A VINTAGE ORIGINAL 6X8 INCH PHOTO FROM 1937 DEPICTING EVEELYN SKIPWORTH PREPARING FOR THE PRODUCTIO OF VOODOO MACBETH. The Voodoo Macbeth is a common nickname for the Federal Theatre Project’s 1936 New York production of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Orson Welles adapted and directed the production, moved the play’s setting from Scotland to a fictional Caribbean island, recruited an entirely Black cast, and earned the nickname for his production from the Haitian vodou that fulfilled the role of Scottish witchcraft. [1]:86 A box office sensation, the production is regarded as a landmark theatrical event for several reasons: its innovative interpretation of the play, its success in promoting African-American theatre, and its role in securing the reputation of its 20-year-old director. The Works Project Administration provided economic stimulus during the Great Depression, and under its aegis was Federal Project Number One, responsible for generating jobs in the arts for which the Federal Theater Project was created. The Negro Theatre Unit was split into two halves, the “Contemporary Branch” to create theater on contemporary black issues, and the “Classic Branch”, to perform classic drama. [1]:88 The aim was to provide a point of entry into the theater workforce for black writers, actors and stagehands, and to raise community pride by performing classic plays without reference to the color of the actors. Shakespeare’s play is about the downfall of a usurper in medieval Scotland, who is encouraged in his actions by three witches. The central idea behind Welles’s production was to perform the text straight, but to use costumes and sets that alluded to Haiti in the 19th century, specifically during the reign of the slave-turned-emperor Henri Christophe. [2]:222 Although the main reason for this choice was that it was an appropriate setting for an all-black cast, Welles felt that it also enhanced the play’s realism: he thought the production’s popularity was partly due to the fact that the idea of voodoo was more credible to a contemporary audience than was medieval witchcraft. In many productions, the character of Hecate, the Queen of the Witches, is often cut. Instead, Welles turned the character into a pivotal figure. Performed by Eric Burroughs as a huge man with a bullwhip, [1]:8688 Hecate presides over events as a ringmaster of magicians, and often closes scenes. [4] Hecate ends the play with the line, “The charm’s wound up”, repeated from Act 1. [2]:224 Welles’s 1948 film version of Macbeth, in which Hecate does not appear, also ends with this line. The production used a single, unchanging set of a castle in a jungle. The backdrops featured stylized palm trees and skeleton imagery. It is not certain whether the production removed references to Scotland from the text. Welles’s promptbook keeps them intact, but in the surviving film record of the production’s climax, the line “Hail, King of Scotland” is truncated to “Hail, King”. Designer Nat Karson (190854)[5]. Costume drawing for Malcolm. Costume construction by the Federal Theatre Workshop. Backdrop design for the permanent set. Set painting by the Federal Theatre Workshop. The Negro Theatre Unit of the Federal Theatre Project was formed in 1935, under the distinguished actress Rose McClendon. [6]:59 She advised national director Hallie Flanagan that the project should begin under experienced direction and selected producer John Houseman as co-director of the unit. [6]:6263[7]:179 Their partnership was never realized; it was soon apparent that McClendon was not well, and she made only a few formal appearances before she became critically ill in December 1935. Regarding the unit’s name, Houseman later wrote, the word’black’ was taboo. Negro’ was in official and general use though there was some ideological disagreement as to whether it should be spelled with a small or a capital N. Houseman had established his credentials as general manager of the all-black production, Four Saints in Three Acts (1934). [3]:99 On the advice of composer Virgil Thomson, Houseman divided the unit into two sections, between which the project members themselves could choose and could switch between from one production to another. One section was devoted to original black-themed contemporary drama. “The other, ” Houseman wrote, would devote itself to the performance of classical works of which our actors would be the interpreters, without concession or reference to color. “For this fine scheme to work, ” Houseman wrote, there was one essential condition that the quality of these’classical’ productions be exceptionally high. It would be fatal to undertake the risky and difficult business of producing Shakespeare in Harlem until I had found a director of whose creative imagination and power I was completely confident. Houseman invited his recent collaborator, the 20-year-old Orson Welles, to join the project. Welles declined at first, since the work would cut into his lucrative radio career and he feared being put back into insolvency, but his young wife Virginia persuaded him to take the job. [9]:80 In the autumn of 1935, Welles called Houseman after he and Virginia had an inspiration. [9]:82 Welles proposed staging an all-black production of Macbeth, transposed from Scotland to a mythical island setting inspired by 19th-century Haiti and the fantasy world of The Tempest. The idea offered creative advantages in music, costumes and settings and the ability to make the role of witchcraft credible to modern audiences by substituting Haitian voodooism. [3]:100 The production was universally known as the Voodoo Macbeth in advance of its presentation. At Welles’s request Houseman stayed away from early rehearsals, [7]:189 leaving him able to concentrate on the first two Negro Theatre Unit productions, both from the contemporary wing. Walk Together Chillun, written and co-directed by actor Frank Wilson, was the modestly received first production, presented in February 1936. [7]:186 The second was Rudolph Fisher’s Conjur’ Man Dies, a comedy-mystery starring Dooley Wilson (and directed by Joseph Losey) that was a smash hit. The settings and costumes were designed by Nat Karson. [10]:3 Welles and Karson researched Directoire style, uniforms of the Napoleonic era, and tropical vegetation. [10]:8[11]:182. The lighting was created by Abe Feder, later regarded as a founder of lighting design profession. [12] Feder had a difficult relationship with Welles, whom he believed was too young and ignorant of the practicalities of theatre; he continued to hold this opinion when interviewed decades later. Welles also faced some difficulties in asserting authority with the black cast and crew, but he won them over with his energy and warmth, [2]:224 and pleased everyone by cramming the rehearsal space with food and drink. [3]:103 Black cast and crew members interviewed decades later said that Houseman and Welles had their full confidence. “I never would have amounted to anything in the theatre if it hadn’t been for Orson Welles, ” Canada Lee recalled. The way I looked at acting, it was interesting and it was certainly better than going hungry. But I didn’t have a serious approach to it until I bumped into Orson Welles. He was putting on a Federal Theatre production of Macbeth with Negro players and, somehow, I won the part of Banquo. He rehearsed us for six solid months, but when the play finally went on before an audience, it was right and it was a wonderful sensation, knowing it was right. Suddenly, the theatre became important to me. I had a respect for it, for what it could say. I had the ambition I caught it from Orson Welles to work like mad and be a convincing actor. The production opened April 14, 1936, at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem. A free preview two days before drew 3,000 more people than could be seated. “By all odds my great success in my life was that play, ” Welles told BBC interviewer Leslie Megahey in 1982. Because the opening night there were five blocks in which all traffic was stopped. You couldn’t get near the theater in Harlem. Everybody who was anybody in the black or white world was there. And when the play ended there were so many curtain calls that finally they left the curtain open, and the audience came up on the stage to congratulate the actors. And that was, that was magical. [7]:203[15]:333 The production then moved to the Adelphi Theatre (July 618). [15]:333[16] On July 15, Jack Carter completed only the first act, and the performance was completed by understudy Thomas Anderson. [16] Beginning July 16 Maurice Ellis played the role of Macbeth, with Charles Collins succeeding Ellis in the role of Macduff. The production then toured WPA venues throughout the country, beginning with engagements in Bridgeport (July 2125)[18] and Hartford, Connecticut (July 28August 1). [16] Macbeth was performed in Dallas beginning August 6, [16][19] and the production was featured at the Texas Centennial Exposition August 1323. Performances were presented in the new bandshell and 5,000-seat open-air amphitheatre, [20] where integrated seating was a unique experience for Dallas theatergoers. [21]:64 The production was one of the most talked-about features of the exposition and drew large, enthusiastic audiences. For many it was their first opportunity to see a professional dramatic performance by African American actors. Welles was sent to join the