List of people from Harlem, New York
This is a list of people from Harlem, New York.
The early period (pre-1920)
Jewish, Italian, Irish Harlem (c. 1900 - 1930)
- Sholem Aleichem - writer, 110 Lenox Avenue[13]
- Moe Berg – Major League Baseball catcher, and spy
- Milton Berle – born in a five-story walkup at 68 West 118th Street.[14]
- Fanny Brice - actress, houses at West 128th Street and West 118th Street[15]
- Art Buchwald - writer[16]
- Bennett Cerf - publisher[17]
- Morris Raphael Cohen - philosopher, 498 West 135th Street[18]
- Don Giosuele Galluci - gangster, 318 East 109th Street[19]
- George and Ira Gershwin: composers, grew up in Harlem. Lived at 108 West 111th and other addresses.[20] George wrote his first hit song, "Swanee", at his home at 520 W. 144 Street in 1919.[10]
- Lorenz Hart - lyricist, 59 West 119th Street.[21]
- Oscar Hammerstein I – inventor and theatrical entrepreneur, lived at 333 Edgecombe Avenue[10]
- Oscar Hammerstein II – writer and theatrical producer, addresses on East 116th Street and 112th Street[22]
- Harry Houdini – magician, lived at 278 West 113th Street from 1904 until his death in 1926[23]
- Frank Hussey - Olympian, 129th Street[24]
- Burt Lancaster - actor[25]
- Solomon Libin - writer in Yiddish[26]
- Marx Brothers - comedians, 239 East 114th Street[27]
- Arthur Miller – playwright, 45 West 110th Street[28][29]
- Giuseppe Morello - gangster, 323 East 107th Street[30]
- Al Pacino – Academy Award winning actor
- Richard Rogers - composer, 3 West 120th Street[31][1]
- Henry Roth - writer, 108 East 119th Street[32]
- Moses Reicherson - linguist, East 106th Street[33]
- Yossele Rosenblatt - celebrated cantor[34]
- Ignazio Lupo - counterfeiter, gangster[35]
- Jessie Sampter - poet[36]
- Pasquarelli Spinelli - gangster, 318 East 109th Street[37]
- Arthur Sulzberger - publisher of the New York Times [38]
- Henrietta Szold - founder of Hadassah[39]
- Vincent and Ciro Terranova - gangsters, 352 East 116th Street[40]
The Harlem Renaissance and World War II (1920–1945)
- Louis Armstrong – Musician[41]
- Count Basie – Bandleader and pianist. Lived at 555 Edgecombe Avenue.[42][43]
- George Wilson Becton – Religious cult leader[44]
- Julius Bledsoe – Singer, lived at 409 Edgecombe Avenue[43]
- Arna Bontemps – Writer
- William Stanley Braithwaite – Poet and essayist, lived at 409 Edgecombe Avenue[43]
- Eunice Carter – New York state judge, lived at 409 Edgecombe Avenue[43]
- John Henrik Clarke – Editor of Freedomways Magazine and of several books, sometime professor. Moved to Harlem in 1933.[45]
- Collyer brothers – Compulsive hoarders, lived in a townhouse at 128th Street and Fifth Avenue in Harlem their entire adult lives
- Countee Cullen – Poet[41]
- Aaron Douglas – Painter, lived at 409 Edgecombe Avenue[43][45]
- W. E. B. Du Bois – Activist, writer. Lived at 409 Edgecombe.[42][43]
- Duke Ellington – Composer, band leader. Lived on Riverside Drive in Harlem and, at another point, at 555 Edgecombe.[42][46]
- Father Divine – Religious leader[46] Lived in several locations in Harlem, including on Astor Row, and maintained offices at 20 West 115th Street[47]
- Rudolph Fisher – Writer[45]
- Marcus Garvey - Political figure, black separatist. Home at 235 West 131st Street[48]
- Charles Manuel "Sweet Daddy" Grace – Evangelist, born in Cape Verde Islands but became prominent in Harlem in the 1920s[46]
- Lillian Harris Dean – Entrepreneur known as Pigfoot Mary
- Lionel Hampton – Jazz musician. Lived in Harlem through World War II and for some years thereafter.[45]
- Hubert Harrison – "The Father of Harlem Radicalism"
- Coleman Hawkins – Musician, saxophone player. Lived at 555 Edgecombe Avenue.[49]
- Johnnie Hodges – Musician, lived at 555 Edgecombe.[42]
- Billie Holiday – Singer, lived with her mother at 108 West 139th Street[50]
- Casper Holstein – Gangster
- Lena Horne – Singer and actress. Lived at 555 Edgecombe Avenue.[49]
- Langston Hughes – Writer[6]
- Zora Neale Hurston – Writer[6]
- Bumpy Johnson – Gangster, lived in Lenox Terrace at 132nd Street and Lenox Avenue near the end of his life.[51]
- James P. Johnson – Pianist
