HARLEM
Geographic Setting
Central Harlem lies at the very heart of northern Manhattan, extending from 110th Street to 155th Street and from Fifth Avenue eastward to a sinuous western boundary defined by Manhattan Avenue (110th–113th and 122nd–124th Streets), Morningside Avenue (113th–122nd), St. Nicholas Avenue (124th–145th), and Edgecombe Avenue (145th–155th). This broad, rolling expanse forms the cultural and historic core of Harlem proper—an urban landscape whose rhythm is set by the long avenues running north–south: Fifth Avenue, Lenox Avenue/Malcolm X Boulevard, Seventh Avenue/Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, and Eighth Avenue/Frederick Douglass Boulevard.
To the south, 110th Street (Central Park North) marks a symbolic threshold—the gateway from Uptown to the Park’s northern edge. To the north, the terrain rises toward Sugar Hill’s heights, with views of Coogan’s Bluff and the Bronx beyond. Within these bounds lie Harlem’s grand boulevards, brownstone blocks, churches, and cultural landmarks: Strivers’ Row, Abyssinian Baptist Church, the Apollo Theater, and Marcus Garvey Park. The urban texture is dense but intimate—a mosaic of stoops, murals, and rhythm where every block holds the memory of a movement.
Etymology and Origins
The name Harlem derives from the Dutch “Haarlem,” after the city in the Netherlands, given in 1658 when Governor Peter Stuyvesant established the farming settlement of Nieuw Haarlem along the Harlem River. The area remained agricultural for more than two centuries, its fields and estates feeding the growing city to the south. The original grid of Lenox Avenue and Eighth Avenue, laid out under the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, prepared the ground for eventual urbanization, though development came slowly.
By the late 19th century, Harlem was promoted by developers as “the new suburb of Manhattan,” with wide boulevards modeled after Paris and housing for the white middle and upper classes. Rowhouses and apartment hotels rose along Lenox and Seventh Avenues in the 1880s–1890s, featuring brownstone, limestone, and ornate cornices. But a real estate bubble burst around 1904—just as new subway lines connected Harlem to downtown—making these grand homes newly affordable to a demographic that would redefine the neighborhood and, in time, American culture.
The Neighborhood
Early 20th Century: The Great Migration and the Birth of Black Harlem
Between 1910 and 1930, Harlem underwent one of the most profound demographic transformations in urban history. African Americans, migrating northward during the Great Migration, found in Harlem a place of possibility. Real estate entrepreneur Philip A. Payton Jr. and his Afro-American Realty Company broke the color line by purchasing and leasing Harlem properties to Black tenants. By 1920, Central Harlem had become the nation’s largest African American neighborhood—a crucible of political power, artistry, and social life.
The neighborhood’s institutions formed rapidly: churches like the Abyssinian Baptist Church (built 1923) became both spiritual and civic centers; The National Urban League and NAACP established Harlem headquarters; and new cultural spaces emerged along 135th Street, which became Harlem’s “intellectual corridor.” The 135th Street Branch Library (now the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture) collected and celebrated African diasporic history.
Simultaneously, Harlem’s nightlife flourished. On Lenox Avenue, supper clubs, theaters, and cabarets—most famously the Cotton Club, Savoy Ballroom, and Small’s Paradise—hosted artists who shaped the sound of the 20th century: Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, and Cab Calloway. The neighborhood’s jazz and blues became the soundtrack of modern America.
1920s–1930s: The Harlem Renaissance
During the Harlem Renaissance, Central Harlem became the symbolic capital of Black artistic and intellectual achievement. Writers Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen chronicled Black experience in verse and prose; visual artists like Aaron Douglas and sculptor Augusta Savage gave form to a new cultural consciousness.
The “New Negro Movement,” as articulated by editor Alain Locke, made Harlem the world’s beacon of Black modernity. Lenox Avenue’s rowhouses served as salons where writers and thinkers debated race, politics, and art. The nearby 135th Street YMCA and Harlem Hospital Center symbolized progress through community strength.