company during the play’s run in Indianapolis (August 2529), to soothe inter-company quarrels that threatened the production after racial tensions escalated during the segment of the tour through the segregated South. Incognito, he performed the role of Macbeth at one performance there, [22] when Ellis became ill. [15]:333 The 4,000-mile tour continued to Chicago, (September 113)[23] Detroit and Cleveland, finishing in Syracuse, New York (September 2325). After the company’s return to New York, the final performances of Macbeth were presented October 617 at the Majestic Theatre in Brooklyn. [6]:393[25] The production was invited to London by impresario Charles B. Cochran, but Welles declined because he was trying to secure his career in New York. The closing four minutes of the production are preserved in a rare 1937 film, We Work Again, a WPA documentary that is in the public domain and can be viewed online. [26] Maurice Ellis and Charles Collins appear as Macbeth and Macduff, indicating that the filming took place after July 16, 1936. Houseman produced only one more play for the Federal Theatre Project’s Negro Theatre Unit. After ten months as the project’s director he assured Hallie Flanagan that the unit was viable and should be directed by a triumvirate[7]:208209 comprising West Indian intellectual Harry Edward, [27]:9899 Carlton Moss and Gus Smith. He and Welles were authorized to create a new Classical Theatre unit[7]:208209 that became known as Federal Theatre Project 891. Its first production, Horse Eats Hat, opened in September 1936. The cast of Macbeth numbered 150 people, [28] but only four were professional actors: Jack Carter, Edna Thomas, Canada Lee and Eric Burroughs. Juano Hernandez was first cast as Macbeth, but he left the production after just three rehearsals to play the lead in an NBC radio series. [29]:97 Jack Carter, who played Crown in the original stage production of Porgy, was chosen for the role. [7]:189 Rose McClendon was to have portrayed Lady Macbeth, but when she became critically ill Edna Thomas inherited the role. [3]:101102 Both Carter and Thomas were light-skinned and wore dark makeup in order to avoid looking different from the rest of the cast. [3]:102 Thomas played Lady Macbeth as a mother figure to Macbeth. Carter was a former criminal and an alcoholic, but Welles cast him despite being warned of his habit of disappearing for weeks on binges. Carter understood the importance of the production to his career and kept his drinking under control during the Harlem run. [3]:101 Welles expended a great deal of time on helping Carter channel his adrenalin into his performance. [2]:226 The two men bonded and hit the nightspots of Harlem together after rehearsals. [2]:226228 His behavior became so troublesome during the Broadway run that he was replaced by Maurice Ellis, who had held the role of Macduff. Canada Lee played Banquo. [1]:8688 Lee met Welles prior to his involvement with the production, at a performance of Stevedore. The audience had been whipped into a frenzied shouting match, and Lee rescued Welles from being attacked by another audience member wielding a knife. The role of Hecate, which Welles changed from the witch queen of the original to that of a male Voodoo priest, was played by Eric Burroughs, trained at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. [7]:189 The New York Times noted that Burroughs’ concluding line, The charms wound up! At the fall of the closing curtain prompted a 15-minute frenzy of cheering throughout the 1200-seat Lafayette Theatre. Despite the fact that few professional African-American actors were available and many of the cast members had never acted in Shakespeare before, Welles believed that they showed a better understanding of the rhythm of the iambic pentameter than many professionals. Welles also hired African drummers and dancers, led by Sierra Leonean drummer and choreographer Asadata Dafora. [2]:223 [32] Dancer Abdul Assen, a member of Dafora’s Shogola Aloba dance troupe who is credited only as “Abdul” on the program, [10] was widely praised by reviewers in his role as the Witch Doctor. [33] Dafora and Assen’s presentation of voodoo practices and musical accompaniment of the witches’ speeches with drumbeats were popular with audiences, critics, and with Welles himself. [3]:108 The involvement of Assen, Dafora, and diasporic African musical and dance tradition added a powerful feeling of authenticity to the Haitian setting that became part of the folklore surrounding the production. The cast and crew of Macbeth are credited in the original production notebook[10]:45 and in The Theatre of Orson Welles by Riof OW>France, Richard (1977). The Theatre of Orson Welles. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press. Duncan (The King) Service Bell. Malcolm (Son to the King) Wardell Saunders. Banquo Canada Lee [helli mchoe]. First Murderer George Nixon. Second Murderer Kenneth Renwick. The Doctor Laurence Chenault. The Priest Al Watts amy and whetharemnen. First Messenger Philandre Thomas. Second Messenger Herbert Glynn[10]:4. A Lord Charles Collins. First Captain Lisle Grenidge. Second Captain Ollie Simmons[10]:4. First Chamberlain William Cumberbatch[10]:4. Second Chamberlain Benny Tattnall[10]:4. First Court Attendant Chauncey Worrell[10]:4. Second Court Attendant George Thomas. First Page Boy Sarah Turner[10]:4. Second Page Boy Beryle Banfield[10]:4. Lady Macduff Marie Young. Lady Macbeth Edna Thomas. The Duchess Alma Dickson[10]:4. The Nurse Virginia Girvin[10]:4. Young Macduff Bertram Holmes[10]:4. Daughter to Macduff Wanda Macy[10]:4. Fleance Carl Crawford[10]:4. Hecate Eric Burroughs[10]:4. First Witch Wilhelmina Williams. Second Witch Josephine Williams. Third Witch Zola King. Court Ladies Helen Carter, Carolyn Crosby, Eveyln Davis, Ethel Drayton, Helen Brown, Aurelia Lawson, Margaret Howard, Olive Wannamake, Evelyn Skipworth, Aslean Lynch[10]:4. Court Gentlemen Herbert Glynn, Jose Miralda, Jimmy Wright, Otis Morse, Merritt Smith, Walter Brogsdale, Harry George Grant. Soldiers Benny Tattnall, Herman Patton, Ernest Brown, Ivan Lewis, Richard Ming, George Spelvin, Albert Patrick, Chauncey Worrell, Albert McCoy, William Clayton Jr. Allen Williams, William Cumberbatch, Henry J. Williams, Amos Laing, Louis Gilbert, Theodore Howard, Leonardo Barros, Ollie Simmons, Ernest Brown, Merritt Smith, Harry George Grant, Herbert Glynn, Jimmy Wright, George Thomas, Clifford Davis, Frederick Gibson, [10]:5 Emanuel Middleton, Thomas Dixon[11]:182. Witch Women Juanita Baker, Beryle Banfield, Sybil Moore, Nancy Hunt, Jacqueline Ghant Martin, Fannie Suber, Ethel Millner, Dorothy Jones, [10]:5 Mildred Taylor, Hilda French[11]:182. Witch Men Archie Savage, Charles Hill, Leonardo Barros, Howard Taylor, Amos Laing, Allen Williams, Ollie Simmons, Theodore Howard. Cripples Clyde Gooden, Clarence Potter, Milton Lacey, Hudson Prince, Theodore Howard, [10]:5 Cecil McNair[11]:182. Voodoo Women Lena Halsey, Jean Cutler, Effie McDowell, Irene Ellington, Marguerite Perry, Essie Frierson, Ella Emanuel, Ethel Drayton, Evelyn Davis. Voodoo Men Ernest Brown, Howard Taylor, Henry J. Williams, Louis Gilbert, William Clayton Jr. Albert McCoy, Merritt Smith, Richard Ming, [10]:5 Halle Howard[11]:182. Drummers James Cabon, James Martha, Jay Daniel, [10]:5 Moses Myers, McLean Hughes[11]:182. Before the production opened, the Harlem Communists tried to agitate the community against the project, wrongly believing that Welles had cast black actors in order to create a comic or burlesque version of Shakespeare. The theatre was picketed throughout rehearsals. One man attempted to slash Welles’s face with a razor, but Canada Lee, a former boxer, stopped him. According to Welles, the anger was suddenly replaced “for no reason at all” by widespread excitement and pride in the community as the opening night approached. [3]:105 The “Voodoo Macbeth” defied all expectations, becoming a box office sensation. Seventh Avenue had to be closed for 10 blocks on either side of the theatre on opening night. Most reviewers, including those from The New York Times and the New York Daily News, loved the production, praising its energy and excitement. One reviewer, Percy Hammond of the Herald Tribune, was negative about the entire cast, accusing the actors of being inaudible and timid. In response, one of the African drummers created a voodoo doll of Hammond, stuck pins in it, and encouraged Welles to take responsibility for any torments Hammond suffered as a result. Welles says he found this amusing, until Hammond died shortly afterward. Opening night at the Lafayette Theatre (April 14, 1936). Hallie Flanagan, national director of the Federal Theatre Project. Barber, FTP director for New York City. Rose McClendon, co-director of the Negro Theatre Unit, second from right. Lloyd Thomas, Kenneth Macpherson and Jimmie Daniels. King Duncan arrives at Macbeth’s palace. Macbeth with the Priest and cripples seeking the blessing of Duncan. