Harlem : The Four Hundred Year History From Dutch Village to Capital of Black America

Unrighteous beginnings: from Muscoota to Nieuw Haarlem, 1609-1664 -- Strange bedfellows: British Harlem, 1664-1781 -- Sweet asylum: founding an American Harlem, 1781-1811 -- The future is uptown, 1811-1863 -- The flash age, 1863-1898 -- Nostra Harlem, undzere Harlem: the age of immigration -- "To race with the world": the new Negro and the Harlem Renaissance -- "The kingdom of culture": Harlem's Renaissance comes of age -- "Moon over Harlem": the Great Depression uptown, 1929-1943 -- "Tempus fugue-it": Harlem in the Civil Rights Era, 1943-1965 -- Harlem nightmare, 1965-1990 -- Old and new dreams: reviving the Renaissance.;Harlem is perhaps the most famous, iconic neighborhood in the United States. A bastion of freedom and the capital of Black America, Harlem's twentieth century renaissance changed our arts, culture, and politics forever. But this is only one of the many chapters in its history. In this work the author, a historian presents a chronicle of this remarkable place. From Henry Hudson's first contact with native Harlemites, through Harlem's years as a colonial outpost on the edge of the known world, he traces the neighborhood's story, marshaling a wealth of detail and a host of figures from George Washington to Langston Hughes. Harlem was an agricultural center under British rule and the site of a key early battle in the Revolutionary War. Later, wealthy elites including Alexander Hamilton built great estates there for entertainment and respite from the epidemics ravaging downtown. In the nineteenth century, transportation urbanized Harlem and brought waves of immigrants from Germany, Italy, Ireland, and elsewhere. Harlem's mix of cultures, extraordinary wealth and extreme poverty was electrifying and explosive. This work is the history of the Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem, beginning with Hudson's first experiences in the area, through its early growth as a Dutch village and colonial agricultural center, to its transformation into a modern neighborhood. Harlem is perhaps the most famous, iconic neighborhood in the United States. A bastion of freedom and the capital of Black America, Harlem's twentieth-century renaissance changed our arts, culture, and politics forever. But this is only one of the many chapters in a wonderfully rich and varied history. Jonathan Gill's Harlem is a groundbreaking history, the first to present the complete chronicle of this remarkable place. From Henry Hudson's first contact with native Harlemites on the island they called Mannahatta, through Harlem's years as a colonial outpost at the edge of the known world, Gill traces the neighborhood's story, marshaling a tremendous wealth of detail and a host of fascinating figures. Harlem was an agricultural center under British rule, the site of a key early Revolutionary War battle, and later a bucolic site for the great estates of wealthy elites like Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and John James Audubon, who all sought respite from the epidemics raging downtown. In the nineteenth century, improved transportation brought urbanization as well as waves of immigrants. Harlem is central to the American experience of Germans, Jews, Italians, Irish, West Indians, Puerto Ricans, and, later, Dominicans and West Africans. Harlem's mix of cultures, races, religions, extraordinary wealth and refinement, and extreme poverty and violent crime has been both electrifying and explosive. Jazz, the musical, the American songbook, hip-hop, and some of the bravest voices in American literature found their home in Harlem. So, too, did street-corner preachers, racial demagogues, and civil rights pioneers. Like Russell Shorto's The Island at the Center of the World and Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace's Gotham, Jonathan Gill's history will delight readers interested in early New York and will be read for years to come, but its unique focus on the incomparable Harlem sets it apart. - Publisher. “An exquisitely detailed account of the 400-year history of Harlem.” — Booklist , starred review Harlem is perhaps the most famous, iconic neighborhood in the United States. A bastion of freedom and the capital of Black America, Harlem’s twentieth-century renaissance changed our arts, culture, and politics forever. But this is only one of the many chapters in a wonderfully rich and varied history. In Harlem , historian Jonathan Gill presents the first complete chronicle of this remarkable place. From Henry Hudson’s first contact with native Harlemites, through Harlem’s years as a colonial outpost on the edge of the known world, Gill traces the neighborhood’s story, marshaling a tremendous wealth of detail and a host of fascinating figures from George Washington to Langston Hughes. Harlem was an agricultural center under British rule and the site of a key early battle in the Revolutionary War. Later, wealthy elites including Alexander Hamilton built great estates there for entertainment and respite from the epidemics ravaging downtown. In the nineteenth century, transportation urbanized Harlem and brought waves of immigrants from Germany, Italy, Ireland, and elsewhere. Harlem’s mix of cultures, extraordinary wealth, and extreme poverty was electrifying and explosive. Extensively researched, impressively synthesized, eminently readable, and overflowing with captivating characters, Harlem is a “vibrant history” and an impressive achievement ( Publishers Weekly ). “Comprehensive and compassionate—an essential text of American history and culture.” — Kirkus Reviews , starred review “It’s bound to become a classic or I’ll eat my hat!” —Edwin G. Burrows, Pulitzer Prize–winning coauthor of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 Harlem is perhaps the most famous, iconic neighborhood in the United States. A bastion of freedom and the capital of Black America, Harlem's twentieth century renaissance changed our arts, culture, and politics forever. But this is only one of the many chapters in a wonderfully rich and varied history. In Harlem, historian Jonathan Gill presents the first complete chronicle of this remarkable place. From Henry Hudson's first contact with native Harlemites, through Harlem's years as a colonial outpost on the edge of the known world, Gill traces the neighborhood's story, marshaling a tremendous wealth of detail and a host of fascinating figures from George Washington to Langston Hughes. Harlem was an agricultural center under British rule and the site of a key early battle in the Revolutionary War. Later, wealthy elites including Alexander Hamilton built great estates there for entertainment and respite from the epidemics ravaging downtown. In the nineteenth century, transportation urbanized Harlem and brought waves of immigrants from Germany, Italy, Ireland, and elsewhere. Harlem's mix of cultures, extraordinary wealth and extreme poverty was electrifying and explosive. Extensively researched, impressively synthesized, eminently readable, and overflowing with captivating characters, Harlem is an ambitious, sweeping history, and an impressive achievement