About Harlem

Harlem is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, long known as a major African-American cultural and business center. After being associated for much of the second half of the twentieth century with crime and poverty, it is now undergoing something of a social and economic renaissance.

In the early 1900s, particularly in the 1920s, African-American literature, art, music, dance, and social commentary began to flourish in Harlem. This African-American cultural movement became known as "The New Negro Movement" and later as the Harlem Renaissance. More than a literary movement, the Harlem Renaissance exalted the unique culture of African-Americans and redefined African-American expression. African-Americans were encouraged to celebrate their heritage.

The main factors contributing to the development of the Harlem Renaissance were African-American urban migration, trends toward experimentation throughout the country, and the rise of radical African-American intellectuals.

The Harlem Renaissance transformed African-American identity and history, but it also transformed American culture in general. Never before had so many Americans read the thoughts of African-Americans and embraced the African-American community's productions, expressions, and style.

Like the first Harlem Renaissance (1920 – 1935), the next outpouring of culture, art, writing and political action that defined it, will only occur when the community becomes more efficiently connected and Harlemites begin a new generation of organizing around common interests. The transformative power of the Internet, and its inherent value of connection and as a powerful new mechanism for social networking, will be the digital glue that connects the next Harlem Renaissance

For more information on the history and background of Harlem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem