The Harlem Neighborhood Block Association

Neighbors united to improve the quality of life in Harlem

Tag: Census

Caribbean New Yorkers

Posted on by Harlem Shill

The largest wave of immigrants from the Caribbean came to Harlem during the Harlem renaissance. Indeed, many of the greatest artists, luminaries, and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance were Caribbean-born. Claude McKay, Marcus Garvey, and Arturo Schomburg.

Claude McKay

Almost a quarter of Harlem’s Black population was foreign-born in the 1920s. Earlier, however, in 1880, the distribution of Caribbean immigrants was thin:

However, by 1910, the beginnings of a Caribbean enclave around Lenox/5th Avenues and 131st to 138th Streets had begun:

The father of James Weldon Johnson – Harlem Renaissance poet and author of the Black National Anthem: Lift Every Voice and Sing – was born in the Bahamas and likely figured in the census data map, above.

See more at Mapping Historical New York.

Questlove Notes That Harlem in 2022 is Still Facing Many of the Issues it Faced in 1968

Governor Hochul & OASAS Commissioner Chinazo Cunningham: Stop Fueling the Overdose Epidemic!

We are asking Governor Hochul and Commissioner Cunningham to commit to reducing the disproportionate density of drug programs in communities of color like Harlem. We believe that a fair-share distribution of small-scale, effective, and holistic OASAS-licensed programs in all New York neighborhoods will lead to more effective outcomes and reduce overdose deaths. By leveraging the OASAS relicensing process and new Opioid Settlement funds, Governor Hochul and Commissioner Cunningham have the power to rebalance OASAS programs on a geographic and racial fair-share basis.

Sign the petition if you agree.

Currently, the imbalance in Harlem is such that 75% of the opioid treatment patients that OASAS sends to programs located in Harlem and East Harlem do not live in our community – traveling from as far away as Staten Island. While our community only accounts for 8% of all opioid treatment patients, OASAS sends 20% of all patients to Harlem every day. We are advocating for OASAS to decentralize the concentration of opioid centers in Harlem and commit to a data-driven and equitable approach that increases access to community-based programs that are small-scale, effective, and holistic.

Why is this important?
We ask OASAS to join us in fighting this imbalance for three reasons. First, we know that when programs are more conveniently located in all neighborhoods, drug treatment success increases with positive outcomes. Second, we know that the current presence of treatment mega-centers in communities of color reinforces the message that addiction is a Black issue and one that should be contained in Black neighborhoods. Third, concentrating the majority of the city’s programs in Harlem fuels the overdose epidemic. New Yorkers shouldn’t have to go out of their way to access vital care. Equitably distributing the locations of treatment centers throughout NY will not only work towards racial justice, it will also lead to better health outcomes for all.

Sign the petition if you agree.

1880 – Where Did Women Live?

Posted on by Harlem Shill

This fascinating map of the density of women in 1880, shows how Central Harlem housed many more women than East Harlem (the darker the color, the more women per block – data coming from the 1880 census).

The answer is partly visible in terms of the buildings built in 1880 above 125th Street in Central Harlem – single-family, middle (or upper-middle) class brownstones.

This type of housing was likely to employ a number of women to cook, clean, and even nurse or educate the children. The blocks closer to the river, were more industrial and commercial areas, with tenements and other inexpensive housing for (male) workers.

In the 1880 census snippet shown above for the building I live in, you can see that Eliza Alexander and her 12-year-old white, female daughter, Bertha, lived as servant/s in the household, for example.

Both Eliza and Bertha are listed as being from Maryland, and columns 4 and 5 are curiously overwritten. I’m not sure if the line for Eliza, for example, had a “B” in columns 4 and 5, indicating “Black”?

Connector Ramp Wins Award

The team behind a new ramp on the Harlem River Drive has been recognized by the American Council of Engineering Companies New York (ACEC NY) with a Diamond Award as part of the 2021 New York Engineering Excellence Awards.

Parsons Corporation announced today that the company’s work on New York City’s RFK Bridge – the Harlem River Drive North Connector Ramp – was honored. The project was carried out on behalf of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, a division of the MTA, to provide a connection between the RFK Bridge to Harlem River Drive’s northbound lanes.

