Harlem Links

Relying on the expertise of distinguished editors, contributors, provides access to trusted information, interpretation and scholarship on the global Harlem experience. It’s all free. It’s all enriching. Users worldwide can find, in this virtual Harlem, exhibitions, books, articles, photographs, prints, audio and video streams, and selected external links for research in the history and cultures of Harlem.

Our whole mission is to distribute Harlem content, curate it, and give you access to this high quality content whenever and wherever you want it. Free audio books, free movies, free ebooks and other enriching content — it’s all here.Harlem World Magazine was founded in 2003.

Audio

James Baldwin with R.H. Darden 1968. A discussion on the plight of Black Americans by Harlem’s James Baldwin with R.H. Darden at the Beverly Hill Holtel in Los Angeles, CA., introduced by comedian Dick Van Dyke. BROADCAST: KPFK, 1 Apr. 1968.(60 min.) BB4514 Pacifica Radio Archives. Listen here.

New York City Visions @ Morris-Jumel Mansion. On this historically-significant chapter of New York City Visions, we’re inside Manhattan’s oldest house…Morris-Jumel Mansion. George Washington slept; dined; and commanded, here…during  the ’76 ‘Battle of Harlem Heights.’ And later, (1810-1865) where the mansion’s mistress of the manor, Eliza Jumel, ruled. And
where, some have speculated…she may still. Listen here.

Insight: Swingin’ at The Cotton Club, (August 21, 2005). In 1931 a German radio producer broadcast live to Germany from the legendary Cotton Club in New York City. A recording of that broadcast was recently found. KXJZ producer Matias Bombal will give this historic recording its U.S. broadcast premiere on Sunday night at 9:00 pm on KXJZ’s Classical Jazz and Swing. Today on Insight, we listen to remarkable clips, including Cab Calloway and his orchestra playing Minnie the Moocher; we also talk about the broadcast, and how it happened; why the recording was lost, and how it was found; and about the Cotton Club and its place in American music history. Listen here.

Books

Commemoration of the battle of Harlem Plains on its one hundredth anniversary (1876). Read here.

Catalogue of the Harlem Library, (1878). Read here.

The history of Harlem : an historical narrative delivered at Harlem Music Hall, April 24th, 1882 … : a lecture. Read here.

The battle of Harlem Heights, (1898). Read here.

New Harlem past and present; the story of an amazing civic wrong, now at last to be righted by Pierce, Carl Horton; Toler, William Pennington; Nutting, Harmon De Pau (1903). Read here.

The Jumel Mansion, being a full history of the house on Harlem heights built by Roger Morris before the revolution. Together with some account of its more notable occupants.(1916). Read here.

Movies

Murder in Harlem (1935). A black night watchman in a chemical factory finds the body of a young white woman in the basement. Blamed for the murder, the man is tried but the real killer is unmasked during the trial. Loosely based upon elements of the Leo Frank murder trial. By Oscar Micheaux. View it here.

Swing (1935). Mandy Jenkins, an African American cook for a wealthy white family in Birmingham, Alabama, discovers her husband Cornell is having an affair with Eloise Jackson. When she confronts her husband and Eloise at a nightclub, a violent fight ensues. Eloise leaves Birmingham and relocates to Harlem, getting a job as a cabaret vocalist under the stage name Cora Smith. She is followed to Harlem by her husband, Lem, who gets mixed up in the local crime scene. Mandy also arrives in New York, having left Cornell. She gets a job as the wardrobe mistress at the cabaret where Eloise is performing. When Eloise breaks her leg during a drunken fall, Mandy is recruited as a last-minute substitute. By Oscar Micheaux. View it here.

Harlem Rides the Range (1939). Bradley is after Dennison’s radium mine and it appears that his henchman Conners has killed him. When Blake arrives at Dennison’s, Bradley and Conners arrive at the same time. When Blake leaves he drops a glove. Bradley kills Conners and uses the glove to frame Blake. Learning of Bradley’s plan to kill Dennison’s daughter, Blake escapes jail and sets out to reach her. View it here.

Paradise in Harlem (1939). Between swing and blues musical numbers, the story of comedian Lem Anderson, whose long-awaited chance to act dramatically vanishes when he witnesses a mob killing and is forced to leave town. Lem becomes a wanderer, then an alcoholic. Finally a chance to play Othello draws him back to Harlem. View it here.

Gang War (1940). A fight in a diner over the claims of conflicting gangster factions reveals Bob “Killer” Meade (Ralph Cooper) as a rising lawbreaker in Harlem. View it here.

Murder on Lenox Avenue (1941). Dramatic events in a Harlem apartment house center around Pa Wilkins, chosen by the Better Business League to replace their ousted, crooked leader Marshall…who wants revenge; and Pa’s ward Jim Bracton, a two-timing Romeo whose affairs are coming to a crisis. And hanging around is Marshall’s murderous junkie henchman, Lomax. Will it all end in someone’s being killed? View it here.