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Murderers at Macbeth’s coronation ball. Lady Macbeth quiets the palace guests. Macbeth with the Three Witches and voodoo celebrants. Macduff’s son and daughter with Nurse. Macduff learns of the murder of his family. Macduff hails victory over Macbeth. Edna Thomas (Lady Macbeth). Jack Carter and Edna Thomas. Marie Young Lady Macduff. Virginia Girvin (Nurse), Bertram Holmes and Wanda Macy. Wanda Macy and Bertram Holmes (Macduff’s children). Lewis Johnson (The Porter). Using the original 1936 promptbook, in 1977, the Henry Street Settlement’s New Federal Theatre revived the production, starring Lex Monson and Esther Rolle. In 2001, Lenwood Sloan created the Vo-Du Macbeth, inspired in part by the 1936 Federal Theatre production. The National Black Arts Festival announced their plans to revive the play in 2012 in Atlanta, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The American Century Theater produced the play in 2013. Rehearsals for the Voodoo Macbeth and the reaction of the Harlem Communists provide the backdrop for the historical-mystery novel King of Harlem by Steven Philip Jones. In 2017, Bob Devin Jones directed a production of Voodoo Macbeth inspired by Welles’ version, but different from it. From We Work Again (1937). Transfer Note: Copied from a 35mm positive preprint preserved by the National Archives and Records Administration. Running Time: 4 minutes. Featured in Treasures from American Film Archives: Encore Edition. It had long been assumed that no sound or moving images survived from Orson Welless legendary Voodoo Macbeth, the Federal Theatre Projects 1936 Harlem stage production of Shakespeares play, set in Haiti with an African American cast. But priceless historical footage can turn up within unlikely places. This long-forgotten record of the first professional play staged by Orson Welles was found in another film, the U. Government-produced We Work Again, a Depression-era documentary on African American employment. Orson Welles was twenty years old when he directed the Macbeth seen here. The offer came from his early mentor John Houseman, who had been appointed head of the Negro Theatre Unit of the WPAs Federal Theatre Project. Welless radio voice already earned him a thousand dollars a week, much of which he spent on the production. After mounting two newly commissioned plays by African Americans, the Negro Theatre Unit was looking to produce a classical play with a black cast. Welless conceptwhich he credited to his wife, Virginia Nicolsonwas to move Macbeth from medieval Scotland to nineteenth-century Haiti and the court of Henri Christophe 1767? 1820, the former slave who proclaimed himself King Henry I. Key to the transposition, as Welles put it at the time, was that the witch element in the play falls beautifully into the supernatural atmosphere of Haitian voodoo. If few of the available black actors had experience with blank verse, that was all the better to Welles, who, throughout his career, made Shakespeare less highbrow, often by way of massive textual changes. After a long four-month rehearsal, Macbeth opened at the Lafayette Theater 7th Ave. On April 14, 1936. Captured on film are the productions final minutes: the arrival of the conquering army disguised as Birnam Wood, Macbeths death at the hands of Macduff, and th usurpers cursèd head mounted upon a pole. The off-screen narrator of We Work Again could not be more wrong in telling us that every line in the play has remained intact. For those who know Shakespeares text well, the concluding moment is jolting. Welles brings back a character often cut altogether, the witch queen Hecate, transforms her into a man (played by Eric Burroughs), and gives him a final linetaken from the first actreaffirming the witches power: The charms wound up! Welless version thus ends not with the reestablishment of political order but with the return of repressed instincts. Macbeth is played by six-foot-four-inch Jack Carter, who had experience on Broadway in Porgy and experience in jail for murder. The end, which is always somewhat confused, commented Jean Cocteau after seeing the production, is transformed into a superb ballet of ruin and death. Some mainstream reviewers carped about Welless alterations of Shakespeare, or chided the black voices for lacking poetry. However, even Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times conceded that as an experiment in Afro-American showmanship the Macbeth merited the excitement that rocked the Lafayette last night. If it is witches you want, Harlem knows how to overwhelm you with their fury and phantom splendor. Black reviewers saw something more, an African Americancast play that was neither stereotypical folklore nor a slick musical: Roi Ottley in Harlems Amsterdam News wrote, In Macbeth the negro has been given an opportunity to discard the bandana and burnt-cork casting to play a universal character. Maurice Ellis, seen here as Macduff, took over the title role when the production went on national tourovercoming the challenges facing a 110-member African American company moving through segregated cities. The fullest account of the production is in Simon Callows Orson Welles: The Road to Xanadu (1995, Viking Press). From the Declaration of Independence to the latest executive orderthese and countless other vital government records are kept for the American people by the National Archives and Records Administration. NARA has 33 facilities holding an estimated 4 billion written records as well as motion pictures, maps, charts, architectural drawings, sound recordings, videos, aerial photos, still photos, posters, and computer files. It has documents in every format ever used by the government. The federal government is a major motion picture producer. Over the last 90 years, it has used motion pictures to explain programs and to document the work of federal agencies. NARA preserves these government-produced films as well as documentaries and newsreels about the United States made for audiences at home and abroad. The public can view motion pictures in the NARA research facility in College Park, Maryland, and attend screenings in its theater in downtown Washington, D. The movie Voodoo Macbeth had its premiere at the University of Southern California on Saturday, February 8. The screening and a Q&A with the small army of young writers and directors took place at the Eileen Norris Cinema Theatre in Los Angeles. Voodoo Macbeth chronicles Orson Welles’ groundbreaking Harlem production of Macbeth with an all-black cast in 1936. John Watson, who holds the Broccoli Endowed Chair for Producing at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, was project supervisor for the film. He has not only produced 12 feature films, including Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Backdraft and Blown Away, but served as executive producer of more than 300 hours of television. “The film was sponsored by Warner Bros via a charitable donation, ” Watson told Wellesnet. They havent yet seen the film. They will need to before any discussion can be held about its future and distribution. Jewell Wilson Bridges stars as Welles with June Scheiner cast as his first wife, Virginia Nicolson Welles. Full cast and crew credits, as well as nearly three dozen production photos, can be found online at imdb. Com/title/tt9748424. A supporting cast member posted a 10-minute behind-the-scenes look at his role in the production on YouTube. From its 27-page pitch, Voodoo Macbeth depicts the bizarre events and extraordinary characters behind the making of this theatrical sensation. The ambitious young directing genius struggles to control the inexperienced cast, fights off personal demons, battles through a troubled marriage, and fends off the attempts of a ruthless Congressman determined to shut down this’subversive’ production. At the age of 20, Welles adapted and directed the Federal Theatre Project production of Macbeth, which moved the Shakespearean play’s setting from Scotland to a Caribbean island. Before the play opened, Welles was criticized by those who feared he was creating a demeaning, burlesque production. After its opening, he was hailed for championing African-American theater. Harlem is a neighborhood in the northern section of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is bounded roughly by Frederick Douglass Boulevard, St. Nicholas Avenue, and Morningside Park on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Harlem area encompasses several other neighborhoods and extends west to the Hudson River, north to 155th Street, east to the East River, and south to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, Central Park, and East 96th Street. