National Tap Dance Day will be feted by the American Tap Dance Foundation, Monday, May 23 through Thursday, May 26, 2022, with a four-day celebration of an American art form and national treasure. VIDEO Harlem Cultural Archives is a donor and foundation-supported Historical Society, Its mission is to create, maintain and grow a remotely accessible,…
Bill “Bojangles” Robinson is all kisses at a Ticket Campaign for the New York Worlds Fair, on 132nd Street and Seventh Avenue in Central Harlem, NY 1939 VIDEO Harlem Cultural Archives is a donor and foundation-supported Historical Society, Its mission is to create, maintain and grow a remotely accessible, online, interactive repository of audio-visual materials…
Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949, was a pioneer and pre-eminent African-American tap dance performer since his childhood. VIDEO Harlem Cultural Archives is a donor and foundation-supported Historical Society, Its mission is to create, maintain and grow a remotely accessible, online, interactive repository of audio-visual materials documenting Harlem’s remarkable and varied…
Shirley Temple and Harlem’s Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson behind-the-scenes in the film The Littlest Rebel, in1935. VIDEO Harlem Cultural Archives is a donor and foundation-supported Historical Society, Its mission is to create, maintain and grow a remotely accessible, online, interactive repository of audio-visual materials documenting Harlem’s remarkable and varied multicultural legacies, including its storied past as…
Taken on January 9th, 1936, what a great photograph of legendary dancer, actor, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, 1936 Olympics gold medalist Jesse Owens and the Cotton Club dancers. VIDEO Harlem Cultural Archives is a donor and foundation-supported Historical Society, Its mission is to create, maintain and grow a remotely accessible, online, interactive repository of audio-visual materials documenting Harlem’s remarkable…
Here’s a vintage 1936 original photograph capturing Fred Astaire wearing blackface attired to evoke the dancer and Harlem man Bill Robinson, in the “Bojangles of Harlem” solo sequence of “Swing Time”. VIDEO Harlem Cultural Archives is a donor and foundation-supported Historical Society, Its mission is to create, maintain and grow a remotely accessible, online, interactive…
Adelaide Louise Hall, 20 October 1901 – 7 November 1993, was a Harlem and UK-based jazz singer and entertainer. VIDEO Harlem Cultural Archives is a donor and foundation-supported Historical Society, Its mission is to create, maintain and grow a remotely accessible, online, interactive repository of audio-visual materials documenting Harlem’s remarkable and varied multicultural legacies, including…
The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub from 1923 to 1940. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue (1923 to 1935), then briefly in midtown Theater District 1935-1940. VIDEO Harlem Cultural Archives is a donor and foundation-supported Historical Society, Its mission is to create, maintain and grow a remotely accessible, online,…
Owen Vincent Madden, December 18, 1891 – April 24, 1965, known as Owney Madden and nicknamed “The Killer”, was a leading underworld figure in Manhattan, most notable for his involvement in organized crime during Prohibition. VIDEO Harlem Cultural Archives is a donor and foundation-supported Historical Society, Its mission is to create, maintain and grow a…
Nina Mae McKinney, June 13, 1912 – May 3, 1967, was an American actress who worked internationally during the 1930s and in the postwar period in theatre, film and television, after getting her start on Broadway and in Hollywood. VIDEO Harlem Cultural Archives is a donor and foundation-supported Historical Society, Its mission is to create, maintain…
Langston Hughes was a cousin; Booker T. Washington was a friend; Bill “Bojangles” Robinson taught her tap dance; W. E .B. du Bois a likely first lover… Contemporary ‘It girls’ have nothing on the free spirits of the 1920s like Anita Thompson Dickinson Reynolds, who danced the Charleston, turned cartwheels on the sidewalk, and drank…
The Palm Cafe at 209 West 125th Street. The palm was a one of the most well known jazz establishment in Harlem. VIDEO Harlem Cultural Archives is a donor and foundation-supported Historical Society, Its mission is to create, maintain and grow a remotely accessible, online, interactive repository of audio-visual materials documenting Harlem’s remarkable and varied…
A rare photograph of the James Van Der Zee’s G.G.G. Studio at 272 Malcolm X Blvd, Harlem, NY on the east side of Lenox Avenue between 123rd and 124th Streets, in the 1940s. VIDEO Harlem Cultural Archives is a donor and foundation-supported Historical Society, Its mission is to create, maintain and grow a remotely accessible,…
Edward Vincent “Ed” Sullivan, September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974, was a US entertainment writer and television host, best known as the presenter of the television variety program The Toast of the Town, now usually remembered under its second name, The Ed Sullivan Show. VIDEO Harlem Cultural Archives is a donor and foundation-supported Historical…
The New York Black Yankees were a professional Negro league baseball team based in New York City, Paterson, NJ, and Rochester, NY that played from 1936 to 1948. VIDEO Harlem Cultural Archives is a donor and foundation-supported Historical Society, Its mission is to create, maintain and grow a remotely accessible, online, interactive repository of audio-visual…