Big Maybelle Louis Smith, Harlem (video)

Mabel Louise Smith was born in Jackson Tennessee (May 1, 1924 – January 23, 1972). In the early nineteen thirties the young Mabel won an amateur singing contest in Memphis, and decided that performing was for her. Become a Harlem Insider! Sign-Up for our Newsletter *Select list(s) to subscribe toHarlem World Magazine Example: Yes, I…

Liberation Bookstore Owner in Harlem Una Mulzac Passes

In the 1980s and ’90s, the New York City Department of Sanitation gave Una Mulzac as many as 50 summonses — she did not count them because she had no intention of paying them — for refusing to sweep 18 inches into the street in front of her bookstore. Become a Harlem Insider! Sign-Up for…