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, [4] it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. Harlem’s history has been defined by a series of economic boom-and-bust cycles, with significant population shifts accompanying each cycle. [5] Harlem was predominantly occupied by Jewish and Italian Americans in the 19th century, but African-American residents began to arrive in large numbers during the Great Migration in the 20th century. In the 1920s and 1930s, Central and West Harlem were the center of the Harlem Renaissance, a major African-American cultural movement. With job losses during the Great Depression of the 1930s and the deindustrialization of New York City after World War II, rates of crime and poverty increased significantly. [6] In the 21st century, crime rates decreased significantly, and Harlem started to gentrify. Central Harlem is part of Manhattan Community District 10. [1] It is patrolled by the 28th and 32nd Precincts of the New York City Police Department. The greater Harlem area also includes Manhattan Community Districts 9 and 11, and several additional police precincts. Fire services are provided by four New York City Fire Department companies. Politically, Harlem is represented by the New York City Council’s 7th, 8th, and 9th districts. The area is served by the New York City Subway and local bus routes. It contains several public elementary, middle, and high schools, and is close to several colleges including Columbia University and the City College of New York. Other points of interest. Health and housing conditions. Post offices and ZIP Codes. Map of Upper Manhattan, with Greater Harlem highlighted. Harlem proper is the neighborhood in the center. Harlem is located in Upper Manhattan, often referred to as Uptown by locals. The three neighborhoods comprising the greater Harlem area stretch from the Harlem River and East River to the east, to the Hudson River to the west; and between 155th Street in the north, where it meets Washington Heights, and an uneven boundary along the south that runs along 96th Street east of Fifth Avenue, 110th Street between Fifth Avenue to Morningside Park, and 125th Street west of Morningside Park to the Hudson River. [7][8][9] These boundaries are also cited by Encyclopædia Britannica, [10] though the Encyclopedia of New York City takes a much more conservative view of Harlem’s boundaries, only regarding central Harlem as part of Harlem proper. Central Harlem is the name of Harlem proper, and it falls under Manhattan Community District 10. [7] This section is bounded by Fifth Avenue on the east; Central Park on the south; Morningside Park, St. Nicholas Avenue and Edgecombe Avenue on the west; and the Harlem River on the north. [7] A chain of three large linear parksMorningside Park, St. Nicholas Park and Jackie Robinson Parkare situated on steeply rising banks and form most of the district’s western boundary. Fifth Avenue, as well as Marcus Garvey Park (also known as Mount Morris Park), separate this area from East Harlem to the east. [7] Central Harlem includes the Mount Morris Park Historic District. West Harlem is composed of Manhattanville and Hamilton Heights, which collectively comprise Manhattan Community District 9 and are not part of Harlem proper. The two neighborhoods’ area is bounded by Cathedral Parkway/110th Street on the south; 155th Street on the north; Manhattan/Morningside Ave/St. Nicholas/Bradhurst/Edgecombe Avenues on the east; and Riverside Park/the Hudson River on the west. Manhattanville begins at roughly 123rd Street and extends northward to 135th Street. The northernmost section of West Harlem is Hamilton Heights. East Harlem, also called Spanish Harlem or El Barrio, is located within Manhattan Community District 11, which is bounded by East 96th Street on the south, East 138th Street on the north, Fifth Avenue on the west, and the Harlem River on the east. It is not part of Harlem proper. Further information: Morningside Heights, Manhattan § SoHa controversy. In the 2010s, some real estate professionals started rebranding south Harlem and Morningside Heights as “SoHa” (a name standing for “South Harlem” in the style of SoHo or NoHo) in an attempt to accelerate gentrification of the neighborhoods. “SoHa”, applied to the area between West 110th and 125th Streets, has become a controversial name. [12][13][14] Residents and other critics seeking to prevent this renaming of the area have labelled the SoHa brand as “insulting and another sign of gentrification run amok”[15] and have said that, the rebranding not only places their neighborhood’s rich history under erasure but also appears to be intent on attracting new tenants, including students from nearby Columbia University. Multiple New York City politicians have initiated legislative efforts to curtail this practice of neighborhood rebranding, which when successfully introduced in other New York City neighborhoods, have led to increases in rents and real estate values, as well as “shifting demographics”. [16] In 2011, U. Representative Hakeem Jeffries attempted but failed to implement legislation that would punish real estate agents for inventing false neighborhoods and redrawing neighborhood boundaries without city approval. [16] By 2017, New York State Senator Brian Benjamin also worked to render illegal the practice of rebranding historically recognized neighborhoods. Politically, central Harlem is in New York’s 13th congressional district. [17][18] It is in the New York State Senate’s 30th district, [19][20] the New York State Assembly’s 68th and 70th districts, [21][22] and the New York City Council’s 7th, 8th, and 9th districts. Harlem, from the old fort in the Central Park, New York Public Library. Three Harlem Women, ca. Main article: History of Harlem. Before the arrival of European settlers, the area that would become Harlem (originally Haarlem) was inhabited by the Manhattans, a native tribe, who along with other Native Americans, most likely Lenape, [24] occupied the area on a semi-nomadic basis. As many as several hundred farmed the Harlem flatlands. [25] Between 1637 and 1639, a few settlements were established. [26][27] The settlement of Harlem was formally incorporated in 1660[28] under the leadership of Peter Stuyvesant. [29] During the American Revolution, the British burned Harlem to the ground. [30] It took a long time to rebuild, as Harlem grew more slowly than the rest of Manhattan during the late 18th century. [31] After the American Civil War, Harlem experienced an economic boom starting in 1868. The neighborhood continued to serve as a refuge for New Yorkers, but increasingly those coming north were poor and Jewish or Italian. [32] The New York and Harlem Railroad, [33] as well as the Interborough Rapid Transit and elevated railway lines, [34] helped Harlem’s economic growth, as they connected Harlem to lower and midtown Manhattan. Rowhouse built for the African-American population of Harlem in the 1930s. A condemned building in Harlem after the 1970s. The Jewish and Italian demographic decreased, while the black and Puerto Rican population increased in this time. [35] The early-20th century Great Migration of blacks to northern industrial cities was fueled by their desire to leave behind the Jim Crow South, seek better jobs and education for their children, and escape a culture of lynching violence; during World War I, expanding industries recruited black laborers to fill new jobs, thinly staffed after the draft began to take young men. [36] In 1910, Central Harlem was about 10% black. By 1930, it had reached 70%. [37] Starting around the time of the end of World War I, Harlem became associated with the New Negro movement, and then the artistic outpouring known as the Harlem Renaissance, which extended to poetry, novels, theater, and the visual arts. So many blacks came that it threaten[ed] the very existence of some of the leading industries of Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama. [38] Many settled in Harlem. By 1920, central Harlem was 32.43% black. The 1930 census revealed that 70.18% of central Harlem’s residents were black and lived as far south as Central Park, at 110th Street. However, by the 1930s, the neighborhood was hit hard by job losses in the Great Depression. In the early 1930s, 25% of Harlemites were out of work, and employment prospects for Harlemites stayed bad for decades. Employment among black New Yorkers fell as some traditionally black businesses, including domestic service and some types of manual labor, were taken over by other ethnic groups. Major industries left New York City altogether, especially after 1950. Several riots happened in this period, including in 1935 and 1943. There were major changes following World War II. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Harlem was the scene of a series of rent strikes by neighborhood tenants, led by local activist Jesse Gray, together with the Congress of Racial Equality, Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited (HARYOU), and other groups. These groups wanted the city to force landlords to improve the quality of housing by bringing them up to code, to take action against rats and roaches, to provide heat during the winter, and to keep prices in line with existing rent control regulations. [40] The largest public works projects in Harlem in these years were public housing, with the largest concentration built in East Harlem. [41] Typically, existing structures were torn down and replaced with city-designed and managed properties that would, in theory, present a safer and more pleasant environment than those available from private landlords. Ultimately, community objections halted the construction of new projects. [42] From the mid-20th century, the low quality of education in Harlem has been a source of distress. In the 1960s, about 75% of Harlem students tested under grade levels in reading skills, and 80% tested under grade level in math. [43] In 1964, residents of Harlem staged two school boycotts to call attention to the problem. In central Harlem, 92% of students stayed home. [44] In the post-World War II era, Harlem ceased to be home to a majority of the city’s blacks, [45] but it remained the cultural and political capital of black New York, and possibly black America. By the 1970s, many of those Harlemites who were able to escape from poverty left the neighborhood in search of better schools and homes, and safer streets. Those who remained were the poorest and least skilled, with the fewest opportunities for success. [48] The city began auctioning its