NEW YORK (AP) — In the 1970s, Harlem’s deserted streets and run-down tenements told the story of an abandoned neighborhood. Disinvestment had taken its toll.
Violence, crime and poor living conditions had become the norm, and nearly 50,000 residents – a third of the neighborhood’s population – left Harlem over the course of the decade. Amid the exodus, a girl named LeeSandra Moore hugged her own mother goodbye. Her mother moved to Virginia.
“It was a scary time,” said Moore, who is now 52 and still lives in Harlem. “I couldn’t blame her.”
Harlem and hardship were often considered one and the same, but in 1974 Percy Sutton, then borough president of Manhattan, launched a revitalization campaign. His brainchild, Harlem Week, shifted the focus from Harlem’s problems to its heritage as a global black mecca of arts, culture and entrepreneurship. Over the years, it helped to lure back residents who had long moved away.
On Sunday, New York celebrated the 50th anniversary of Harlem Week, capping 18 days of free programming showcasing all that the iconic neighborhood has to offer. Despite all the challenges and changes, said the Rev. Al Sharpton, whose National Action Network is headquartered in Harlem, “Harlem Week has been the constant throughline of America’s most historic black neighborhood for the past 50 years.”
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In the 1970s, considered by many historians to be the neighborhood’s darkest years, Sutton knew Harlem needed a resurrection.
Those who had stayed during the flight to the cities – mostly low-income black families – turned on their televisions and saw news anchors calling their homeland a “sinking ship.” They had lived through recent unrest, such as a riot in 1964 that killed an unarmed black teenager, the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, and the riots that followed the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.
Before the first Harlem Day in 1974, Sutton called together elected officials. He gathered cultural icons, including James Baldwin, Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Maya Angelou, Tito Puente and Max Roach.
Radio DJs Hal Jackson and Frankie Crocker hosted a concert, and actor Ossie Davis cut a ribbon at the corner of 138th Street and 7th Avenue, announcing the beginning of the “Second Harlem Renaissance.” At the ceremony, 7th Avenue was renamed Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard in honor of the congressman who represented Harlem, and Harlem Day was established.
It was the first time that a street in New York City was named after a person of color.
“It was such a successful day,” said Lloyd Williams – one of Harlem Day’s co-founders and the current president of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce – that New Yorkers wanted to make it an annual event. Harlem Day then evolved into Harlem Weekend and eventually Harlem Week, which included a month of festivities before the pandemic.
“Only in Harlem can a week be longer than seven days,” said Williams, whose family has lived in Harlem since 1919. “Our development is impacting communities of color in America and around the world – we call it the ‘Harlem State of Mind.'”
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This year’s celebration featured hundreds of food and merchandise vendors and entertainment ranging from Broadway performances and an Apollo Hour to a tribute to Harry Belafonte. Residents participated in empowerment activities: financial literacy workshops, job training and the Children’s Festival, where every child took home a school bag.
In the air was not only cheer, but also a desire for healing – an initiative to address Harlem’s long-standing health crisis. During hip-hop artist JSWISS’s performance at the State Office Building, volunteers in white coats pulled up a cart to take concertgoers’ blood pressure. And during a black health summit, attendees heard talks on substance abuse, HIV/AIDS and healthy aging.
Jennifer Saunders, a 33-year-old Bronx resident, attended the summit to learn more about her health “so I can live a long life.” She has attended Harlem Week five times since being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2017.
Cynthia Bailey, 57, model and star of the “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” participated in this year’s Harlem Week as a celebrity speaker and talked about her journey with fibroids and her mother’s cancer.
“There’s so much fear. My mom was terrified when she found out she had breast cancer, and that keeps us from going for screenings,” Bailey told The Associated Press. “Events like this are super important because they just help us understand that our lives are more important than fear.”
Malik Yoba, 55, who was born in the Bronx and grew up in Harlem, says he spent his childhood playing in the dirt of vacant lots. But as an actor, Yoba brought Harlem’s history to the screen, and now he’s fighting against the housing inequality he experienced firsthand.
“When you grow up in disenfranchised and impoverished communities, you can’t see the forest for the trees,” said Yoba, who also served as a keynote speaker at Harlem Week. “You grow up believing that walking past burned buildings is a birthright, rather than understanding that building is a business.”
Hazel Dukes, 92, a prominent New York civil rights activist and 30-year resident of Harlem, has fought against discrimination all her life. She lived in the same Harlem building as Sutton and was involved in the same activism as him. In 1989, she became national president of the NAACP.
“I know what it feels like to be turned away,” says Dukes, who was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama, where she endured racial segregation under Jim Crow laws.
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Organizers and residents credit Harlem Week with a revitalization: restored buildings, new businesses and immigrants enriching an already vibrant melting pot. Harlem’s streets resonate with local jazz, reggae, R&B and gospel traditions.
Since 7th Avenue was renamed 50 years ago, other streets now bear names such as Frederick Douglass Boulevard, Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam Way and Ann Petry Place in honor of the trailblazers of yesteryear. While there is hope, there is also unease about persistent problems such as diabetes and increasing gentrification.
Moore, a Harlem native whose mother moved to Virginia, has watched as large chains like Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Old Navy moved into the city, partially displacing local businesses and driving up rent prices. “Some things are OK, but what about the small shops where you can get great sandwiches that don’t cost a fortune?” she asked.
“Fast food is practically on every corner,” added Moore, a healthy eating advocate and cooking class for students in grades 1-12. She listed the locations of local McDonald’s: two within an eight-minute walk along 125th Street; and in the past, there was even one at Harlem Hospital.
At Harlem Week, Moore represented GirlTrek, a national movement of black women promoting health through walking. Taking a break from handing out flyers, she said, “I feel like I should have walked a long time ago, but something about Harlem draws me back there.”
“Harlem is my beginning. Harlem is my future. Harlem is a big part of what makes me who I am,” she continued. “I will represent Harlem forever. I will, no matter what.”
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