Did Spanish Harlem always have a large Black Population

[Fred314X]

I apologize for that; I did not mean that Harlem was literally all white. I meant that it was predominantly white.

[Raymond Stereo]

Central Harlem was the first predominately African-American section of Harlem. Apparently West Harlem was originally White and/or Jewish up until the 1940's, when Cubans & Puerto Ricans (along with the spill-over of African-Americans from other sections of Harlem) began moving in. From the 1960's onward, Dominicans began moving in as well, becoming the dominant population in West Harlem up until a few years ago I believe. I think of the neighborhood (at least the area around Broadway) as "Washington Heights-lite".

[DAS]

Originally Posted by Raymond Stereo

Central Harlem was the first predominately African-American section of Harlem. Apparently West Harlem was originally White and/or Jewish up until the 1940's, when Cubans & Puerto Ricans (along with the spill-over of African-Americans from other sections of Harlem) began moving in. From the 1960's onward, Dominicans began moving in as well, becoming the dominant population in West Harlem up until a few years ago I believe. I think of the neighborhood (at least the area around Broadway) as "Washington Heights-lite".

Please study your history more thoroughly. Mostly everything you are saying is incorrect. I am only correcting this because lower Manhattan, Harlem, the Southern Bronx, and sections of Staten Island are the sections of the city where Black people have lived since NY was a Colony. At the time NY was a colony and after the Revolutionary War it was mostly Hamilton Heights where they lived. Where they have remained ever since. These were sections, that Black people were allowed to live in always. It is not like later on in the mid 20th century when they started moving into other sections previously denied to them as White people fleed to the suburbs.

There have always been White people in Harlem even after 1940 - the present time. This is not a new phenomenon. I don't understand at all why this is made out to be such a big deal now. It is just that Black and Latin groups have been the predominate groups.

There were Whiter sections of Harlem before the 1940's but they co-existed with Blacks. There was an Irish section of Sugar Hill which was the area of 145th- 141st St along Bradhurst and Edgecomb Ave. North and South of that was mostly Black. North of 150th St, blocks of Polish Catholics members of St. Catherine of Genoa Roman Catholic Church lived there until around 1960, along with their Black, Cuban, and Puerto Rican neighbors for about 30 years.

Before 1940 there were Jewish people living along Broadway and Amsterdam Ave. below 155th. You can still see evidence of this, I can think of several churches along these streets and in between blocks that were once Synagogues, the Star of David still remains over the doorways, along with the scripture verses in Hebrew.

Arthur Schomberg, Puerto Rican historian of African descent arrived in NYC in 1891, he lived around other Puerto Ricans and Cubans in the LES. He gave his collection of African History to the W135th St Library which is located in Central Harlem which by this time had a significant Black population.

The Mt Morris area was a very wealthy White/Jewish area until around 1920. When Black people started moving into the surrounding area, these people left. Rather than sell to wealthy Black people that offered to buy these homes, they boarded them up, most of these properties (brownstones) were left abandoned and boarded up for over 50 years. Once they became available for sale by the city, people were suprised and amazed at the original details, and beautiful craftsmanship left behind in these brownstones.

Moving further East. East Harlem always had a significant Black population, along with other groups of poor immigrants spilling over into the southern bronx. This was since the time NY was a colony.

Puerto Ricans and Cubans moved uptown starting in the very early 1900's. As previously mentioned there were already significant amount of them living in certain areas of LES since the late 1800's.

[DAS]

Originally Posted by Fred314X

I apologize for that; I did not mean that Harlem was literally all white. I meant that it was predominantly white.

I don't necessarily agree that it was predominantly White. Harlem still had some farm land until the early 1920's. It had tenements where poor White, Black, and Latins lived before being torn down to make way for the projects. Poor White European immigrants co-existed side by side with Blacks and Latins for years, before anyone realized it was big deal.

Now if you are referring to the wealthier areas these were predominately White.

I am defending this position, because everyone should realize that Black people were always part of this city, and helped to build it, along with every other ethnic group, including WASP. Harlem East, Central and West was always an area that Black people were allowed to live in. There were many areas where they were not permitted to live in this city.

