Of all the places I’ve lived, Harlem is the only one that makes me constantly aware of history.
On my block, for example, the famous Great Day in Harlem photo of black and white jazz musicians was shot in 1958. From time to time, as I’ve looked out my window to see various groups recreating that iconic photo.
And sometimes when I walk down 125th Street, I try to imagine what it must have been like in the early 1920s when Jamaican born Pan-Africanist, Marcus Garvey, decked out in his military regalia complete with plumed hat, and members of his Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), the first black nationalist organization, would parade down the streets. Or when in the 1960s Malcolm X would stand on the corner of 7th Avenue and 125th and preach black self-determination.
Today, the corner of 125th Street and 7th Avenue continues to buzz with activity. Seventh Avenue north of Central Park was renamed Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard in honor of the first black congressman from New York State. And near the spot where Malcolm X used to deliver his fiery speeches, stands the State Office Building, which was named after Powell in 1983.
Adam Clayton Powell Jr was born in New Haven, CT on November 29, 1908. His father, Adam Clayton Powell Sr was head of Abyssinian Baptist Church.
The younger Powell was a journalist, newspaper publisher and pastor at Abyssinian before his successful campaign to force Harlem businesses to hire blacks, got him elected to Congress in 1944.
A shrewd politician, he was appointed to the chairmanship of the House Committee on Education and Labor after 16 years and presided over legislation on minimum wage increases, equal pay for women, federal money for student loans and public libraries, among others.
The confident and charismatic take-no-prisoners Powell style did not endear him to Washington but it won him re-election time and again.
Powell was found in contempt of court after he refused to pay damages to a Harlem woman whom he had slandered. Following the charge, the House voted in 1967 to exclude him from the 90th Congress and charged him with mismanagement of the committee’s budget, misuse of payroll and travel funds. He lost his seniority and was fined.
In 1970, after 23 years in Congress, Powell lost to Charles Rangel. He resigned as minister at Abyssinian and moved to Bimini in the Bahamas.
Powell, married three times, had two sons named after him. He also adopted his first wife’s son. He died in 1972 in Miami. Following services at Abyssinian, his ashes were scattered over Bimini.
In 2002, a film on Powell, Keep the Faith, Baby was shown on Showtime and in 2005, a statue of him by Branly Cadet was placed at the corner of 125th and Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard.
Sources: Wikipedia, the New York Times
My great-grandmother was a Garveyite. She had the charter but some selfish family members have it and you know how that goes.
I’ll have to find that film on Powell. The fight then was when blacks had nothing to lose but a little bit more freedom, as a disenfranchised group. Such a struggle in a culture of rich history.
I’m telling you again, you should start doing videos of these places you’re seeing.
Okay, Totsy, you’ve convinced me. One or two photos just won’t do. I hear ya!
Thanks for the encouragement.
I’ve met quite a few Garvyites here in Harlem. Love being here and being able to talk to the people who remember and those who choose to keep the flame going…
It’s kinda like being a travel historian because that’s some of what you’re giving in your posts. But I know writing is your skills too, which you do very well with. I don’t know, a little mixing it up as you’d like of course.
I’m gonna have a drink before I go live. 🙂 LoL!
I wonder if the people sitting under the statue ever stop to think about what those times were like.
I love messing with my kids like that. If I saw that statue, I would look up the history and tell them about it, and ask to think about what life might have been like for the people in that area at that time.
Oh, I didn’t think about that. I just kinda go with the flow. I’m not traveling now so I decided to look around me for inspiration. I followed your idea to go to the Studio Museum and while I was there, I thought, WOW, that corner of 125 & 7th is chock full of history!
Cool, have one for me.
That’s a pretty neat thing to do with kids, especially. I bet they don’t ever forget.
A good question. We walk on history everyday, don’t we? Next time I go back, I’ll definitely question them and see what they know.