(ScrippsNews.com) — Many communities are little more than tracts of real estate. Harlem is not one of them. Known as the “Black Capital of America,” Harlem is a one-of-a-kind culture. Beyond being a physical location in upper Manhattan, it is hallowed ground for many blacks.
It is where the famous Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s occurred, where the intellectual life of black artists flowered and entertainers found a safe space to hone their skills. During these years, writers such as Zora Neale Hurston, Jean Toomer, W.E.B. DeBois, Alain Locke, James Weldon Johnson, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay and Arna Bontemps worked here. They joined musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker to forge a movement that became an essential part of America’s cultural history.
These great artists are gone, and most of the grand old clubs of that period have disappeared, victims of gentrification. Connie’s Inn, where Fats Waller played, is now a parking garage. Small’s Paradise has been replaced by an International House of Pancakes. The famous movie theaters — the Victoria, the Lafayette and the Regent — have been demolished. The once-familiar facades on Harlem’s best-known thoroughfare, 125th Street, have made room for chains such as Old Navy, Seaman’s, Staples and Starbucks.
This physical metamorphosis means that the demographics of the area are rapidly changing, too. A harsh truth for many U.S.-born blacks in central Harlem is that they no longer are the majority. They are outnumbered by a combination of African-born blacks, whites from lower Manhattan and Hispanics from east Harlem seeking affordable housing.