enormous portfolio of Harlem properties to the public in 1985. This was intended to improve the community by placing property in the hands of people who would live in them and maintain them. After the 1990s, Harlem began to grow again. Between 1990 and 2006 the neighborhood’s population grew by 16.9%, with the percentage of blacks decreasing from 87.6% to 69.3%, [39] then dropping to 54.4% by 2010, [50] and the percentage of whites increasing from 1.5% to 6.6% by 2006, [39] and to “almost 10%” by 2010. [50] A renovation of 125th Street and new properties along the thoroughfare[51][52] also helped to revitalize Harlem. See also: Harlem Renaissance. Welcome to Harlem sign above the now defunct Victoria 5 cinema theater on 125th st. In the 1920s and 1930s, Central and West Harlem was the focus of the “Harlem Renaissance”, an outpouring of artistic work without precedent in the American Black community. Though Harlem musicians and writers are particularly well remembered, the community has also hosted numerous actors and theater companies, including the New Heritage Repertory Theater, [29] National Black Theater, Lafayette Players, Harlem Suitcase Theater, The Negro Playwrights, American Negro Theater, and the Rose McClendon Players. The Apollo Theater on 125th Street in November 2006. The Apollo Theater opened on 125th Street on January 26, 1934, in a former burlesque house. The Savoy Ballroom, on Lenox Avenue, was a renowned venue for swing dancing, and was immortalized in a popular song of the era, “Stompin’ At The Savoy”. In the 1920s and 1930s, between Lenox and Seventh Avenues in central Harlem, over 125 entertainment venues were in operation, including speakeasies, cellars, lounges, cafes, taverns, supper clubs, rib joints, theaters, dance halls, and bars and grills. [55] 133rd Street, known as “Swing Street”, became known for its cabarets, speakeasies and jazz scene during the Prohibition era, and was dubbed “Jungle Alley” because of “inter-racial mingling” on the street. [56][57] Some jazz venues, including the Cotton Club, where Duke Ellington played, and Connie’s Inn, were restricted to whites only. Others were integrated, including the Renaissance Ballroom and the Savoy Ballroom. In 1936, Orson Welles produced his black Macbeth at the Lafayette Theater in Harlem. [58] Grand theaters from the late 19th and early 20th centuries were torn down or converted to churches. Harlem lacked any permanent performance space until the creation of the Gatehouse Theater in an old Croton aqueduct building on 135th Street in 2006. Spiritual African Drummer on 135th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. From 1965 until 2007, the community was home to the Harlem Boys Choir, a touring choir and education program for young boys, most of whom are black. [60] The Girls Choir of Harlem was founded in 1989, and closed with the Boys Choir. Harlem is also home to the largest African American Day Parade, which celebrates the culture of African diaspora in America. The parade was started up in the spring of 1969 with Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. As the Grand Marshal of the first celebration. Arthur Mitchell, a former dancer with the New York City Ballet, established Dance Theatre of Harlem as a school and company of classical ballet and theater training in the late 1960s. The company has toured nationally and internationally. Generations of theater artists have gotten a start at the school. Manhattan’s contributions to hip-hop stems largely from artists with Harlem roots such as Big L, Kurtis Blow, The Diplomats, Mase or Immortal Technique. Harlem is also the birthplace of popular hip-hop dances such as the Harlem shake, toe wop, and Chicken Noodle Soup. Harlem is currently experiencing a gourmet renaissance, with new dining hotspots popping up uptown around Frederick Douglass Boulevard. [63] At the same time, some residents are fighting back against the powerful waves of gentrification the neighborhood is experiencing. On October 17, 2013, residents staged a sidewalk sit-in to protest a five-days-a-week farmers market that would shut down Macombs Place at 150th Street. In the 1920s, African American pianists who lived in Harlem invented their own style of jazz piano, called stride, which was heavily influenced by ragtime. This style played a very important role in early jazz piano[65][66]. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. Religious life has historically had a strong presence in Black Harlem. The area is home to over 400 churches, [67] some of which are official city or national landmarks. [68][69] Major Christian denominations include Baptists, Pentecostals, Methodists (generally African Methodist Episcopalian, or “AME”), Episcopalians, and Roman Catholic. The Abyssinian Baptist Church has long been influential because of its large congregation. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints built a chapel on 128th Street in 2005. Many of the area’s churches are “storefront churches”, which operate in an empty store, or a basement, or a converted brownstone townhouse. These congregations may have fewer than 3050 members each, but there are hundreds of them. [70] Others are old, large, and designated landmarks. Especially in the years before World War II, Harlem produced popular Christian charismatic “cult” leaders, including George Wilson Becton and Father Divine. [71] Mosques in Harlem include the Masjid Malcolm Shabazz formerly Mosque No. 7 Nation of Islam, and the location of the 1972 Harlem mosque incident, the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood and Masjid Aqsa. Judaism, too, maintains a presence in Harlem through the Old Broadway Synagogue. A non-mainstream synagogue of Black Hebrews, known as Commandment Keepers, was based in a synagogue at 1 West 123rd Street until 2008. St Martin’s Episcopal Church, at Lenox Avenue and 122nd Street. Hotel Theresa building at the corner of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and 125th Street. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building, at the same intersection as the Hotel Theresa. Many places in Harlem are official city landmarks labeled by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission or are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 12 West 129th Street, a New York City landmark[72]. 17 East 128th Street, a New York City landmark[73]. 369th Regiment Armory, a New York City landmark and NRHP-listed site[74][69]. Abyssinian Baptist Church, a New York City landmark[75]. Apollo Theater, a New York City landmark and NRHP-listed site[76][69]. Astor Row, a set of New York City landmark houses[68]:207. 1, Fort Clinton, and Nutter’s Battery, part of Central Park, a New York City scenic landmark and NRHP-listed site[77][69]. Central Harlem West130132nd Streets Historic District, a New York City landmark[78]. Dunbar Apartments, a New York City landmark[79]. Graham Court Apartments, a New York City landmark[80]. Hamilton Grange, a New York City landmark and NRHP-listed site[81]. Harlem River Houses, a New York City landmark[82]. Harlem YMCA, a New York City landmark[83]. Hotel Theresa, a New York City landmark[84]. Jackie Robinson YMCA Youth Center, a New York City landmark[85]. Langston Hughes House, a New York City landmark and NRHP-listed site[86][69]. Macombs Dam Bridge and 155th Street Viaduct, a New York City landmark[87]. Manhattan Avenue-West 120th-123rd Streets Historic District, a NRHP historic district[69]. Metropolitan Baptist Church, a New York City landmark and NRHP-listed site[88][69]. Minton’s Playhouse, a NRHP-listed site[69]. Morningside Park, a New York City scenic landmark[89]. Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, a New York City landmark[90]. Mount Morris Park Historic District, a New York City landmark district[91]. Mount Olive Fire Baptized Holiness Church, a New York City landmark[92]. New York Public Library 115th Street Branch, a New York City landmark and NRHP-listed site[93][69]. Regent Theatre, a New York City landmark[94]. Schomburg Collection for Research in Black Culture, a New York City landmark and NRHP-listed site[95][69]. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church, a New York City landmark[96]. Andrew’s Church, a New York City landmark and NRHP-listed site[97][69]. Philip’s Protestant Episcopal Church, a New York City landmark[98]. Martin’s Episcopal Church (formerly Trinity Church), a New York City landmark[99]. Nicholas Historic District, a New York City landmark district[100]. Paul’s German Evangelical Lutheran Church, a New York City landmark[101]. Wadleigh High School for Girls, a New York City landmark[102]. Washington Apartments, a New York City landmark[103]. Other prominent points of interest include. ATLAH World Missionary Church. Bushman Steps, stairway that led baseball fans from the subway to The Polo Grounds ticket booth. Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts. Harlem Children’s Zone. The Harlem School of the Arts. New York College of Podiatric Medicine. Studio Museum in Harlem. Sylvia’s Soul Food. New York Amsterdam News. The demographics of Harlem’s communities have changed throughout its history. In 1910, 10% of Harlem’s population was black but by 1930, they had become a 70% majority. [6] The period between 1910 and 1930 marks a huge point in the great migration of African Americans from the South to New York. This point also marks an influx from downtown Manhattan neighborhoods where blacks were feeling less welcome, to the Harlem area. [6] The black population in Harlem peaked in 1950, with a 98% share of the population (population 233,000). As of 2000, central Harlem’s black population comprised 77% of the total population of that area; however, the black population is declining as many African Americans move out and more immigrants move in. Harlem suffers from unemployment rates generally more than twice the citywide average, as well as high poverty rates. [106] and the numbers for men have been consistently worse than the numbers for women. Private and governmental initiatives to ameliorate unemployment and poverty have not been successful. During the Great Depression, unemployment in Harlem went past 20% and people were being evicted from their homes. [107] At the same time, the federal government developed and instituted the redlining policy. This policy rated neighborhoods, such as Central Harlem, as unappealing based on the race, ethnicity, and national origins of the residents. [2] Central Harlem was deemed’hazardous’ and residents living in Central Harlem were refused home loans or other investments. [2] Comparably, wealthy and white residents in New York city neighborhoods were approved more often for housing loans and investment applications. [2] Overall, they were given preferential treatment by city and state institutions. In the 1960s, uneducated blacks could find jobs more easily than educated ones could, confounding efforts to improve the lives of people who lived in the neighborhood through education. [2] Land owners took advantage of the neighborhood and offered apartments to the lower-class families for cheaper rent but in lower-class conditions. [108] By 1999 there were 179,000 housing units available in Harlem. [109] Housing activists in Harlem state that, even after residents were given vouchers for the Section 8 housing that was being placed, many were not able to live there and had to find homes elsewhere or become homeless. [109] These policies are examples of societal racism, also known as structural racism. As public health leaders have named structural racism as a key social determinant of health disparities between racial and ethnic minorities, [110] these 20th century policies have contributed to the current population health disparities between Central Harlem and other New York City neighborhoods. For census purposes, the New York City government classifies Central Harlem into two neighborhood tabulation areas: Central Harlem North and Central Harlem South, divided by 126th street. [111] Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of Central Harlem was 118,665, a change of 9,574 (8.1%) from the 109,091 counted in 2000. Covering an area of 926.05 acres (374.76 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 128.1 inhabitants per acre (82,000/sq mi; 31,700/km2). [112] The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 9.5% (11,322) White, 63% (74,735) African American, 0.3% (367) Native American, 2.4% (2,839) Asian, 0% (46) Pacific Islander, 0.3% (372) from other races, and 2.2% (2,651) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 22.2% (26,333) of the population. Harlem’s Black population was more concentrated in Central Harlem North, and its White population more concentrated in Central Harlem South, while the Hispanic / Latino population was evenly split. The most significant shifts in the racial composition of Central Harlem between 2000 and 2010 were the White population’s increase by 402% (9,067), the Hispanic / Latino population’s increase by 43% (7,982), and the Black population’s decrease by 11% (9,544). While the growth of the Hispanic / Latino was predominantly in Central Harlem North, the decrease in the Black population was slightly greater in Central Harlem South, and the drastic increase in the White population was split evenly across the two census tabulation areas. Meanwhile, the Asian population grew by 211% (1,927) but remained a small minority, and the small population of all other races increased by 4% (142). The entirety of Community District 10, which comprises Central Harlem, had 116,345 inhabitants as of NYC Health’s 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 76.2 years. [2]:2, 20 This is lower than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. [115]:53 PDF p. 84 Most inhabitants are children and middle-aged adults: 21% are between the ages of 017, while 35% are between 2544, and 24% between 4564. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 10% and 11% respectively. [3] In 2018, an estimated 21% of Community District 10 residents lived in poverty, compared to 14% in all of Manhattan and 20% in all of New York City. Around 12% of residents were unemployed, compared to 7% in Manhattan and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 48% in Community District 10, compared to the boroughwide and citywide rates of 45% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018, Community District 10 is considered to be gentrifying: according to the Community Health Profile, the district was low-income in 1990 and has seen above-median rent growth up to 2010. In 2010, the population of West Harlem was 110,193. [116] West Harlem, consisting of Manhattanville and Hamilton Heights, is predominately Hispanic / Latino, while African Americans make up about a quarter of the West Harlem population. In 2010, the population of East Harlem was 120,000. [117] East Harlem originally formed as a predominantly Italian American neighborhood. [118] The area began its transition from Italian Harlem to Spanish Harlem when Puerto Rican migration began after World War II, [119] though in recent decades, many Dominican, Mexican and Salvadorean immigrants have also settled in East Harlem. [120] East Harlem is now predominantly Hispanic / Latino, with a significant Black presence. NYPD Police Service Area 6, which serves NYCHA developments in greater Harlem. Central Harlem is patrolled by two precincts of the New York City Police Department (NYPD). [121] Central Harlem North is covered by the 32nd Precinct, located at 250 West 135th Street, [122] while Central Harlem South is patrolled by the 28th Precinct, located at 22712289 Eighth Avenue. The 28th Precinct has a lower crime rate than it did in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 76.0% between 1990 and 2019. The precinct reported 5 murders, 11 rapes, 163 robberies, 235 felony assaults, 90 burglaries, 348 grand larcenies, and 28 grand larcenies auto in 2019. [124] Of the five major violent felonies (murder, rape, felony assault, robbery, and burglary), the 28th Precinct had a rate of 1,125 crimes per 100,000 residents in 2019, compared to the boroughwide average of 632 crimes per 100,000 and the citywide average of 572 crimes per 100,000. The crime rate in the 32nd Precinct has also decreased since the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 75.7% between 1990 and 2019. The precinct reported 10 murders, 25 rapes, 219 robberies, 375 felony assaults, 110 burglaries, 315 grand larcenies, and 34 grand larcenies auto in 2019. [128] Of the five major violent felonies (murder, rape, felony assault, robbery, and burglary), the 32nd Precinct had a rate of 1,042 crimes per 100,000 residents in 2019, compared to the boroughwide average of 632 crimes per 100,000 and the citywide average of 572 crimes per 100,000. As of 2018, Community District 10 has a non-fatal assault hospitalization rate of 116 per 100,000 people, compared to the boroughwide rate of 49 per 100,000 and the citywide rate of 59 per 100,000. Its incarceration rate is 1,347 per 100,000 people, the second-highest in the city, compared to the boroughwide rate of 407 per 100,000 and the citywide rate of 425 per 100,000. In 2019, the highest concentration of both felony assaults in Central Harlem was around the intersection of 125th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard, where there were 25 felony assaults and 18 robberies. The Harlem River Drive by the Ralph J. Rangel Houses was also a hotspot, with 23 felony assaults and 10 robberies. Harlem Riot of 1964. Main article: Crime in Harlem. In the early 20th century, Harlem was a stronghold of the Italian Mafia. As the ethnic composition of the neighborhood changed, black criminals began to organize themselves similarly. However, rather than compete with the established mobs, gangs concentrated on the “policy racket”, also called the numbers game, or bolita in East Harlem. This was a gambling scheme similar to a lottery that could be played, illegally, from countless locations around Harlem. According to Francis Ianni, By 1925 there were thirty black policy banks in Harlem, several of them large enough to collect bets in an area of twenty city blocks and across three or four avenues. [130] These bosses became financial powerhouses, providing capital for loans for those who could not qualify for them from traditional financial institutions, and investing in legitimate businesses and real estate. One of the powerful early numbers bosses was a woman, Madame Stephanie St. Clair, who fought gun battles with mobster Dutch Schultz over control of the lucrative trade. [132] The practice continues on a smaller scale among those who prefer the numbers tradition or who prefer to trust their local numbers bank to the state. Statistics from 1940 show about 100 murders per year in Harlem, “but