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Schomburg
Center for Research in Black Culture Arturo A. Schomburg was born and educated in Puerto Rico and came to New York in 1891. Mr. Schomburg was a bibliophile, writer, editor, and historian, and began amassing books from all over the world retracing the Black experience. The New York Public Library purchased the collection in 1926. In 1932, Schomburg became the curator of the collection, which was initially housed in the original building of the New York Public Library. The collection was named for Arturo Schomburg in 1936. The new building was built between 1969 and 1980. |
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| Mother
A M E Zion Church Mother Zion, as it is called, is the oldest Black church in New York State, founded in 1796 and charted in 1799 in lower Manhattan. During the years of the Underground Railroad, Mother Zion was referred to as a "Freedom Church" for its active participation in the network. The present Neo-Gothic church was completed in 1925. In the years of the Great Depression, Mother Zion continued its tradition of social activism and is still a leading voice in the New York community. |
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City
College City College was founded by Townsend Harris in 1847 to provide children of the poor and new immigrants the opportunity to pursue higher education. Originally known as the Free Academy, City College moved to its current site in 1907. The university's Collegiate Gothic architecture, which is also used in many Ivy League colleges, symbolizes the fact that the education received at City College is as good as an Ivy League education. The college boasts a list of many prominent Americans as graduates, including Edward Koch, Colin Powell, Jonas Salk, and Walter Mosley. |
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| Strivers
Row Originally developed as a middle class enclave, Strivers Row started attracting the Black upper middle class in the 1920's and 30's. The architecture of Strivers Row alone warrants a visit. The red hued townhouses on 138th Street and the Stanford White buildings on the north side of 139th Street are especially charming. Well-known residents of Strivers Row have included Ethel Waters, Eubie Blake, W.C. Handy, father of the blues, legendary bandleader Fletcher Henderson, and Vertner Tandy, the first Black architect to be licensed in New York State. |
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Hamilton
Heights Hamilton Heights was very popular with wealthy New Yorkers from the colonial era to the 19th century. The hills of Harlem were dotted with summer estates of such notables as the Hamiltons, the Bleeckers, and the Schuylers. Later in the last decades of the 19th century, real estate development was spurred on by the construction of the eleveted railroad. Hamilton Heights attracted the well-to-do Black upper middle class in the 1930's, and remains to this day one of the most captivating residential enclaves of upper Manhattan. |
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| Harlem
YMCA Now named The Jackie Robinson YMCA, the Harlem YMCA opened in 1919, when the Black population from the west side moved north to Harlem. African American leaders such as James Weldon Johnson supported separate Y's under the premise that if there were no separate Y's for Black patrons, there might not be any at all. The Harlem Y offered recreational facilities as well as vocational and literacy classes, lectures, theatrical and musical performances, and community meetings, and became a center of political activity. Some of the residents who called the Y home were famed Renaissance poets Claude McKay and Langston Hughes, and writer Ralph Ellison. |
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Duke
Ellington Apartment Building at 935 St. Nicholas Avenue Duke Ellington, one of America's greatest composers, lived in apartment 4A of this Sugar Hill building from 1939 until 1961. Ellington came to Harlem in 1923, and worked as a Ragtime piano player until he took over the band at the Cotton Club. As the anecdote goes, "Take the A Train" was composed by Billy Strayhorn, Ellington's pianist and arranger, inspired by a frequent comment of Ellington's which referred to the 155th Street train station. Ellington would often tell guests that it took only fifteen minutes from midtown to Harlem on the A train. |
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Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater opened in 1914 as Simon and Hurtig's New Theater, a vaudeville House. In 1934 the theater changed ownership and the name was changed to the Apollo Theater. The manager of the Apollo, Ralph Cooper, Sr., started "Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater," a contest that became one of the most significant showcases for Black talent. The Apollo's contribution to American entertainment spans generations, and legends discovered there include Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, and Michael Jackson. |
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Sylvan
Terrace The houses at Sylvan Terrace were built in the latter part of the 19th century, on what used to be the main carriage drive leading to the Morris Jumel Mansion. In the early years, the working class residents of the flats included a postman, a seamstress, government workers, and police officers. After the collapse of the real estate market, the houses were sold as individual units. Over the years, the facades were heavily altered, but through the efforts of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the houses have been restored to their original French Colonial style beauty. |
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| Teresa
Hotel Built and opened in 1913, the Teresa Hotel was only desegregated in 1940, and became known as the Waldorf of Harlem. Frequented by local celebrities, the Teresa became a hot spot in Harlem. In 1960 the Teresa made history when it welcomed Fidel Castro after his eviction from the Shelburne Hotel. The hotel was also the headquarters of many community and national organizations such as the March on Washington led by A. Philip Randolph, and Malcolm X's Organization for African Unity. The building was converted to office space in 1970. |
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