsay ( November 24, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American Politician who served as a member of the ^[77]

1970–1989

By some measures, the 1970s were the worst period in Harlem's history. Many of those Harlemites who were able to escape from poverty left the neighborhood in search of safer streets, better schools and homes. Those who remained were the poorest and least skilled, with the fewest opportunities for success. Though the federal government's Model Cities Administration spent $100 million on job training, health care, education, public safety, sanitation, housing, and other projects over a ten year period, Harlem showed no improvement. ^[78]

The deterioration shows up starkly in the statistics of the period. In 1968, Harlem's infant mortality rate had been 37 for each 1000 live births, as compared to 23. 1 in the city as a whole. Over the next eight years, infant mortality for the city as whole improved to 19, while the rate in Harlem increased to 42. 8, more than double. Statistics describing illness, drug addiction, housing quality, and education are similarly grim and typically show rapid deterioration in the 1970s. The wholesale abandonment of housing, described in the "Ghettoization" section above, was so pronounced that between 1976 and 1978 alone, central Harlem lost almost a third of its total population, and east Harlem lost about 27%. ^[78] The neighborhood no longer had a functioning economy; stores were shuttered and by estimates published in 1971, 60% of the area's economic life depended on the cash flow from the illegal "Numbers game" alone. The numbers game, or policy racket, is an illegal Lottery played mostly in poor neighborhoods in U ^[79]

The worst part of Harlem was the "Bradhurst section" between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Edgecombe, from 139th Street through 155th. In 1991, this region was described in the New York Times as follows: "Since 1970, an exodus of residents has left behind the poor, the uneducated, the unemployed. Nearly two-thirds of the households have incomes below $10,000 a year. In a community with one of the highest crime rates in the city, garbage-strewn vacant lots and tumbledown tenements, many of them abandoned and sealed, contribute to the sense of danger and desolation that pervades much of the area. "^[80]

Plans for rectifying the situation often started with the restoration of 125th Street, long the economic heart of black Harlem. ^[81] By the late 1970s, only marginalized and poor retail remained. ^[82] Plans were drafted for a "Harlem International Trade Center," which would have filled the entire block between 125th Street and 126th, from Lenox to Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, with an center for trade with the third world. Third World is a name given to nations that are generally considered to be underdeveloped economically A related retail complex was planned to the west, between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and St. Nicholas. However, this plan depended on $30 million in financing from the federal government^[81], and with the election of Ronald Reagan to the presidency of the United States, it had no hope of being completed. ^[82]

The city did provide one large construction project, though not so favored by residents. Starting in the 1960s and continuing through the 1970s, Harlemites fought the introduction of an immense sewage treatment plant, the North River Water Pollution Control Plant, on the Hudson River in west Harlem. The Hudson River, called Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk, the Great Mohegan by the Iroquois, or as the Lenape Native Americans called it in Unami A compromise was ultimately reached in which the plant was built with a state park, including extensive recreational facilities, on top. The park, called Riverbank State Park, was opened in 1993 (the sewage plant having been completed some years earlier). Riverbank State Park is a 28-acre acre park built on the top of a sewage treatment facility on the Hudson River, in the New York City borough of Manhattan ^[83]

By 1980, the City of New York owned 60% of all residential property in Harlem^[84], and began auctioning these properties to the public in 1985. Only a small fraction would be sold at this time, and later scandals would temporarily halt the sales altogether.

1990–present

The city's sale of confiscated houses was intended to improve the community by placing property in the hands of people who would live in them and maintain them. In many cases, the city would even pay to completely renovate a property before selling it (by lottery) below market value. ^[85] The program was soon beset by scandal -- buyers were acquiring houses from the city, then making deals with churches or other charities in which they would inflate the appraised values of the properties and the church or charity would take out federally guaranteed 203(k) mortgage and buy it. The original buyer would realize a huge profit and the church or charity would default on the mortgage (presumably getting some kind of kickback from the developer). ^[86][87] Abandoned shells were left to further deteriorate, and about a third of the properties sold by the city were tenements which still had tenants, who were left in particularly miserable conditions. These properties, and new restrictions on Harlem mortgages, bedeviled the area's residential real estate market for years.

