Roses, Lorraine Elena, and Ruth Elizabeth Randolph.
Harlem Renaissance and Beyond: Literary Biographies
of 100 Black Women Writers, 1900–1945.Boston: G.
K. Hall & Co., 1990.
Harlem
Harlem is located in upper Manhattan, north of
Central Park, and spans less than two square miles.
Its main thoroughfares include Seventh Avenue,
125th Street, 135th Street, and LENOXAVENUE.
Dutch immigrants and enslaved Africans settled in
the rural area in 1658, establishing the village of
Nieuw Haarlem.
Historian Steven Watson notes that African-
American settlement in Harlem began in 1905 on
West 133rd Street. African-American migrations
coincided with a staggering collapse in real estate
values during the first decades of the 20th century.
African Americans now had access to housing in
the area, and the area’s population increased dra-
matically. Between 1920 and 1930, the population
of Harlem reached approximately 200,000 and rep-
resented nearly two-thirds of the city’s population
of color.
During the Harlem Renaissance, Harlem be-
came known for its landmark cultural and historic
buildings. It remains home to the ABYSSINIAN
BAPTISTCHURCH, founded in the early 1800s by
the Reverend Thomas Paul and a group of black
Baptists who were suffering exclusion in predomi-
nantly white congregations.
Other vital sites include the Schomburg Library
branch of the NEWYORKPUBLICLIBRARY. It was
there that writers like LANGSTON HUGHESmet
other writers, shared their works at public readings,
and made lifelong and influential friendships. The
studio of accomplished photographer James Van der
Zee was located at 109 West 135th Street. The
brothers and photographic partners Morgan and
Marvin Smith of Kentucky established a successful
studio on 125th Street next to the APOLLOTHE-
ATER, the premier venue for jazz performances.
Harlem was a thriving entertainment center
during the Harlem Renaissance period. The area
was home to the COTTONCLUBand the Savoy
Ballroom, as well as the Apollo.
Harlem’s well-known residential areas in-
cluded a boardinghouse at 267 West 136th Street.
It was there that WALLACETHURMANlived and
founded HARLEM:A FORUM OFNEGROLIFE.
Political activism flourished in Harlem. The
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCE-
MENT OFCOLOREDPEOPLEestablished its first
branch in Harlem. It was there that MARCUS
MOSIAHGARVEYfounded the UNIVERSALNEGRO
IMPROVEMENTASSOCIATIONin 1917. In the early
1940s, Harlem was ravaged by race riots, sparked
by reports of police brutality. Later, the civil rights
leader Malcolm X was assassinated in Harlem’s
Audubon Ballroom.Bibliography
Clarke, John Henrik, ed. Harlem, a Community in Transi-
tion.New York: Citadel Press, 1970.
Lewis, David Levering, When Harlem Was in Vogue.New
York: Knopf, 1981.
Watson, Steven. The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of
African-American Culture, 1920–1930.New York:
Pantheon Books, 1995.Harlem Academy
The New York City high school affiliated with the
Seventh-Day Adventist denomination. The build-
ing was located on 127th Street at Seventh Avenue.
The novelist ARNABONTEMPStaught English
at Harlem Academy from 1924 until 1931. It was
his appointment at the church’s largest high school
that financed Bontemps’s move from California to
Harlem. Bontemps met and married his wife Al-
berta Johnson, an Academy student of nontradi-
tional age, in 1926.
The school closed in 1931.Bibliography
Jones, Kirkland C. Renaissance Man From Louisiana: A
Biography of Arna Wendell Bontemps. Westport,
Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1992.Harlem: A Forum of Negro Life
WALLACETHURMANfounded the literary periodi-
cal Harlemin 1928. The journal’s offices were lo-
cated at 2376 Seventh Avenue, which also was the
site of a magazine-sponsored bookstore named the
Harlem Bookshop. There are conflicting reportsHarlem: A Forum of Negro Life 213