X-Nico

20 unusual facts about Harlem


Bill Miles

His best-known work, the four-part series I Remember Harlem (1981), is a comprehensive look at this famous borough's diverse history.

Born in Harlem, New York, he used his deep knowledge and experience of that borough to produce films that tell unique and often inspiring stories of Harlem's history.

Give Yourself a Hand

At the time, Brad Roberts had moved to Harlem and was greatly inspired by the urban music he heard in the area.

Harlem's American Gangster

"Love Me No More" was released as a single but didn't reach any major Billboard charts.

J. Teddy Garces

He was born Joseph Teddy Garces at St. Lukes Hospital in Harlem, New York City, to a Dominican father Joseph Garces and a Dominican mother (internationally recognized poet) Yvelisse Fanith.

John David Washington

At the age of nine, Washington appeared as a student in a Harlem classroom in the 1992 feature film Malcolm X, which starred his father Denzel Washington in the title role.

Linda Hopkins

She recorded for the Crystalette, Forecast, Federal and Atco labels and often appeared at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem.

Max Hudicourt

As Haitian police and the FBI kept close watch on the faltering Haitian leftist movement, Hudicourt continued his political activity from exile in Harlem, New York.

Ming of Harlem

Ming was a young tiger, approximately 2 years old, who lived in an apartment on the fifth floor of a large living complex in Harlem, New York in 2003.

Muhammad X

Muhammad X is the self-proclaimed protector of Harlem NY, using his ability to alter density and gravity to protect the community.

Noel MacNeal

Noel MacNeal (born September 15, 1961 in Harlem, New York City) is a puppeteer, writer, and director of children's television, best known as the voice and puppeteer of Bear in Bear in the Big Blue House and Breakfast with Bear.

Pansy Craze

By the end of the 1920s much of the public image of gay people was still limited to the various drag balls in Village and in Harlem, but the early 1930s saw a new development within a highly commercial context, bringing the gay subculture of the enclaves of Greenwich Village and Harlem onto the mainstream stages of midtown Manhattan in a veritable Pansy Craze from 1930 until the repeal of prohibition in 1933.

Robert C. Lawson

That year Lawson founded the Refuge Church of Christ in 1919, after the members of a prayer band in Harlem welcomed him and turned their meetings over to him.

Roscoe Conkling Bruce

In 1927 Bruce moved to Harlem, where he became resident manager of the Dunbar Apartments.

Later he administered the Dunbar Apartments housing complex in Harlem, New York City, and was editor in chief of the Harriet Tubman Publishing Company.

Steven George Mandis

CNN reported on Mr. Steven Mandis volunteering to teach underprivileged high school students in Harlem, New York about financial responsibility.

The Death of Adam

The album tells the story of an investigation surrounding the death of a man named Adam who was murdered in his Harlem loft apartment.

The First Store

While looking through a series of old photographs, Louise (Isabel Sanford) and George (Sherman Hemsley) recall the opening of the first Jefferson Cleaners store in Harlem.

The Jarmels

The group, now called The Jarmels, was renamed after a street in Harlem, New York.

Tiger Jack Fox

Two months before the fight he was stabbed near the heart in a Harlem hotel in a dispute over a woman.


127th Street Repertory Ensemble

The 127th Street Repertory Ensemble was a theater group based in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City.

Aaniiih Nakoda College

Aaniiih Nakoda College (ANC) (formerly Fort Belknap College) is a tribal college located on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Harlem, Montana.

Andrew J. Thomas

Notable Harlem residents who moved to the complex included W. E. B. Du Bois, A. Philip Randolph, Paul Robeson and Bill Robinson.

Asadata Dafora

His drumming also appeared in a 1936 stage success, Orson Welles's all-black Macbeth performed in Harlem, on Broadway and on tour.

Big White Fog

Their first production was a revival of Big White Fog at the Lincoln Theatre in Harlem.

Cabin Creek, West Virginia

He later became the pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York, attracting the largest Protestant congregation in the nation.

