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50 years on, Harlem Week shows how a New York City neighborhood went from crisis to renaissance
https://www.voanews.com/a/years-on-harlem-week-shows-how-a-new-york-city-neighborhood-went-from-crisis-to-renaissance-/7747869.html50 years on, Harlem Week shows how a New York City neighborhood went from crisis to renaissance
August 19, 2024 3:13 AM
By Associated Press
A man walks past a mural in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, Aug. 15, 2024.
NEW YORK —
In 1974, Harlem’s deserted streets and tumbledown tenements told the story of a neighborhood left behind. Decades of disinvestment had culminated in a mass exodus known as urban flight and residents watched as their wealthier, more educated counterparts left the New York City neighborhood in droves.
But the tide turned when Percy Sutton, then the Manhattan borough president and New York City’s highest-ranking Black elected official, launched a campaign to bring back vitality to the historically African American neighborhood that had been known as a global Black mecca of arts, culture and entrepreneurship.
It became known as Harlem Week and would go on to draw back those who had departed. On Sunday, organizers celebrated Harlem Week's 50th anniversary after 18 days of free programming that showcased all the iconic neighborhood has to offer.
Harlem Week stands as “the constant line through the last 50 years of America’s most historic Black neighborhood,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, whose National Action Network is headquartered in the neighborhood. “The dream of Percy Sutton and his peers in government, arts, the church and other elements of Harlem lives on, stronger than ever.”
[...]
August 19, 2024 3:13 AM
By Associated Press
A man walks past a mural in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, Aug. 15, 2024.
NEW YORK —
In 1974, Harlem’s deserted streets and tumbledown tenements told the story of a neighborhood left behind. Decades of disinvestment had culminated in a mass exodus known as urban flight and residents watched as their wealthier, more educated counterparts left the New York City neighborhood in droves.
But the tide turned when Percy Sutton, then the Manhattan borough president and New York City’s highest-ranking Black elected official, launched a campaign to bring back vitality to the historically African American neighborhood that had been known as a global Black mecca of arts, culture and entrepreneurship.
It became known as Harlem Week and would go on to draw back those who had departed. On Sunday, organizers celebrated Harlem Week's 50th anniversary after 18 days of free programming that showcased all the iconic neighborhood has to offer.
Harlem Week stands as “the constant line through the last 50 years of America’s most historic Black neighborhood,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, whose National Action Network is headquartered in the neighborhood. “The dream of Percy Sutton and his peers in government, arts, the church and other elements of Harlem lives on, stronger than ever.”
[...]