rape is very rare”. [133] By 1950, essentially all of the whites had left Harlem and by 1960, much of the black middle class had departed. At the same time, control of organized crime shifted from Italian syndicates to local black, Puerto Rican, and Cuban groups that were somewhat less formally organized. [129] At the time of the 1964 riots, the drug addiction rate in Harlem was ten times higher than the New York City average, and twelve times higher than the United States as a whole. Of the 30,000 drug addicts then estimated to live in New York City, 15,000 to 20,000 lived in Harlem. Property crime was pervasive, and the murder rate was six times higher than New York’s average. Half of the children in Harlem grew up with one parent, or none, and lack of supervision contributed to juvenile delinquency; between 1953 and 1962, the crime rate among young people increased throughout New York City, but was consistently 50% higher in Harlem than in New York City as a whole. Injecting heroin grew in popularity in Harlem through the 1950s and 1960s, though the use of this drug then leveled off. In the 1980s, use of crack cocaine became widespread, which produced collateral crime as addicts stole to finance their purchasing of additional drugs, and as dealers fought for the right to sell in particular regions, or over deals gone bad. With the end of the “crack wars” in the mid-1990s, and with the initiation of aggressive policing under mayors David Dinkins and his successor Rudy Giuliani, crime in Harlem plummeted. Compared to in 1981, when 6,500 robberies were reported in Harlem, reports of robberies dropped to 4,800 in 1990; to 1,700 in 2000; and to 1,100 in 2010. [136] Within the 28th and 32nd precincts, there have been similar changes in all categories of crimes tracked by the NYPD. There are many gangs in Harlem, often based in housing projects; when one gang member is killed by another gang, revenge violence erupts which can last for years. [137] In addition, the East Harlem Purple Gang of the 1970s, which operated in East Harlem and surroundings, was an Italian American group of hitmen and heroin dealers. Harlem and its gangsters have a strong link to hip hop, rap and R&B culture in the United States, and many successful rappers in the music industry came from gangs in Harlem. [139] Gangster rap, which has its origins in the late 1980s, often has lyrics that are “misogynistic or that glamorize violence”, glamorizing guns, drugs and easy women in Harlem and New York City. Engine Company 59/Ladder Company 30. Central Harlem is served by four New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire stations:[141]. Engine Company 37/Ladder Company 40 415 West 125th Street[142]. Engine Company 58/Ladder Company 26 1367 5th Avenue[143]. Engine Company 59/Ladder Company 30 111 West 133rd Street[144]. Engine Company 69/Ladder Company 28/Battalion 16 248 West 143rd Street[145]. Five additional firehouses are located in West and East Harlem. West Harlem contains Engine Company 47 and Engine Company 80/Ladder Company 23, while East Harlem contains Engine Company 35/Ladder Company 14/Battalion 12, Engine Company 53/Ladder Company 43, and Engine Company 91. Preterm and teenage births are more common in Central Harlem than in other places citywide. In Central Harlem, there were 103 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 23 teenage births per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide), though the teenage birth rate is based on a small sample size. [2]:11 Central Harlem has a low population of residents who are uninsured. In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 8%, less than the citywide rate of 12%. The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Central Harlem is 0.0079 milligrams per cubic metre (7.9×109 oz/cu ft), slightly more than the city average. [2]:9 Ten percent of Central Harlem residents are smokers, which is less than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. [2]:13 In Central Harlem, 34% of residents are obese, 12% are diabetic, and 35% have high blood pressure, the highest rates in the citycompared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively. [2]:16 In addition, 21% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%. Eighty-four percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is less than the city’s average of 87%. In 2018, 79% of residents described their health as “good, ” “very good, ” or “excellent, ” more than the city’s average of 78%. [2]:13 For every supermarket in Central Harlem, there are 11 bodegas. The nearest major hospital is NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem in north-central Harlem. The population health of Central Harlem is closely linked to influential social factors on health, also known as social determinants of health, and the impact of structural racism on the neighborhood. The impact of discriminatory policies such as redlining have contributed to residents’ bearing worse health outcomes in comparison to the average New York city resident. This applies to life expectancy, poverty rates, environmental neighborhood health, housing quality, and childhood and adult asthma rates. Additionally, the health of Central Harlem residents are linked to their experience of racism. [148][149] Public health and scientific research studies have found evidence that experiencing racism creates and exacerbates chronic stress that can contribute to major causes of death, particularly for African-American and Hispanic populations in the United States, like cardiovascular diseases. [149][150][151][152]. Certain health disparities between Central Harlem and the rest of New York City can be attributed to’avoidable causes’ such as substandard housing quality, poverty, and law enforcement violence all of which are issues identified by the American Public Health Association as key social determinants of health. These deaths that can be attributed to avoidable causes are known as “avertable deaths” of “excess mortality'”in public health. Access to affordable housing and employment opportunities with fair wages and benefits are closely associated with good health. [154] Public health leaders have shown that inadequate housing qualities is linked to poor health. [155] As Central Harlem also bears the effects of racial segregation, public health researchers claim that racial segregation is also linked to substandard housing and exposure to pollutants and toxins. These associations have been documented to increase individual risk of chronic diseases and adverse birth outcomes. [110] Historical income segregation via redlining also positions residents to be more exposed to risks that contribute to adverse mental health status, inadequate access to healthy foods, asthma triggers, and lead exposure. Drew Hamilton Houses, a large low-income NYCHA housing project in Central Harlem. Asthma is more common in children and adults in Central Harlem, compared to other New York City neighborhoods. [156] The factors that can increase risk of childhood and adult asthma are associated with substandard housing conditions. [157] Substandard housing conditions are water leaks, cracks and holes, inadequate heating, presence of mice or rates, peeling paint and can include the presence of mold, moisture, dust mites. [158] In 2014, Central Harlem tracked worse in regards to home maintenance conditions, compared to the average rates Manhattan and New York City. Twenty percent of homes had cracks or holes; 21% had leaks and 19% had three or more maintenance deficiencies. Adequate housing is defined as housing that is free from heating breakdowns, cracks, holes, peeling paint and other defects. Housing conditions in Central Harlem reveal that only 37% of its renter-occupied homes were adequately maintained by landlords in 2014. Meanwhile, 25% of Central Harlem households and 27% of adults reported seeing cockroaches (a potential trigger for asthma), a rate higher than the city average. Neighborhood conditions are also indicators of population: in 2014, Central Harlem had 32 per 100,000 people hospitalized due to pedestrian injuries, higher than Manhattan’s and the city’s average. Additionally, poverty levels can indicate one’s risk of vulnerability to asthma. In 2016, Central Harlem saw 565 children aged 517 years old per 10,000 residents visiting emergency departments for Asthma emergencies, over twice both Manhattan’s and the citywide rates. The rate of childhood asthma hospitalization in 2016 was more than twice that of Manhattan and New York City, with 62 hospitalizations per 10,000 residents. [156] Rates of adult hospitalization due to asthma in Central Harlem trends higher in comparison to other neighborhoods. In 2016, 270 adults per 10,000 residents visited the emergency department due to asthma, close to three times the average rates of both Manhattan and New York City. Health outcomes for men have generally been worse for those for women. Infant mortality was 124 per thousand in 1928, meaning that 12.4% of infants would die. [159] By 1940, infant mortality in Harlem was 5%, and the death rate from disease generally was twice that of the rest of New York. Tuberculosis was the main killer, and four times as prevalent among Harlem citizens than among the rest of New York’s population. A 1990 study of life expectancy of teenagers in Harlem reported that 15-year-old girls in Harlem had a 65% chance of surviving to the age of 65, about