Africa and the African Diaspora
Celebrate Harlem Week!
Let’s celebrate Harlem! As the community enjoys the 47th annual Harlem Week (August 6-15), explore Schomburg Center collections and exhibitions which highlight the history, artists, leaders, and events that have shaped this cultural mecca, impacted the nation, and influenced the world.
Harlemite Makes History As First Female to Receive Taxi License
Gertrude Hadley Jeannette, an acclaimed actress and playwright, made history as the first woman to become a licensed taxi cab driver in 1942. The Harlemite made history a second time as the first woman to receive a motorcycle license. She is one of the people featured in the exhibition Traveling While Black: Pleasure & Pain & Pilgrimage, which shows the challenges and adventures of Black people traveling around the Jim Crow South, Jane Crow North, and overseas. Learn more.
Changing Communities, Black Woodstock, Black Panthers, and Activism
(Watch above or via Livestream.)
The documentary Summer of Soul looks at six weeks during the summer of 1969 where thousands of people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival to celebrate Black history, music, and culture. The event included an extraordinary lineup of artists such as Mahalia Jackson, B. B. King, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Nina Simone, Sly & The Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, and more at what is today known as Marcus Garvey Park.
Watch our Harlem Week 2019 discussion of the festival. Panelists included award-winning producer Voza Rivers, Academy Award-nominee and former Black Panther Jamal Joseph, activist and Emmy Award-winning journalist Felipe Luciano, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, and Schomburg Center docent Cyril Innis Jr.
Stories Set in Harlem
Since its debut in spring 2020, the Black Liberation Reading List has received over 90,000 checkouts. Developed by Schomburg Center librarians, curators, and staff, the list features books written by authors of color from across the African diaspora.
Harlem is a central part of the story in many of the works, such as The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley, Harlem Nocturne; Women Artists and Progressive Politics During World War II by Farah Jasmine Griffin, and Diasporic Blackness: The Life and Times of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg by Vanessa K. Valdés. See our full list of suggested readings to discover more books with Harlem as an important backdrop. Learn more.
A Ballad for Harlem
The Schomburg Center’s 2019 exhibition, A Ballad for Harlem, highlighted the acquisition of collections such as the Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis Papers along with the Schomburg Center’s Home to Harlem Initiative. If you missed the exhibition, it’s available to view online. Explore A Ballad for Harlem.
Research Guide to Collections on Harlem and its Heroes
Inspired to explore our collections to learn more about Harlem? See our research guide Voices of the Harlem Renaissance Within the Schomburg Center. Explore the guide.
Shop In-Person at the Schomburg Shop
Looking for more books that are set in Harlem? Visit the Schomburg Shop to locate reading materials for all ages, plus discover unique items created by Black and Brown artists, especially for the Schomburg Center. Learn more.
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