Harlem Week Celebrates 50 Years Of Honoring The Community’s History

The celebration started in 1974 with Harlem Day.

Harlem Week recently began its 50th anniversary of celebrating the famed New York City community’s history and culture.

It started Aug. 1 with a breakfast at Sylvia’s Restaurant, a famed soul food staple in Harlem. The party will continue through Aug. 18, with a line-up featuring hip-hop artists like Fabolous, Broadway show performances, and delights for foodies. With free admission for all events, this year will also offer health screenings at the Harlem Health Village and a children’s festival providing school supplies.

The celebration started in 1974, with Harlem Day paying tribute to those who considered the area their home despite urban flight. The inaugural ceremony’s attendees included James Baldwin, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Maya Angelou.

“It was supposed to be a onetime event. It was never supposed to happen again,” Lloyd Williams, president of The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, told Forbes. “Nineteen seventy-four was the height of what was called ‘urban flight,’ and the urban areas of America, the Detroits and Washingtons and Chicagos, the persons with significant incomes, be they whites, Blacks, etc., were fleeing urban areas, and that which was left were in the main people of color who had nowhere else they could go.”

He added, “A ribbon was cut at 138^th street and 7^th Avenue by (actor and producer) Ossie Davis. He declared this to be the beginning of the second Harlem Renaissance.”

The day became a weekend and the weekend became weeks, all paying tribute to the vibrant community Harlem has fostered. The neighborhood remains a pillar of Black excellence first witnessed during the Harlem Renaissance. Williams touched on the “Harlem State of Mind” that continues to make it a focal point of Black culture.

“Harlem is strategically located like no other community,” he expressed. “Why? Because it’s located in Manhattan and that is the international capital of the world with the United Nations. That is the financial capital of the world with Wall Street [and] the cultural capital of the world with Broadway. That is the historical capital of the world with all of the museums. The media capital of the world. As a result, Harlem has the unique ability that what happens in Harlem resonates and is broadcast around the region, around the nation, and around the world.”

Today, the community remains home for the famed Apollo Theater and the Schomburg Center, known for holding extensive research materials on the African Diaspora and Black experience. Moreover, the celebration of Harlem’s place in the Black community expands year after year.

More information on its extensive programming, discussions, and entertainment can be found on Harlem Week’s website.