From 1987 through 1990, the city removed long-unused trolly tracks from 125th Street, laid new water mains and sewers, installed new sidewalks, curbs, traffic lights, street lights, and planted trees. Two years later, national chains opened branches on 125th Street for the first time -- The Body Shop opened a store at 125th street and 5th Avenue (still extant as of 2007), and a Ben & Jerry's ice cream franchise employing formerly homeless people opened across the street. B&J redirects here For the beverage company see Bartles and Jaymes. ^[88] The development of the region would leap forward a few years later with the introduction of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, which brought $300 million in development funds and $250 million in tax breaks. The Empowerment Zone Program consists of three congressional designations. ^[89]

Plans were laid for shopping malls, movie theaters, and museums. However, these plans were nearly derailed in 1995 by the "Freddy's Fashion Mart" riot, which culminated in political arson and eight deaths. These riots did not resemble their predecessors, and were organized by black activists against Jewish shop owners on 125th street. ^[90]

Five years later, the revitalization of 125th street resumed, with the construction of a Starbucks outlet backed in part by Magic Johnson (1999), the first supermarket in Harlem in 30 years^[89], the Harlem USA retail complex, which included the first first-run movie theater in many years (2000)^[89], and a new home for the Studio Museum in Harlem (2001). The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American Fine arts Museum in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, New York. In the same year, former president Bill Clinton took office space in Harlem. William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III, August 19 1946 served as the forty-second President of the United States In 2002, a large retail and office complex called Harlem Center was completed at the corner of Lenox and 125th. ^[91]

Harlem landmarks

Hotel Theresa building at the corner of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and 125th Street

• 125th Street
• Abyssinian Baptist Church
• Apollo Theater
• Aaron Davis Hall
• Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
• Astor Row
• City College of New York
• Dunbar Apartments
• First Corinthian Baptist Church
• Graham Court
• Hamilton Grange
• Hamilton Heights
• Harlem YMCA
• Hotel Theresa
• James Bailey House
• La Marqueta
• Lenox Lounge
• Morningside Park
• Mount Morris Park Historic District
• Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Mount Sinai Hospital, New York
• El Museo Del Barrio
• Museum of the City of New York
• Rucker Park
• St. The Hotel Theresa was a vibrant center of black life in Harlem, New York City, in the mid-20th century Seventh Avenue / Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard is a thoroughfare on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Abyssinian Baptist Church is among the most famous of the many churches in Harlem, New York City Aaron Davis Hall is a Performing Arts Center located in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is part of the New York Public Library. Astor Row is the name given to 130th Street between Fifth Avenue and Lenox Avenue in Harlem, in the New York City borough The City College of The City University of New York (known more commonly as the City College of New York or simply City College, CCNY, or colloquially as Constructed in 1926 the Dunbar Apartments are a set of buildings in North-Central Harlem in New York City, built by John D Hamilton Grange National Memorial is a National Park Service site in St Hamilton Heights is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Harlem YMCA on West 135th Street is a significant landmark of black culture in New York City The Hotel Theresa was a vibrant center of black life in Harlem, New York City, in the mid-20th century La Marqueta is a marketplace under the elevated Metro North railway tracks between 111th Street and 116th Street on Park Avenue in East Harlem. Lenox Lounge is a long-standing bar in Harlem, New York City. Morningside Park is a New York City public Park in the northern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Mount Morris Park Historic District was designated to be a Historic District by New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1971 This page is about a medical school in New York For other uses please see Mount Sinai (disambiguation Mount Sinai School of Medicine This page is about a hospital in New York For other uses please see disambiguation pages for Mount Sinai or Mount Sinai Hospital. Founded in 1969 by a group of Puerto Rican artists educatorscommunity activists and civic leaders El Museo del Barrio is located at the top of Museum Mile in New York The Museum of the City of New York is an Art gallery and history Museum founded in 1923 to present the history of New York City and its people Rucker Park is a Basketball court in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Martin's Church (formerly Trinity Church) designed by William Appleton Potter
• Savoy Ballroom (no longer open)
• Strivers' Row
• Studio Museum in Harlem
• Sylvia's Soul Food

See also

• List of people from Harlem
• Movies Filmed in Harlem

References

• WPA Guide to New York City 1939
• "Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto. Negro New York, 1890-1930". Gilbert Osofsky, 1963
• TIME Magaine, vol. 84, No. 5, July 31, 1964. "Harlem: No Place Like Home"
• Newsweek, August 3, 1964,. "Harlem: Hatred in the Streets"
• Harlem Stirs, John O. Killens, Fred Halstead, 1966
• Francis A. J. Ianni, Black Mafia: Ethnic Succession in Organized Crime, 1974
• "Crack's Decline: Some Surprises from U. S. Cities", National Institute of Justice Research in Brief, July 1997

External links

• New York and Harlem Railroad and the Harlem Valley line.
• Harlem and the Heights - New York Architecture Images
• New York State Heritage Areas
• 13 Gigapixel panorama