Celestino Piatti

In 1971 Piatti was commissioned by the American Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to design a 39" x 45" poster to promote the closed circuit viewing at the State Armoury in Harlem of the March 8 Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier fight at Madison Square Garden.

Chic Johnson

The film is also known for having what many consider to be the finest example of swing dancing ever put on film, performed by Whitey's Lindy Hoppers (here billed as the Harlem Congeroo Dancers) with Frankie Manning.

Corrina Joseph

She has also sung on productions by artists like Underground Solution, Kamasutra, Masterbuilders, Nightmares on Wax, Classen Collective, Russ Gabriel and Harlem Zip Code.

David Loxton

In addition to serving as the director of the TV Lab from 1972 through 1984, Loxton developed the Nonfiction TV series, which produced works such as Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang, I Remember Harlem and The Times of Harvey Milk.

Deborah VanAmerongen

Additionally, VanAmerongen served as chair of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, and was a member of the Board of Directors of the NYS Housing Finance Agency; the State of New York Mortgage Agency; the Homeless Housing Assistance Corporation, the Harlem Community Development Corporation and the New York State Affordable Housing Corporation

Don't Play Us Cheap

Don't Play Us Cheap is a 1972 musical written, produced, and directed by Melvin Van Peebles, about an imp and a devil who take human form and try to break up a Harlem house party.

Education in Harlem

Kohl, Herbert R., 36 Children (N.Y.: New American Library (Plume book) (div. of Penguin) 1st Plume printing Sep. 1988 17th printing? 1967 (copyright of main text) (ISBN 0-452-26463-4)) (author taught Harlem public school 6th-grade classes in 1960s; school was at 119th St. & Madison Av.; book is an experiential journal).

Ellen Tarry

Tarry published four picture books: 1940's Janie Belle (illustrated by Myrtle Sheldon), 1942's Hezekiah Horton (illustrated by Oliver Harrington), 1946's My Dog Rinty in collaboration with Caldecott Medal winner Marie Hall Ets (photographs by Alexander and Alexandra Alland), concerning a Harlem family and their mischievous pet, and 1950's The Runaway Elephant (again illustrated by Harrington), which continued the relationships started in Hezekiah Horton.

Esmond Edwards

After the death of his brother, Noel, Edwards joined his parents in New York City where they lived in Harlem and Washington Heights for many years.

Frederick B. Williams

From 1971-2005, Williams led as Vicar and Rector at the Church of the Intercession, an Episcopal church in Harlem, New York at the border of Washington Heights.

Garfield Ridge, Chicago

Garfield Ridge stretches from Pershing Road, just north of the Stevenson Expressway (Interstate 55), to 59th Street from north to south, and from the railroad 1/4 mile east of Cicero Avenue to Harlem Avenue going west, with Archer Avenue as its main artery.

Geeta Citygirl

In 1999, Geeta Citygirl directed the American premiere of the controversial play, A Touch of Brightness by Partap Sharma at Harlem's Aaron Davis Hall.

Gerald Talbot

Much of Talbot's family came from Harlem, Maine, which was incorporated in 1818 as the town of China.

Gregory Hodge

Gregory M. Hodge was the principal for over a decade at The Frederick Douglass Academy (FDA) in Harlem, where he was noted for his tough love, "No Excuses" approach.

Harlem 1

Jester I Unit, a punishment facility in Texas and originally named Harlem 1 Unit

or Harlem Success Academy Charter School, part of Success Academy Charter Schools

Harlem Heat

In February, 2000 Stevie Ray formed Harlem Heat, Inc. with Big T, Kash (formerly known as 4x4 from the No Limit Soldiers) and J. Biggs.

Harlem Meer

Ron P. Swegman, fly fishing author, made Harlem Meer a focal point of the essay collection Small Fry: The Lure of the Little.

Harlem on the Prairie

Harlem on the Prairie was filmed on location at Murray's Dude Ranch, Apple Valley, California.