This is the Army (1943). Dancer Jerry Jones (George Murphy) is wounded in World War I and finding his showbiz options limited becomes a producer. 25 years later, he puts on an all-soldier revue jampacked with Irving Berlin songs. Includes Kate Smith singing “God Bless America” and a brief appearance by boxing legend Joe Louis and a Harlem musical number (72.32). View it here.

Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A. (1946). Gertie LaRue (Francine Everett) is a nightclub entertainer from the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. She arrives on the Caribbean island of “Rinidad” to perform as the headliner in a revue at the Paradise Hotel. Gertie has earned the nickname “Dirty Gertie” for the casual nature in which she entices and then humiliates men. On the island, she attracts the attention of two U.S. military officers – a soldier and a sailor – whom she nicknames “Tight Pants” and “High Pockets,” respectively. The men enjoy sharing Gertie’s affections. However, Diamond Joe, the owner of the hotel, finds himself falling for Gertie and begins to shower her with gifts. Gertie also attracts the attention of two missionaries – Mr. Christian and Ezra Crumm – who keep watch on Gertie’s activities. However, a former boyfriend from Harlem tracks Gertie to the island. View it here.

Miracle in Harlem (1948). There’s Danger! Terror! Mystery! With a Killer on the Loose! Julie Weston and her aunt, Hattie, own and operate a candy-store in Harlem. A wealthy business man, Albert Marshall, and his wayward son, Jim Marshall, swindle the women out of the store. Later, Albert Marshall is found murdered, and there are several suspects, including Marshall’s secretary and a blackmailer. Stepin Fetchit is in this film, and (fair warning) his persona is just as irritating and offensive as in his earlier Hollywood work, but serves as a contrast to the other characters onscreen. Fetchit had trouble finding much Hollywood work in the ’40s, despite being friends with John Ford and other successful filmmakers. By Jack Kemp. View it here.

Rhythm and Blues Revue (1955). Musical variety show filmed at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York City featuring a cast of popular African-American performers: Willie Bryant, Freddie Robinson, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Faye Adams, Bill Bailey, Herb Jeffries, Amos Milburn, Sarah Vaughan, Nipsey Russell, Big Joe Turner, Martha Davis, Little Buck, Nat ‘King’ Cole, Mantan Moreland, Cab Calloway and Ruth Brown. View it here.

A New Nation. Gold Coast becomes Ghana In Ceremony, 1957/03/07 (1957). (1) people celebrate new Africa state of Ghana, Nixon visits Nkruma and Adam Clayton Powell, UN rep Ralph Bunch, first beauty queen Miss Ghana (2) ship accident in Delaware river, Navy tanker hit freighter (3) Princess christend in Monaco, daughter of Grace Kelly (4) Mardi Gras in New Orleans (partial newsreel). View the film here.

History At U.N. World Leaders Set New York A-Whirl , 1960/09/26 (1960). (1) World leaders in New York for UN meeting, Nasser meets Castro, then to Khrushchev, to Castro at Harlem’s Hotel Theresa, Ike waves from convertible, meets with Nehru, shake hands; meets with Nasser, shake hands; General Assembly meeting at UN, Dag hammershold gets ovation but Khrushchev pounds table; Castro walks to rostrum for speech of 4.5 hours (2) Football – Notre Dame vs California (3) Maryland vs Texas Longhorns (complete newsreel). View it here.

Joshua, Black Boy Of Harlem (1969). It’s Joshua’s last day in Harlem before leaving for a college in Texas where he has earned a track and field scholarship. He runs joyfully through New York’s central park but his joy ends when he is the victim of a racial slur uttered by a five year old boy that he had befriended. Later, on his way home Joshua is able to work out his anger during a fight with a boy his age. The confrontation releases Joshua’s frustration and after the fight , in a dramatic scene Joshua is able to fly a uniquely designed kite that the boy had built but was unable to get airborne. View it here.

An interview with Al Bundy, producer of hip hop beats in Harlem. (1987). View here.

The African Mind by Dr. John Henrik Clarke (1980′s). He was s one of our great Master Teachers in this modern time the highly respected scholar that has the honor of having a street named after him in Harlem, NY. Dr. Clarke gets deep into the effect the African mind has had on the history of the world and explains what African societies and religions were based on and when, who and how other nations adopted the African ways into their own societies without crediting where they got the idea from. He explains how 1,000 years of peace was possible in African societies that did not even have a word for jail much less a need to house prisoners. Dr. Clarke also gives guidance as to the reading and studying of young scholars and recognition to many upcoming Master Teachers. World history from african perspective. View here.

A White Kid Growing Up in Black and Brown Spanish Harlem (2005). With Richard Hefner and guest Dr. Thomas Webber from Columbia University about his new book. View here.