Ebay has a 1951 edition of Our World up for sale.

The cover has teasers for the stories inside including the children of famous people:

A look at Billy Eckstine:

And Harlem, the Most Slandered City:

5th and 126th

The building on the north-west corner of 126th and 5th Avenue was opened in 1938:

and was the first new building in Harlem that welcomed African Americans.  The beautiful interior and fixtures made this building a classic of the pre-War period.  Until this building’s construction, African-American residents in Harlem had only lived in buildings that were formerly occupied by white residents or in buildings that had been intended for white residents.

Ms. Hill, one of the original tenants noted that the neighborhood was mostly Finnish at the time.  She also noted that the solid, if quiet opulence attracted a number of celebrities to this building:  the singers Billy Eckstine and Juanita Hall, for example, soon moved in.

Before this apartment building was built, a gorgeous Victorian mansion stood on the corner of 126th and 5th

This beautiful mansion had been used as the Mary E. Johnson Boarding School for Colored Children. (You probably recognize the sliver of the church to the north of the boarding school that exists today.)

However, before that, it was the Mrs. Helen M. Scofille’s School for Girls (presumably, white only), and before that an ivy-covered mansion, now long gone.

Tonight!

Covid + Stress + Mental Health