Hot Peas 'N Butter

Cotto was first exposed to music in a Pentecostal Church in Harlem, where, at only nine years old, he became a member of the church band.

Jack Agüeros

Agüeros also wrote "Halfway to Dick and Jane," an essay on his childhood in East Harlem that was included in The Immigrant Experience: The Anguish of Becoming American, a collection published in 1971 by the Dial Press that also featured contributions from Czesław Miłosz and Mario Puzo.

Julie Dash

Dash's book Daughters of the Dust: A Novel (1997) is a sequel to the film, set 20 years later in Harlem and the Sea Islands.

L.T.D.

Then they drove to New York City, in a car that they purchased together (a 1956 Chevy), and lived in the Hamilton Heights section of Harlem on 149th and Broadway, where Toby Wynn (baritone sax) joined them.

National Jazz Museum in Harlem

Based at 104 East 126th Street, the museum emphasizes the role Harlem has played in the nurturing and cultivation of jazz as a home to legends such as Duke Ellington, Benny Carter, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, Count Basie, John Coltrane, and Billie Holiday.

The National Jazz Museum in Harlem's Visitors Center features exhibits such as "The Ghosts of Harlem" by American music producer, photographer, author, and museum board member Hank O'Neal.

Richard Nicolls

He made 74th Street, beginning at the East River, the southern border patent line (which was called the "Harlem Line") of the village of Nieuw Haarlem (later, the village of Harlem); the British also renamed the village "Lancaster".

Rideau Lakes, Ontario

Rideau Lakes contains many villages and hamlets, including Chaffeys Lock, Chantry, Crosby, Daytown, Delta, Elgin, Forfar, Freeland, Harlem, Jones Falls, Lombardy, Morton, Newboro, Newboyne, Phillipsville, Plum Hollow, Portland, Rideau Ferry, and Scotch Point.

Satan and Adam

Satan and Adam, a blues duo consisting of Sterling "Mister Satan" Magee (born May 20, 1936; Mount Olive, Mississippi) and Adam Gussow (born April 3, 1958; New York City, New York), were a fixture on Harlem's sidewalks in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Selma Burke

Burke was caught up in the Harlem Renaissance with Claude McKay and, influenced by the Harlem Arts Community Center, began to chase her dream of being an artist.

Spanish Harlem Incident

"Spanish Harlem Incident" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and was released on his 1964 album, Another Side of Bob Dylan, on August 8, 1964 (see 1964 in music).

Tawan W. Davis

Davis serves as an Associate Minister at the Historic Kelly Temple Church of Harlem and as a member of the Boards of Directors of the Friends of Harlem Hospital, and the New Horizons Children's Advocacy Corporation.

Teddy Reade

After the soldiers broke up 4x4 changed his name to Cassius by joining a heel stable called Harlem Heat 2000 and acted as a bodyguard, the group consist of the leader Stevie Ray, Big T and manager J. Biggs then began feuding with Booker T. although the feud didn't last long and Harlem Heat 2000 began to split up.

The Diplomats

The original members of the group were Cam'ron, Freekey Zekey, and Jim Jones, who all grew up together in Harlem.

The Jones Sisters Trio

In 1966, having already recorded two albums for World Records, the Trio (now 21, 19, and 17) played as part of the week-long Harlem Crusade Association rally at the Apollo Theater to over 12,000 people.

Trixie Smith

As her career as a blues singer waned, mostly she sustained herself by performing in cabaret revues, and starring in musical revues such as New York Revue (1928) and Next Door Neighbors (1928) at the Lincoln Theatre in Harlem.

White Pine Music

Artists and partnerships include The Wheatland Music Organization, Freshwater, the Harlem Quartet, Central Michigan University faculty, and others.

You Were Never Lovelier

Here, as in the "Pick Yourself Up" and "Bojangles of Harlem" numbers from Swing Time, Kern belied his claim that he couldn't write in the Swing style.