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Harlem 1946

    Black and white photo shows a crowded New York City street scene, with scores of people and vehicles in motion, notably a vintage streetcar as it approaches Seventh Ave. Signage on brownstone buildings on both sides of the street announce it as a bustling commercial thoroughfare. The name HARLEM appears in large, hand-inscribed black letters across the sky at the top of the photo.

    West 125th St. in 1946 looking west from Seventh Ave., Harlem, New York City, with the famous Apollo Theater in the right-background. Paul Robeson and Malcolm X felt at home in Harlem. King confronted institutional racism in Harlem in the wake of the 1964 Harlem riot. Today’s 125th St. is Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd; Seventh Ave. is designated Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., although Seventh Ave. is still commonly used.

    1946
    Copyright
    Undetermined as reviewed by New York Public Library
    Attribution/Credit

    Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Photographs & Prints Division, New York Public Library, "West 125th Street looking west from Seventh Avenue, Harlem, New York City" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed January 23, 2022. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/bcdf3fbe-a590-88d6-e040-e00a1806445a