- James Weldon Johnson – Author, activist, composer. Lived at 187 West 135th Street.[42]
- Donald Jones (actor) – Actor and dancer born in Harlem but moved to the Netherlands
- Fiorello La Guardia – New York Mayor, from East Harlem
- Cora La Redd – Dancer[41]
- Alain Locke – Editor[41]
- Joe Louis – Boxer, lived at 555 Edgecombe Avenue[49]
- Claude McKay – Poet and novelist. Born in Jamaica but moved to Harlem and wrote the famous novel Home to Harlem, West 131st Street[52]
- Florence Mills – Entertainer
- Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. – Religious, civic leader[46]
- A. Philip Randolph – Activist, labor organizer
- Paul Robeson – Singer and actor, lived at 555 Edgecombe Avenue.[42][43]
- Bill "Bojangles" Robinson – Dancer, lived on Strivers' Row.[42]
- Willie "The Lion" Smith – Pianist
- Stephanie St. Clair – Criminal leader, lived at 409 Edgecombe Avenue.[53]
- Wallace Thurman – Writer[41]
- Jean Toomer – Writer[45]
- James Van Der Zee – Photographer[46]
- Fats Waller – Pianist, born at 107 West 134th Street[54]
- Madam C.J. Walker – Philanthropist and tycoon
- A'Lelia Walker – Socialite and businesswoman
- Ethel Waters – Singer, actress. Born in Chester, Pennsylvania
- Walter Francis White – Civil rights leader[55]
- Bert Williams – Vaudeville actor. Born in Antigua. Died in 1922, near the start of the Harlem Renaissance.
- Mary Lou Williams – Pianist, lived at 63 Hamilton Terrace[50]
Famous after World War II
- James Baldwin – Novelist, lived at one time at 131st Street and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. (which was called "seventh avenue" when Baldwin still lived there)[56]
- Romare Bearden – Artist, primarily working in collage.
- Harry Belafonte – Calypso musician
- Claude Brown – Novelist, wrote Manchild in the Promised Land
- Ron Brown – U.S. Secretary of Commerce, grew up in the Hotel Theresa.[57]
- Kareem Campbell – Pro Skateboarder
- George Carlin - Comedian, 121st Street between Amsterdam and Broadway[58]
- Jimmy Castor – R&B/funk bandleader
- Chevy Chase – comedian, raised in East Harlem.[59]
- Dr. Kenneth Clark – Psychologist and activist, lived at 555 Edgecombe Avenue.[43]
- Evelyn Cunningham – civil-rights-era journalist and aide to Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York[60]
- Jules Dassin – Movie director[1]
- Benjamin J. Davis – New York city councilman, ultimately sent to jail for violations of the Smith Act[45]
- Ossie Davis – Actor, lived in Harlem in the late 1930s and mid-1940s
- Sammy Davis, Jr. – Singer, member of Rat Pack, born in Harlem Hospital in 1925.[61]
- Roy DeCarava – Photographer, born in Harlem in 1919.[62]
- Wanda De Jesus (born August 26, 1960) is an American actress.
- David Dinkins - Mayor of New York, lived in the Riverton Houses.[63]
- Ralph Ellison – Novelist, wrote Invisible Man, about a man who moves from the deep south to Harlem. Lived at 730 Riverside Drive in Harlem.[64]
- Erik Estrada – Actor, from East Harlem
- Jack Geiger – Physician, cofounder of Physicians for Social Responsibility; lived with Canada Lee for a year at 555 Edgecombe Avenue.[65]
- Althea Gibson – Professional tennis player. Lived at 115 West 143rd Street.[42]
- Oscar Hammerstein II – Writer and theatrical producer[1]
- W. C. Handy – Composer and bandleader, lived on Strivers' Row in Harlem towards the end of his life.[42]
- Bennie Harris – Musician, trumpet[66]
- Lorenz Hart – Lyricist[1]
- Evan Hunter (a.k.a. "Ed McBain") – writer, grew up in East Harlem.[67]
- Roy Innis – Head of the Congress of Racial Equality. Lived in Harlem but ultimately moved to Brooklyn. "Forget Harlem. Brooklyn is now the world's black capital."[68]
- JTG – WWE Superstar
- LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka – Dancer/poet/activist
- June Jordan - Caribbean American poet, novelist, journalist, biographer, dramatist, teacher and committed activist
- Charles Kenyatta – Activist, pastor, bodyguard and confidant of Malcolm X[46]
- Canada Lee – Actor, lived at 555 Edgecombe Avenue.[65]
- Frankie Lymon – Lead tenor of The Teenagers, best known for the song, "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?"
