The Harlem Neighborhood Block Association

Neighbors united to improve the quality of life in Harlem

Tag: Tito Puente

Tito Puente

Posted on by Harlem Shill

Uptown Grand Central does it again. Another great mural on E. 124, between Madison and Park.

Allison Ruiz and BC1 created this mural of the mambo king Tito Puente.

Uptown Grand Central’s Grandscale Mural Project is located on 125th & 124th streets from Third to Madison, and along Third, Lexington and Park avenues.

Hashtag #GrandscaleMuralProject.

From Nikoa Evans

HNBA’s September Meeting (next week)

Next week – September 13th (Tuesday) at 6:00 – the Harlem Neighborhood Block Association (and yes, you are a member simply by virtue of reading this!) will gather at East 129th Street and 5th Avenue (southeast corner) to celebrate the unveiling of Ann Petry Place.

Our gathering will include Manhattan Borough President, Mark Levine, the Chair of Community Board 11, and the Chair of Uptown Grand Central.

After presenting Liz Petry (Ann’s surviving daughter) with a copy of the street sign that will be unveiled tomorrow, The Harlem Rose Garden (next to Ann Petry’s former apartment building) will open and present a musical selection for all to enjoy.

Come out and meet new (and vintage) HNBA members as we gather outdoors, together.

Congressional Gold Medal Awarded to Harlem Hellfighters

Posted on by Harlem Shill

In mid-August, the Senate passed the Harlem Hellfighters Congressional Gold Medal Act to award a Congressional Gold Medal to a Black infantry regiment known as the Harlem Hellfighters.

https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/BILLS-117hr3642enr

The Harlem Hellfighters, the 369th Infantry Regiment, are regarded as the most celebrated African American regiment in World War I, having fought against Germany’s forces longer than almost any other American WWI soldiers. The regiment was mostly made up of New Yorkers, with the majority of the enlistees hailing from Harlem.

“The Harlem Hellfighters served our nation with distinction, spending 191 days in the front-line trenches, all while displaying the American values of courage, dedication and sacrifice,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement.

“The Harlem Hellfighters Congressional Gold Medal Act honors these brave men, who, even as they faced segregation and prejudice, risked their lives to defend our freedoms,” Gillibrand added.

As noted by Gillibrand, the Harlem Hellfighters were assigned to the French army due to many white American soldiers refusing to go into battle with Black soldiers.

The Hellfighters are the third African American military group to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, after the Tuskegee Airmen in 2007 and the Montford Point Marines in 2011, both of whom fought in World War II.

The Hellfighters received their nickname from their German adversaries who called them “Hollenkampfer” for their strength. Their French comrades also called them “Hommes de Bronze” or “Men of Bronze.” Many Harlem Hellfighters received the Croix de Guerre, a French military World War I decoration awarded for valor.

Tito Puente to Face Duke Ellington

Patch.com’s Nick Garber reports that Manuel Vega has a new proposal (presented to CB11) for a Tito Puente sculpture at 110th and 5th, facing the existing Duke Ellington sculpture.

To read the full article and learn more, see:

https://patch.com/new-york/harlem/east-harlems-long-delayed-tito-puente-memorial-unveiled