Historical Harlem from a black perspective?

May 30, 2017 11:15 AM

I'd like to learn about Harlem from the non-white perspective; I've been reading Harlem: The Four Hundred Year History from Dutch Village to Capital of Black America and it's highly informative. What books, written from a black or latino perspective, would give a different sense of the history?

Any general audience history is welcome, as are fact-based memoirs, interviews, etc. I don't have the stomach for anything truly academic, but dry is fine.

posted by wnissen to Society & Culture (6 answers total)

One perspective you might find interesting, from a group not treated as white (and with many members of color): The Jews of Harlem: The Rise, Decline, and Revival of a Jewish Community.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 11:25 AM on May 30, 2017 [1 favorite]

David Levering Lewis's When Harlem Was in Vogue is, I think, the most well-known popular history of the Harlem Renaissance, though probably a little dated now.
posted by praemunire at 11:26 AM on May 30, 2017

The Warmth of Other Suns details the black migration from the South to the north and west, with a good portion of the book about Harlem.

For a historical fiction perspective, check out the following authors who use Harlem as a backdrop in some of their writings:

James Baldwin
Nicholasa Mohr
Claude McKay
Jessie Redmon Fauset (non-fiction)
Alain LeRoy Locke
Piri Thomas
posted by nubianinthedesert at 11:36 AM on May 30, 2017 [1 favorite]

Claude Brown's autobiography, "the definitive account of African-American youth in Harlem of the 1940s and 1950s" - Manchild in the Promised Land from 1965.
posted by Rash at 9:26 PM on May 30, 2017 [1 favorite]

South Asian, not black/latino, so not exactly what you asked for, but still a non-white perspective: Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America
posted by Ziggy500 at 1:49 AM on May 31, 2017

Definitely read Voices of the Harlem Renaissance Edited by Nathan Ivan Huggins. Tons (120+) selections from literature, art, music, politics.
posted by Dressed to Kill at 5:01 AM on May 31, 2017