- Ben E. King – Soul singer and former lead tenor of The Drifters, best known for the song, "Stand By Me"
- Frank Lucas – Drug dealer
- Carl McCall – One-time New York State Senator, and Comptroller of New York State[46]
- Jackie McLean – Musician, alto saxophone[66]*Malcolm X – Preacher, revolutionary
- Earl Manigault – Basketball player
- Thurgood Marshall – Supreme Court justice, lived at 409 Edgecombe Avenue.[42][43]
- Arthur Miller – playwright[1]
- Moby – Musician, born in Harlem
- Alice Neel – Artist, lived in East Harlem[1]
- Eleanor Holmes Norton – One-time head of the Commission of Human Rights for New York City, now non-voting Delegate from the District of Columbia to the United States House of Representatives. "There is something magical about Harlem."[46]
- Gordon Parks – Film director and photographer[46]
- Basil Paterson – New York state senator, New York City deputy mayor for labor relations, Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee[46][69]
- Samuel Pierce - Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, lived in the Riverton Houses.[70]
- Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. – Politician
- Bud Powell – Musician, pianist[66]
- Tito Puente, Sr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000), Musician Spanish Harlem
- Isiah Robinson – One-time president of the New York City Board of Education[46]
- Gene Anthony Ray – Dancer and actor[71]
- Sugar Ray Robinson – Boxer, Harlem entrepreneur. Moved to Harlem at age 12.
- Sonny Rollins – Musician, tenor saxophone[66]
- Steve Rossi – Comedian, former manager for Howard Stern[72]
- Henry Roth – novelist[1]
- J. D. Salinger – Novelist, lived at 3681 Broadway until he was nine years old.[73]
- Hazel Scott – Pianist, one-time wife of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., first African American woman with her own television show.[46]
- Nina Simone – Singer. Lived, for a time, in Duke Ellington's old house in Harlem.[46]
- Thomas Sowell – Professional economist and author
- Percy Sutton – One-time Borough President of Manhattan. "If I were offered a million dollars, I wouldn't leave Harlem."[46]
- Billy Taylor - Jazz pianist, lived in the Riverton Houses.[74]
- Dinah Washington – "Queen of the Blues", born in Alabama but became famous when she lived in Harlem.[46]
- Roy Wilkins – Civil rights leader, lived at 409 Edgecombe.[42]
- Louis T. Wright – Influential physician, chairman of the board of the NAACP[55]
- Morrie Yohai – Rabbi, inventor of Cheez Doodles.[75]
Rap, hip hop, R&B and reality
21st century residents
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – Basketball player, moved into a Mount Morris brownstone at 30 West 120th Street[76] in September, 2006.[77]
- Maya Angelou – Author, owns a home on 120th Street in Mount Morris Park district. "I never agreed with Thomas Wolfe. I never thought you can’t go home again. I've been coming home to Harlem for 50 years."[78]
- Angela Bassett – Emmy and Academy Award-nominated actress, and Golden Globe winning actress.
- Charlotte d'Amboise – actress and dancer.
- Jonathan Franzen – Author, lived on 125th Street when he wrote his book The Corrections[79]
- Marcia Gay Harden – Actress[6][80]
- Neil Patrick Harris - actor, lives near Morningside Park when not in Los Angeles.[81]
- Terrance Mann – actor and dancer.
- Cameron Mathison – Actor on All My Children and contestant on Dancing with the Stars, 136 West 130th Street[82][83]
- S. Epatha Merkerson – Actress [6]
- Mandy Patinkin – Actor[6]
- Adam Clayton Powell IV – New York City council member
- Marcus Samuelsson – Chef and restauranteur, living in a duplex near Frederick Douglass Boulevard as of 2010.[84]
- Akhnaten Spencer-El – Olympic fencer[85]
- Stephen Spinella – Tony Award-winning actor[86]
- Joel Steinberg – Famously killed his adopted daughter, moved to Harlem after his 2004 release from prison[87]
- Khalid Yasin – in Harlem, New York, raised in Brooklyn, is a teacher and lecturer of Islam.