Yet even amid this creative flowering, inequality persisted. The Great Depression devastated Harlem’s economy, with unemployment and overcrowding rising sharply. The Harlem Riot of 1935, sparked by a false rumor and fueled by systemic injustice, exposed the neighborhood’s deep frustrations. Still, its cultural influence remained undiminished—its music and literature reaching audiences far beyond New York.
Mid-20th Century: Civil Rights, Decline, and Resilience
Postwar Harlem endured cycles of hardship and renewal. The 1943 Harlem Riot, sparked by police violence, underscored ongoing racial tensions. Urban renewal projects, redlining, and disinvestment through the 1950s–1970s deepened poverty even as Harlem became synonymous with political activism. Figures such as Adam Clayton Powell Jr., pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church and congressman for Harlem, championed civil rights from both pulpit and Congress.
In the 1960s, the neighborhood’s activism intensified. Organizations like the Nation of Islam, led locally by Malcolm X, and community groups advocating for tenants’ rights and education reform made Harlem both a battleground and beacon of Black empowerment. Music again provided voice and solace: gospel, soul, and jazz evolved into new forms—Harlem’s Apollo Theater continuing as the proving ground for artists from James Brown to Aretha Franklin.
Amid physical decline, the architecture of Central Harlem—its brownstones, churches, and avenues—remained a testament to its earlier grandeur. Grassroots preservation efforts in the 1970s–1980s, coupled with the rise of Black cultural nationalism, began to reassert pride of place. Harlem was never abandoned by its people—it was defended, block by block, through community action.
Late 20th–21st Century: Renaissance and Reckoning
By the 1990s, Central Harlem entered a new phase of renewal. Public and private investment, landmark designations, and an influx of new residents brought restoration to long-neglected brownstones. The 125th Street corridor, once lined with shuttered storefronts, became again a center of commerce and culture. Institutions like the Studio Museum in Harlem, Apollo Theater, and Schomburg Center renewed their prominence, linking historic legacy to contemporary creativity.
Gentrification reshaped the neighborhood in the 2000s–2010s, with rising property values and new developments bringing both opportunity and displacement. Restaurants and cultural venues—Sylvia’s, Red Rooster, Minton’s Playhouse—now serve as bridges between eras, preserving Harlem’s soul even as demographics evolve. Community activism persists in the face of change, asserting that Harlem’s identity is not for sale but continually redefined by those who live and create here.
Through it all, Central Harlem has remained the spiritual heart of Black New York—a global emblem of endurance and creativity. Its streets continue to honor their heroes: Malcolm X Boulevard, Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and Frederick Douglass Boulevard trace not just geography but philosophy—freedom mapped onto the city’s very grid.
Spirit and Legacy
Central Harlem’s legacy is the story of America told through resilience, rhythm, and reinvention. From its Dutch farms to its Renaissance salons, from the oratory of churches to the syncopation of jazz, Harlem has embodied the perpetual striving for dignity and expression. Its brownstones still echo with gospel and laughter; its murals tell stories of struggle and joy that no developer can erase.
New York City
Use this custom Google map to explore where every neighborhood in all five boroughs of New York City is located.
The Five Boroughs
One of New York City’s unique qualities is its organization in to 5 boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island. These boroughs are part pragmatic administrative districts, and part vestiges of the region’s past. Each borough is an entire county in New York State - in fact, Brooklyn is, officially, Kings County, while Staten Island is, officially Richmond County. But that’s not the whole story …
Initially, New York City was located on the southern tip of Manhattan (now the Financial District) that was once the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. Across the East River, another city was rising: Brooklyn. In time, the city planners realized that unification between the rapidly rising cities would create commercial and industrial opportunities - through streamlined administration of the region.
So powerful was the pull of unification between New York and Brooklyn that three more counties were pulled into the unification: The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. And on January 1, 1898, the City of New York unified two cities and three counties into one Greater City of New York - containing the five boroughs we know today.
But because each borough developed differently and distinctly until unification, their neighborhoods likewise uniquely developed. Today, there are nearly 390 neighborhoods, each with their own histories, cultures, cuisines, and personalities - and each with residents who are fiercely proud of their corner of The Big Apple.
