Colored Orphan Asylum, Harlem, 1872

If you were black and orphaned in New York in the 1800s, there was nowhere to go but the cruel streets. Become a Harlem Insider! Sign-Up for our Newsletter *Select list(s) to subscribe toHarlem World Magazine Example: Yes, I would like to receive emails from Harlem World Magazine. (You can unsubscribe anytime)Constant Contact Use. Please…

Harlem’s Duke Ellington, Photograph By Lee Tanner (video)

Duke Ellington When his drummer Sonny Greer was invited to join the Wilber Sweatman Orchestra in New York City, Ellington made the fateful decision to leave behind his successful career in Washington, D.C., and move to Harlem, becoming one of the figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Become a Harlem Insider! Sign-Up for our Newsletter *Select…

Anniversary Of A’Lelia Walker’s Death (August 17th, 1931)

Eighty years ago this month on August 17, 1931–after a lovely day at the beach celebrating a friend’s birthday– A’Lelia Walker, my great-grandmother and namesake, died in Long Branch, New Jersey. Become a Harlem Insider! Sign-Up for our Newsletter *Select list(s) to subscribe toHarlem World Magazine Example: Yes, I would like to receive emails from…

Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. in Harlem

Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., National Hero of Jamaica (August 17, 1887 – June 10, 1940), Become a Harlem Insider! Sign-Up for our Newsletter *Select list(s) to subscribe toHarlem World Magazine Example: Yes, I would like to receive emails from Harlem World Magazine. (You can unsubscribe anytime)Constant Contact Use. Please leave this field blank.By submitting this…

Columbia Archaeologist Unearths Seneca Village Beneath Central Park

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfZtMbEvKTk&w=640&h=390] Columbia University archaeologist Nan Rothschild walks her dog in Central Park each morning, not far from where William G. Wilson used to live—more than 150 years ago. Become a Harlem Insider! Sign-Up for our Newsletter *Select list(s) to subscribe toHarlem World Magazine Example: Yes, I would like to receive emails from Harlem World…

Parade On 7th Avenue In Harlem, 1920’s

From the from “Views of America” portfolio by James Augustus Van Der Zee in the 1920’s. Become a Harlem Insider! Sign-Up for our Newsletter *Select list(s) to subscribe toHarlem World Magazine Example: Yes, I would like to receive emails from Harlem World Magazine. (You can unsubscribe anytime)Constant Contact Use. Please leave this field blank.By submitting…

Butch Lewis, More than a Promoter

By Marc “The Raz” Rasbury With the all of the NFL lockout news dominating the sports airwaves of late, the death of the flamboyant boxing promoter, Butch Lewis, flew under the radar screen this week. But this in no way should diminish the impact this man had on the world of boxing and the entertainment…

Walter’s World: On The Block Performance – Thank You

The July 7th ArtCrawl Harlem fund raising performance of an excerpt from On The Block was a very special and rewarding evening. The excerpt entitled Intimate Strangers was the first sections choreographed for what would evolve into an eighty-minute one-act production. When Artistic Director Sheila Rohan and I embarked on the production for the Nanette…

Writer Woman: Why I Write

I don’t know how many times I heard my aunt, Eartha, after whom I am named, tell this one particular story. According to her, I was three years old—telling everybody’s business—outside in front of her building with pen and paper, writing “a book.” I don’t remember that. Or even if I was able to write…

New $100 Million Development Planned

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert K. Steel and New York City Economic Development Corporation NYCEDC President Seth W. Pinsky today announced the selection of developers to rehabilitate the former Taystee Bakery Complex and the Corn Exchange Building, both located along the 125th Street commercial corridor in Harlem. Become a Harlem…

Harlem’s Toccara Jones ‘The Ultimate Merger’

Toccara Jones, the vivacious and voluptuous fashion model and television personality Harlem resident, takes on the challenge of a lifetime when she puts her heart and soul into the search for her perfect mate as the bachelorette in the return of TV One’s popular reality series, The Ultimate Merger, premiering Thursday, August 4 at 9…

Pat Crowe, “Harlem Outlaw,” Died In Harlem Hospital In 1921

Pat Crowe, the ex-convict who lectured in Hagerstown several years ago on the theme that “Crime Doesn’t Pay,” died Saturday in a New York hospital, aged 79. Become a Harlem Insider! Sign-Up for our Newsletter *Select list(s) to subscribe toHarlem World Magazine Example: Yes, I would like to receive emails from Harlem World Magazine. (You…

The Raz: Tale of Two Shortstops

By Marc “The Raz” Rasbury It is funny how fortunes can change in a (Harlem) New York minute. Two years ago, Derek Jeter was the King of New York while his Mets counter part, Jose Reyes, was being labeled an enigma. Jeter was leading the Yanks to their 27th World Series Championship whereas Reyes was…

A’Lelia Walker’s Sterling Silver Flask

A’Lelia Walker carried a flask, especially after Prohibition became the law of the land. In her case, of course, the flask was sterling silver, befitting her love of fine things. Become a Harlem Insider! Sign-Up for our Newsletter *Select list(s) to subscribe toHarlem World Magazine Example: Yes, I would like to receive emails from Harlem…