Double V Celebration

The location of this Double V photo intrigued me as it was only labeled as being taken in “Harlem”.

The Double V campaign attempted to draw attention to the racism that kept Black Americans unable to work in many (lucrative) industries in the US, while permitting them to risk their lives fighting fascism abroad (in, albeit, segregated units).

The racial terror that threatened Black Americans before, during and after WWII had many aspects that paralleled wartime rhetoric about Axis society. The Double V Campaign sought to force white America to reckon with this issue and to ensure that Black GI’s coming back from risking their lives, would not return to another ‘Red Summer‘ – the intense, racial violence that sought to intimidate Black Americans who returned from the battlefronts of WWI.

The photo was dated from 1942. The exact address on 119th Street, between Lenox and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd is tough to pin down – notice how there are so many more trees on the street.

Yes, The Super-Wealthy Can See Harlem

A recent listing for the top-floor penthouse at 1,396-foot-tall tower 432 Park Avenue has been publicly listed for the first time ever, asking $169 million. It is the most expensive listing currently in New York City, and if it fetches the asking price, it would become the second-biggest sale in the city’s history and set a record with its $20,500 per square foot price tag.

The 96th-floor unit is currently owned by billionaire Saudi real estate developer Fawaz Alhokair, who bought the apartment for only $88 million in 2016. The apartment unit has 8,225 square feet and has six bedrooms and seven bathrooms, as well as 240 linear feet of glass windows. The home is being sold with all of its art and furniture, which includes pieces from Hermes, Fendi, and Bentley.

Build the Block on Thursday


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