Please do not try to make it seem like Harlem was one of those areas that was all White, that Black people moved in, and the Whites fleed. This is totally untrue.

[The Fatman]

Originally Posted by SuperMario

I used to think that Spanish Harlem was literally all Hispanic. When I would ask people who live there what groups make up the populations and they would say Puerto Rican, Mexican and some Dominicans. I would ask, "are there black people there"? And they responded with a simple "yeah". So I always assumed that there wasn't many. Besides West and Central Harlem where always where the blacks where. But when I look at the Community District numbers I saw around 34% African American. So similar to the Morris Heights/Tremont black population. That is a significant number IMO.

You have to remember now, that African Americans are the majority of people who occupy public housing. Since East Harlem is the king of public housing, it's only right that there would be a significant black population. And from what I've been told, it is similar to Mott Haven. In which the blacks almost all live in the projects and the Hispanics in the tenements.

I say originally all of Harlem was black. But in the 50's and 60's, Puerto Ricans settled in a little enclave in the eastern section of Harlem. Soon many more Puerto Ricans joined their country men in that area, pushing the blacks westward towards central/west Harlem. They nicknamed this heavily Puerto Rican enclave Spanish Harlem and Puerto Ricans refered to the area as "el barrio". People usually stick to their kind, so that caused some blacks to leave E. Harlem. Some stayed however, and that is why you go from 95% Black in 1940 to 34% Black in 2008.

you have a very warped view of the world i'm not even goingto waste my time with corrrection your assumptions.

[Raymond Stereo]

Originally Posted by DAS

Please study your history more thoroughly. Mostly everything you are saying is incorrect. I am only correcting this because lower Manhattan, Harlem, the Southern Bronx, and sections of Staten Island are the sections of the city where Black people have lived since NY was a Colony. At the time NY was a colony and after the Revolutionary War it was mostly Hamilton Heights where they lived. Where they have remained ever since. These were sections, that Black people were allowed to live in always. It is not like later on in the mid 20th century when they started moving into other sections previously denied to them as White people fleed to the suburbs.

There have always been White people in Harlem even after 1940 - the present time. This is not a new phenomenon. I don't understand at all why this is made out to be such a big deal now. It is just that Black and Latin groups have been the predominate groups.

There were Whiter sections of Harlem before the 1940's but they co-existed with Blacks. There was an Irish section of Sugar Hill which was the area of 145th- 141st St along Bradhurst and Edgecomb Ave. North and South of that was mostly Black. North of 150th St, blocks of Polish Catholics members of St. Catherine of Genoa Roman Catholic Church lived there until around 1960, along with their Black, Cuban, and Puerto Rican neighbors for about 30 years.

Before 1940 there were Jewish people living along Broadway and Amsterdam Ave. below 155th. You can still see evidence of this, I can think of several churches along these streets and in between blocks that were once Synagogues, the Star of David still remains over the doorways, along with the scripture verses in Hebrew.

Arthur Schomberg, Puerto Rican historian of African descent arrived in NYC in 1891, he lived around other Puerto Ricans and Cubans in the LES. He gave his collection of African History to the W135th St Library which is located in Central Harlem which by this time had a significant Black population.

The Mt Morris area was a very wealthy White/Jewish area until around 1920. When Black people started moving into the surrounding area, these people left. Rather than sell to wealthy Black people that offered to buy these homes, they boarded them up, most of these properties (brownstones) were left abandoned and boarded up for over 50 years. Once they became available for sale by the city, people were suprised and amazed at the original details, and beautiful craftsmanship left behind in these brownstones.

Moving further East. East Harlem always had a significant Black population, along with other groups of poor immigrants spilling over into the southern bronx. This was since the time NY was a colony.

Puerto Ricans and Cubans moved uptown starting in the very early 1900's. As previously mentioned there were already significant amount of them living in certain areas of LES since the late 1800's.

I see. Thanks for the correction.

[harlemite mom]

Originally Posted by DAS

How far back do you want to go? First Harlem was all Native American, then White and Black. Alexander Hamilton and a few other's had Black slaves. There was never an all White Harlem. Both Black and White have remained in Harlem ever since.

Here here!