The Harlem of my imagination is the one full of great African-American artists doing their things: writers, dancers, musicians, painters…the whole glorious mix of the Harlem Renaissance. Who with my musical interests wouldn’t love to go back in time to the Savoy Ballroom or a hoppin’ rent party?
On the other hand, my English-Irish grandmother—the farthest thing from either black or artistic—was born there in 1888.
And it began as a little Dutch farming village, miles and miles north of New Amsterdam.
Now it’s again changing fundamentally.
An interesting article in this morning’s New York Times