the same as women in Pakistan. Fifteen-year-old men in Harlem, on the other hand, had a 37% chance of surviving to 65, about the same as men in Angola; for men, the survival rate beyond the age of 40 was lower in Harlem than Bangladesh. [160] Infectious diseases and diseases of the circulatory system were to blame, with a variety of contributing factors, including consumption of the deep-fried foods traditional to the South, which may contribute to heart disease. Icahn Medical Institute of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. Harlem is located within five primary ZIP Codes. From south to north they are 10026 (from 110th to 120th Streets), 10027 (from 120th to 133rd Streets), 10037 (east of Lenox Avenue and north of 130th Street), 10030 (west of Lenox Avenue from 133rd to 145th Streets) and 10039 (from 145th to 155th Streets). Harlem also includes parts of ZIP Codes 10031, 10032, and 10035. [161] The United States Postal Service operates five post offices in Harlem. Morningside Station 232 West 116th Street[162]. Manhattanville Station and Morningside Annex 365 West 125th Street[163]. College Station 217 West 140th Street[164]. Colonial Park Station 99 Macombs Place[165]. Lincoln Station 2266 5th Avenue[166]. Main article: Education in Harlem. Central Harlem generally has a similar rate of college-educated residents to the rest of the city. While 42% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, 19% have less than a high school education and 39% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 64% of Manhattan residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher. [2]:6 The percentage of Central Harlem students excelling in math rose from 21% in 2000 to 48% in 2011, and reading achievement increased from 29% to 37% during the same time period. Central Harlem’s rate of elementary school student absenteeism is higher than the rest of New York City. In Central Harlem, 25% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, more than the citywide average of 20%. [115]:24 PDF p. 55[2]:6 Additionally, 64% of high school students in Central Harlem graduate on time, less than the citywide average of 75%. The New York City Department of Education operates the following public elementary schools in Central Harlem:[168]. PS 76 A Phillip Randolph (grades PK-8)[169]. PS 92 Mary Mcleod Bethune (grades PK-5)[170]. PS 123 Mahalia Jackson (grades PK-8)[171]. PS 149 Sojourner Truth (grades PK-8)[172]. PS 154 Harriet Tubman (grades PK-5)[173]. PS 175 Henry H Garnet (grades PK-5)[174]. PS 185 the Early Childhood Discovery and Design Magnet School (grades PK-2)[175]. PS 194 Countee Cullen (grades PK-5)[176]. PS 197 John B Russwurm (grades PK-5)[177]. PS 200 The James Mccune Smith School (grades PK-5)[178]. PS 242 The Young Diplomats Magnet School (grades PK-5)[179]. Stem Institute of Manhattan (grades K-5)[180]. Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School (grades K-5)[181]. The following middle and high schools are located in Central Harlem:[168]. Frederick Douglass Academy (grades 6-12)[182]. Frederick Douglass Academy II Secondary School (grades 6-12)[183]. Mott Hall High School (grades 9-12)[184]. Thurgood Marshall Academy For Learning And Social Change (grades 6-12)[185]. Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts (grades 6-12)[186]. Harlem has a high rate of charter school enrollment: a fifth of students were enrolled in charter schools in 2010. [187] By 2017, that proportion had increased to 36%, about the same that attended their zoned public schools. Another 20% of Harlem students were enrolled in public schools elsewhere. [188] In 2016, there were four charter-school enrollment applications for every available seat at a charter school in Manhattan. The CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, New York College of Podiatric Medicine, City College of New York, and Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, in addition to a branch of College of New Rochelle, are all located in Harlem. The Morningside Heights and Manhattanville campuses of Columbia University are located just west of Harlem. New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The New York Public Library (NYPL) operates four circulating branches and one research branch in Harlem, as well as several others in adjacent neighborhoods. The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a research branch, is located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard. It is housed in a Carnegie library structure that opened in 1905, though the branch itself was established in 1925 based on a collection from its namesake, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg. The Schomburg Center is a National Historic Landmark, as well as a city designated landmark and a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)-listed site. The Countee Cullen branch is located at 104 West 136th Street. It was originally housed in the building now occupied by the Schomburg Center. The current structure, in 1941, is an annex of the Schomburg building. The Harry Belafonte 115th Street branch is located at 203 West 115th Street. The three-story Carnegie library, built in 1908, is both a city designated landmark and an NRHP-listed site. It was renamed for the entertainer and Harlem resident Harry Belafonte in 2017. The Harlem branch is located at 9 West 124th Street. It is one of the oldest libraries in the NYPL system, having operated in Harlem since 1826. The current three-story Carnegie library building was built in 1909 and renovated in 2004. The Macomb’s Bridge branch is located at 2633 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. The branch opened in 1955 at 2650 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, inside the Harlem River Houses, and was the smallest NYPL branch at 685 square feet (63.6 m2). In January 2020, the branch moved across the street to a larger space. Other nearby branches include the 125th Street and Aguilar branches in East Harlem; the Morningside Heights branch in Morningside Heights; and the George Bruce and Hamilton Grange branches in western Harlem. Bridges spanning the Harlem River between Harlem to the left and the Bronx to the right. Harlem125th Street station on the Metro-North Railroad. The Harlem River separates the Bronx and Manhattan, necessitating several spans between the two New York City boroughs. Five free bridges connect Harlem and the Bronx: the Willis Avenue Bridge (for northbound traffic only), Third Avenue Bridge (for southbound traffic only), Madison Avenue Bridge, 145th Street Bridge, and Macombs Dam Bridge. In East Harlem, the Wards Island Bridge, also known as the 103rd Street Footbridge, connects Manhattan with Wards Island. The Triborough Bridge is a complex of three separate bridges that offers connections between Queens, East Harlem, and the Bronx. Public transportation service is provided by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. This includes the New York City Subway and MTA Regional Bus Operations. Some Bronx local routes also serve Manhattan, providing customers with access between both boroughs. [197][198] Metro-North Railroad has a commuter rail station at Harlem125th Street, serving trains to the Lower Hudson Valley and Connecticut. Harlem is served by the following subway lines. IRT Lenox Avenue Line (2 and 3 trains) between Central Park North110th Street and Harlem148th Street[200]. IND Eighth Avenue Line (A, B, C, and D trains) between Cathedral Parkway110th Street and 155th Street[200]. IND Concourse Line (B and D trains) at 155th Street[200]. In addition, several other lines stop nearby. IRT BroadwaySeventh Avenue Line (1 train) between Cathedral Parkway110th Street and 145th Street, serving western Harlem[200]. IRT Lexington Avenue Line 4, 5, 6, and. Trains between 96th Street and 125th Street, serving East Harlem[200]. Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway is also planned to serve East Harlem, with stops at 106th Street, 116th Street, and Harlem125th Street. Harlem is served by numerous local bus routes operated by MTA Regional Bus Operations:[198]. Bx6 and Bx6 SBS along 155th Street. Bx19 along 145th Street. Bx33 along 135th Street. M1 along Fifth/Madison Avenues. M2 along Seventh Avenue, Central Park North, and Fifth/Madison Avenues. M3 along Manhattan Avenue, Central Park North, and Fifth/Madison Avenues. M4 along Broadway, Central Park North, and Fifth/Madison Avenues. M60 SBS, M100, M101 and Bx15 along 125th Street. M7 and M102 along Lenox Avenue and 116th Street. M10 along Frederick Douglass Boulevard. M116 along 116th Street. Routes that run near Harlem, but do not stop in the neighborhood, include:[198]. M5 along Riverside Drive. M11 along Amsterdam Avenue. M35 via Triborough Bridge. M98 and M103 along Third/Lexington Avenues. The item “1936 ORIGINAL AFRICAN AMERICAN HARLEM PHOTO VOODOO MACBETH PHOTO VINTAGE” is in sale since Monday, July 27, 2020. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Photographic Images\Vintage & Antique (Pre-1940)\Other Antique Photographs”. The seller is “memorabilia111″ and is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This item can be shipped worldwide.

• Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
• Size Type/Largest Dimension: Medium (Up to 10″)
• Listed By: Dealer or Reseller
• Date of Creation: 1936
• Color: Black & White
• Subject: HARLEM MACBETH
• Original/Reprint: Original Print