Category: History

  • Skating On The Harlem River

    Skating On The Harlem River

    The Museum of the City of New York has a great image of children lacing up their skates to skate on the Harlem River at McComb’s Dam (155th Street). The image is from 1904. Further South, The Triborough A great, 1937 photograph of the Triborough Bridge by Berenice Abbott as a part of the Federal…

  • Merch

    Merch

    Brickmania has Harlem Hellfighter figures for sale. See this listing on Ebay. As Seen In Harlem

  • Izzi Spiller’s Band

    Izzi Spiller’s Band

    A photo dated by an Ebay seller to 1936 of Harlem students in a percussion class. The drummer on the right has a drum with Izzie Spiller’s Band. Note the teacher, seated at the piano, and the white-faced drummer figure that is the focal point for the students’ gaze. Harlem Sign For $9,000 you can…

  • East Harlem Author’s Book Launch at Fordham University

    East Harlem Author’s Book Launch at Fordham University

    Professor Magda Teter’s new book: Christian Supremacy: Reckoning with the Roots of Antisemitism and Racism will be launched tomorrow, at 4 PM and feature a panel discussion on the common roots of anti-Black racism and antisemitism. Teter’s book is published by Princeton University press. Tuesday, May 16, 4 PM In-person at Fordham University at Lincoln…

  • First Known Record of Baseball in Harlem

    First Known Record of Baseball in Harlem

    The November 1. 1856 edition of Porter’s Spirit of the Times, has the first known evidence of a Harlem baseball team. The paper records a competition between Harlem and The Continental Club, that Harlem won, 18 to 17. Details on the score, below: The item is for sale on Ebay.

  • Landmarking in Harlem

    Landmarking in Harlem

    Minton’s Playhouse and an apartment building in Hamilton Heights where jazz pioneers Duke Ellington and Noble Lee Sissle once lived may soon be listed and landmarked. Thelonius Monk, Howard McGhee, Roy Eldridge, and Teddy Hill outside Minton’s Playhouse in 1947. Photo via WikiCommons Minton’s Playhouse on West 118th Street was the birthplace of bebop, an improvisational style of jazz, came…

  • Back In The USSR

    Back In The USSR

    During the interwar period – the 1930’s in particular – several Black intellectuals and artists were both attracted to the USSR and courted by the USSR. For all Black Americans experiencing everpresent racism and violence in this country, the Soviet Union looked intriguing as an alternative society that espoused racial equality. The Soviet Union, in…

  • Color Stock Film of Harlem 1963

    Color Stock Film of Harlem 1963

    A shout-out to Harlem Bespoke who mentioned this Pathe 8 minute film of stock images of New York City in 1963: If you want to focus on the short section on Harlem, scrub over to 5:15 on the YouTube video. Janes Walk – A Great Day In Harlem Join members of Landmark East Harlem (LEH)…

  • Harlem’s Worlds Fair, 1883

    Harlem’s Worlds Fair, 1883

    No, the Harlem World’s Fair did not happen in 1883, nor did it happen at all. But it was proposed in this great illustration from Demarest’s Monthly Magazine, November 1879 (thank you to Harlem Bespoke that originally drew my attention to this image): The fair would essentially be on the Columbia University land, and stretch…

  • Harry Belafonte: Harlem’s Lion 

    Harry Belafonte: Harlem’s Lion 

    (March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) He recorded and performed in many genres, including blues, folk, gospel, show tunes, and American standards. He also starred in several films, including Carmen Jones (1954), Island in the Sun (1957), and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959). Belafonte considered the actor, singer, and activist Paul Robeson a mentor, and…

  • Harlem Culture Crawl

    Harlem Culture Crawl

    West Harlem, treasured for its cultural legacy, vibrant multicultural community, and renowned religious and academic institutions, invites visitors to the Harlem Culture Crawl to explore some of the neighborhood’s established and lesser-known cultural organizations. Over this weekend-long festival from April 28 to 30, explore Harlem’s neighborhoods and experience why Harlem is at the helm of…

  • Black Home Ownership

    Black Home Ownership

    Earlier in April, Blandon Casenave presented to HNBA at our monthly meeting. Blandon is a native New Yorker and independent political analyst, with over thirty-years of activism in the African-American community, who was born and raised in Brooklyn and now resides in the Bronx. Blandon’s work on the erosion of the Black middle class is…