Harlem

Immigration in Harlem

Harlem, originally a farmland settlement in New Amsterdam known as Nieuw Haarlem, was purchased from the Manhattes tribe during the mid-1600s and settled by Dutch immigrants. In 1626, the first Blacks were brought to Harlem as slaves to labor on Dutch farms. In 1664, the English attacked and seized the property from the Dutch and turned greater New Amsterdam into New York, officially incorporating the village of Harlem. The slave trade grew rapidly under the English, and by 1708 there were thousands of Black slaves living and working in Harlem.

By 1820, there were still only ninety-one White families living in Harlem, and in 1840, after the land was devastated by constant use, many wealthy homeowners sold their land to the city. This led to poor Irish immigrants squatting on the deserted land and establishing shantytowns of living quarters.

Throughout the 19th century, community improvements included the construction of fashionable brownstones and apartment houses and the installation [Page 584]of better sanitation, communications, and lighting. These changes, along with the extension of elevated railroads from New York, encouraged older, White, upper-middle-class immigrant families to move north to Harlem. At that time, the construction of the subway to Harlem was under way; however, due to a delay in completing the project, many houses remained uninhabited, causing real estate prices to fall. Jewish immigrants were attracted to the area and began purchasing properties despite the efforts of landowners to keep them out. Nonetheless, the Jewish population in Harlem reached a peak of 150,000 in 1917. This dominance was short-lived, and by 1930 Jews in the area numbered only approximately 5,000.

Many early Black residents of Harlem were domestic laborers for wealthy White families; however, by 1900 Blacks began migrating to Harlem in record numbers. Landowners were unable to fill properties with White families, so some turned to Black families moving into the area. There was strong resistance from Whites, and organizations bent on denying Blacks residence in Harlem sprang up. One example is the Property Owners Protective Association, which was organized in 1913 and charged that Blacks were destructive and poor tenants who caused real estate values to drop. The movement of Blacks into Harlem continued, however, and as White families deserted the area, landlords surrendered to the inevitable and rented to Black families.

The Harlem Renaissance

Many Blacks from the South, looking for work and community, also joined in the mass migration to Harlem. Black churches in New York were greatly influential in this movement in that they encouraged buying Harlem properties, a possibility for many Blacks because of the World War I boom in wages. Eventually, however, this influx of Blacks faced work shortages as well as exorbitant rents and landlord negligence. These factors contributed to deterioration in living conditions and a death rate of Harlem Blacks that was twice the death rate of Whites. By the 1920s, Harlem was quickly becoming a neighborhood of slums.

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