- Alton White – actor
Representatives
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k REMEMBER: Harlem by Jonathan Gill post Harlem+Bespoke, January 24, 2011
- ^ It Was Fun While it Lasted, Frederic Alexander Birmingham, 1960
- ^ Malcolm, Bruce Perry, Station Hill, 1991. page 154
- ^ a b c Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.127
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.220
- ^ a b c d e f "Star Map", New York Magazine, August 14, 2006, p.35
- ^ "Tracing Scott Joplin's Life Through His Addresses", New York Times, Real Estate, p.2, February 4, 2007
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.128
- ^ Ephemeral New York
- ^ a b c Harlem One-Stop
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.158
- ^ a b Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.87
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.146
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.165
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.163
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.158
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.137
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.151
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.151
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.164
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.136
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.138
- ^ "The Top of the Park", New York Magazine, February 5, 2007, p.44
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.149
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.158
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.146
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.165
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.166
- ^ Arthur Miller Files, at University of Michigan
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.152
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.137
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.146
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.147
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.148
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.152
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.149
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.151
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.148
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.149
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.153
- ^ a b c d e "My Early Days in Harlem", Langston Hughes, in Harlem U.S.A., ed. John Henrick Clarke, 1971 edition, p.58
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Manhattan African-American History and Culture Guide, Museum of the City of New York
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Hamilton Heights – West Harlem Community Preservation Organization
- ^ "Four Men of Harlem – The Movers and the Shakers", in Harlem, U.S.A., John Henrik Clarke, 1971 edition, p.251
- ^ a b c d e f Harlem U.S.A, introductory essay to 1993 edition, John Henrik Clarke, A&B Book Publishers
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "To Live In Harlem", Frank Hercules, National Geographic, February 1977, p.178+
- ^ "Four Men of Harlem – The Movers and the Shakers", in Harlem, U.S.A., John Henrik Clarke, 1971 edition, p.256
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.248
- ^ a b c "Making a Home, and a Haven for Books", Jim Dwyer, New York Times, August 11, 2007
- ^ a b "The New Heyday of Harlem", Tessa Souter, The Independent on Sunday, June 8, 1997
- ^ a b "Chairman of the Money", New York Magazine, January 15, 2007, p.20
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.223
- ^ "409 Edgecombe, Baseball, and Madame St. Clair", Katherine Butler Jones, in The Harlem Reader, 2003
- ^ Harlem, Jonathan Gill, p.233
- ^ a b "How Bootsie Was Born", Ollie Harrison, in Harlem U.S.A., John Henrik Clarke, ed., 1971, p.75 (note, this is a weak source, as it is a reference in a fictional story. A better source should be found.)
- ^ "A Talk to Harlem Teachers", James Baldwin, in Harlem USA, ed. John Henrik Clarke, 1971, p.173
- ^ Meet Me at the Theresa : The Story of Harlem's Most Famous Hotel, Sondra Kathryn Wilson, 2004
- ^ Village Voice online, September 7, 2011
- ^ "Bah Humbug", Cindy Adams, The New York Post, December 6, 2007
- ^ "Evelyn Cunningham, Civil Rights Reporter, Dies at 94," Daniel Lovering, The New York Times, April 29, 2010
- ^ plaque outside the Harlem Hospital
- ^ Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago. Roy DeCarava. Accessed August 4, 2009.
- ^ "In Harlem Buildings, Reminders of Easy Money and the Financial Crisis," Charles V. Bagli, The New York Times, June 9, 2011
- ^ monument outside 730 Riverside Drive
- ^ a b "Kindness of Strangers", This American Life, September 12, 1997
- ^ a b c d "The Music of Harlem", William R. Dixon, in Harlem USA, ed. John Henrik Clarke, 1971, p. 136
- ^ Metropolis Found: New York Is Book Country 25th Anniversary Collection, 2003
- ^ "City Hall Holds The Key. Harlem's renaissance finds lots of friends, and a few foes", Christian Science Monitor, March 12, 1987
- ^ "Harlem's Dreams Have Died in Last Decade, Leaders Say", New York Times, March 1, 1978. p.A1
- ^ "In Harlem Buildings, Reminders of Easy Money and the Financial Crisis," Charles V. Bagli, The New York Times, June 9, 2011
- ^ IMDb bio for Gene Anthony Ray
- ^ Steve Rossi IMDB page
- ^ Harlem Bespoke
- ^ "In Harlem Buildings, Reminders of Easy Money and the Financial Crisis," Charles V. Bagli, The New York Times, June 9, 2011
- ^ "Morrie Yohai, 90, the Man Behind Cheez Doodles, Is Dead," Dennis Hevesi, The New York Times, August 2, 2010
- ^ Harlem Bespoke
- ^ "Kareem's Harlem digs", New York Daily News, September 10, 2006
- ^ "A Revised Edition", Louis Tutelian, New York Times, January 5, 2007
- ^ "Catching up with Harlem," Jean Cumming, TheGlobeAndMail.com Travel, October 18, 2003
- ^ "Between Film Sets, Life on Gossamer Lake", Jill Capuzzo, The New York Times, September 14, 2007
- ^ Harlem Bespoke
- ^ [1] Harlem Bespoke]
- ^ Harlem Bespoke
- ^ "Marcus Samuelsson Opens in Harlem," Glenn Collins, The New York Times, September 7, 2010
- ^ Edgate
- ^ "Stephen Spinella's Real Estate Angels", Celia Barbour, New York Times, July 1, 2007
- ^ "The monster now", The New York Daily News, July 10, 2006