The new ramp has decreased congestion, reduced noise pollution, eliminated 2,500 tons of CO2-equivalent per year, and improved the quality of life in neighboring East Harlem, while providing a shorter and safer route for travelers.

The completed ramp opened to traffic in November 2020.

Thank You Mark Levine

Elections and Population Density

Posted on by Harlem Shill

With the 2020 elections fast approaching, I wanted to share a fantastic visualization that shows population density. The map is fascinating and allows you to really get a sense of major metropolitan areas and the vast (population) deserts that separate them:

In the illustration above you see us, in New York, and the tail of Long Island tapering out to the east. You can probably make out some of the Ohio cities (2020 battlegrounds) and then Detroit up at the top.

Here is a full view of the US:

And you can look at the high resolution image of it all, here:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/density-map-full-usa.html

And to see the incredible urban areas of the Indian subcontinent and east Asia:

Click here: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/density-map-full-world.html

More on the map, here: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/3d-mapping-the-worlds-largest-population-densities

Harlem African Burial Ground Project Put On Hold

Patch.com reports that the Harlem African Burial Ground Project is a victim of the NYC budget crisis stemming from COVID-19. It’s not over, but it has stalled:

The burial ground site has been subjected to a "long tradition of disrespect," with the building atop it being used as a beer garden, army barracks, a movie studio and, most recently, an MTA bus depot.
The burial ground site has been subjected to a “long tradition of disrespect,” with the building atop it being used as a beer garden, army barracks, a movie studio and, most recently, an MTA bus depot. (Google Maps)

HARLEM, NY — A long-planned project to construct a memorial at the site of a historic African burial ground on 126th Street has been put on hold due to the pandemic, a community board leader told members this week.

Angel Mescain, district manager of East Harlem’s Community Board 11, said Wednesday that the city’s Economic Development Corporation has put the project “on pause” like many other development projects across the city, which is facing a $9 billion budget deficit due to the coronavirus.

The project has not been canceled, Mescain told CB11’s Land Use Committee, adding that “they’re just not rolling along the same schedule they had anticipated.”

See: https://patch.com/new-york/harlem/harlem-african-burial-ground-project-put-hold

Harlem Woman Turns 100, Urging Neighbors To Vote, Fill Out Census

From Patch: https://patch.com/new-york/harlem/harlem-woman-turns-100-urging-neighbors-vote-fill-out-census

Katie Nichson celebrated a century in Harlem on Saturday, commanding her well-wishers to “Get up off your butt and get out and vote!”

“I want people to learn that elections come up not just when there’s number 45 in there,” she said. “No, every time there’s an election, go out and vote, because the community is closer to you than the presidency.”

Community has indeed been the driving force of Nichson’s decades in the neighborhood. A longtime member of Mother AME Zion, she has also served in the neighborhood’s Democratic club since its inception, and is a regular guest at neighborhood community meetings — including one in 2017 where she made news for unloading on Mayor Bill de Blasio over the poor conditions of Harlem’s sidewalks.

Nichson said the importance of civic engagement wasn’t lost on her, as someone born the same year that women — at least some women — were guaranteed the right to vote.

“The fact [is] that at one time, women could not vote,” she said. “Then white women could vote and we couldn’t vote.”

NYC’s Marathon is 50 Years Old

Harlem is often the deciding stretch of the NYC Marathon – where leaders pull away, and dreams are won and shattered. This year, with COVID-19, we are not going to have the NYC Marathon pass through Harlem.

See: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/13/sports/new-york-city-marathon.html

Census, Racial Types, and Time

Posted on by Join HNBA

The Pew Trust has a fascinating visualization of the complicated way in which Americans (and the American census in particular) classified people into racial categories:

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/25/the-changing-categories-the-u-s-has-used-to-measure-race/

The census years are aligned across the top, and the inclusion and evolution of categories is reflected in the horizontal colored bands.  Note that citizens could only choose their own racial categories in 1960. Before this, census enumerators would choose your race.