Jada Crawford

Markwardt

WRT 105

10/1/18

South Harlem in New York City; when you think of it, you think of a vibrant black

culture that’s been there for decades. Live music, poetry, and nightlife. This used to be further

downtown, but African-Americans were pushed out in fear of anti-black riots and replaced by

Penn Station and Macy’s. 1925 was a peak year in history for Harlem known for the Harlem

Renaissance. It was the moment society accepted Harlem as being a breeding ground for creative

and intellectual minds to inhabit or to be born from. W.E.B. Dubois led the black people there;

there was a realtor company who only sold apartments to black people (History.com). The homes

were so cheap because they just kept building more homes than demanded, but by the time

African-Americans got there, there couldn’t have been enough (Wikipedia.org). Notable

performances made by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Cab Calloway in the Cotton Club

or Lenox Lounge. For some reason, note the previous paragraph, these places no longer exist.

Harlem was the uptown and “out-to-country” getaway for the rich and important turned into a

safe space no protest could keep them away from. It was all fine and dandy until the Great

Depression hit. People were able to get by with speakeasies, where all people came together in

perfect harmony for a moment in time to fulfill their glut, putting aside the prejudice and

racism…but then prohibition ended.

One day, you walk down the block and you notice a club that’s been in the neighborhood

longer than you have suddenly boarded up. So many places have been staples to your area's
history which leads you to believe it’s being renovated but, you’ve been told otherwise. This

happens every time you bat an eye. Historical and cultural importance takes the backseat when

money and convenience come into play. Luxuries you would have to take the subway downtown

to get to are suddenly around the corner and everyone you’ve known for the years you’ve lived

with for about a decade has gone (Cummings, personal interview, 4 Oct. 2016).

What is this phenomenon? You mean the dramatic influx of the upper middle class

moving into redeveloped housing in areas filled with low-income families, labeling it as “up-in-

coming” that perpetuates the erasure of minority culture? It’s called gentrification. A once

violent and avoided neighborhood turned upper middle-class hipster hotspot. A recent cause for a

outcry against this trend was a petition to change the name of the southern part of Harlem in New

York City (110 St to 125 St between Morningside Ave. and Fifth Ave.) to “SoHa”, a
th th

contraction of South Harlem. You may be familiar with the name SoHo, which stands for south

of Houston St; it’s an area of downtown Manhattan that’s littered with the wealthy. The name

change can be seen as a representation of the changing ethnic makeup of Harlem. Since more

people can afford market rent for apartments, there’s no incentive to give preferential rent, an
agreed upon rent made between the tenant and the landlord that is lower than the market rate, to

someone looking to settle down long-term.

The popular meme “The rent is too damn high” rings all too true in this situation

concerning the displacement of minorities. The cost of living was affordable for those who’ve

lived in the neighborhood their whole lives and the upper middle class took advantage of the low

rent and moved into the area. What did that do? It made the landlords take notice; they realized

people who could actually afford market-value rent wanted to move in. This, in turn, pushed out

the people who have been living in the area for years because landlords want people who can pay

the market price. Take Curlene Cummings, for instance: Curlene is a real estate agent and a

longtime resident of Harlem. Damage was done to her home from a fire and the landlord put off

fixing it for so long because they wanted to pressure her to move out. The landlord did this

because she’s lived in her apartment for two decades, so they cannot increase her rent.

If landlords can’t dramatically raise the rent, how come people who’ve lived in their

building for decades feel they have to move out? Other tenants in Ms. Cummings’ building have

moved out because they either were bought out by landlords or were taken to court by them for

minor infractions like playing loud music or being late with a rent payment. so many times that

they were sick of being harassed by the landlord and left. In the 1990s and early 2000s, landlords

didn’t do this because they didn’t have the money or motivation. However, due to the influx of

wealthier tenants, landlords have become greedier knowing they’re willing to pay more in rent.

(Cummings, personal interview, 4 Oct. 2018).

Because Cummings lives near the Columbia University campus, there are many students

that live in the area. The problem with this is that they don’t stay long term. Due to this, there’s

no longer the same sense of community that there once was because apartment buildings are
becoming a revolving door of new tenants. Now, buildings have high turnover rates, meaning the

percentage of people that leave after one year, because no one is staying long term. Because of

this, there’s no reason to negotiate on rent; landlords just want to cut up the apartment their

previous tenants had, build walls to make it have more rooms, and sell to people who can afford

the higher rent. One company that does things like this often is called the Housing Development

Fund Corporation; they slap eviction notices on buildings, demolishes them, rebuilds them to

look nicer and fancier, then slaps the word “redeveloped” on them with a six-figure price tag

(New York Times). This indirectly puts an income cap on these new buildings.

Bodegas and significant historical sites turned Banana Republic and dry cleaners? We’re

definitely not in Harlem anymore. These things are all fine and dandy, but where were these

changes before (Adams, End of Black Harlem)? Where are the mom and pop shops that were in

Harlem when DSW wasn’t (Cummings, personal interview, 4 Oct. 2018)? The push to rebuild

Harlem could have been ages decades ago, but it wasn’t done because the city and landlords

couldn’t make much profit in a predominantly lower-class, black neighborhood. Harlem may
look nicer, but the majority of the people who’ve inhabited the area cannot afford to live there

anymore nor can they afford the services that are suddenly surrounding them and that’s just

exhibit Z on how the changes in Harlem were not made for the longtime residents, but rather new

and wealthy outsiders. Exhibit A was kicking longtime residents out of their homes. Exhibit B

was demolishing their historical landmarks; the list goes on.

Work Cited

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/realestate/living-in-south-harlem-manhattan.html

Adams, Michael Henry. “The End of Black Harlem.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 May 2016,
www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/opinion/sunday/the-end-of-black-harlem.html. Accessed 1 Oct. 2018.

“Harlem Renaissance.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 29 Oct. 2009 www.history.com/topics/roaring-

twenties/harlem-renaissance. Accessed 14 Oct. 2018.

“History of Harlem.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, last edited 14 Oct. 2018,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Harlem. Accessed 14 Oct. 2018.