Harlem | |
|---|---|
 Stately Harlem apartment buildings adjacent to Morningside Park | |
| Nickname(s): "Black mecca", "Heaven" | |
| Motto(s): "Making It!" | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  New York |
| County | New York |
| City | New York |
| Founded | 1658 |
| Named for | Haarlem, Netherlands |
| Area | |
| • Total | 10.03 km2 (3.871 sq mi) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 335,109 |
| • Density | 33,000/km2 (87,000/sq mi) |
| Economics | |
| ZIP codes | 10026, 10027, 10029, 10030, 10031, 10035, 10037, 10039 |
| Area code | 212, 917, 646 |
Harlem is a large neighborhood within the northern section of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Since the 1920s, Harlem has been known as a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658,[5] it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. Harlem's history has been defined by a series of economic boom-and-bust cycles, with significant population shifts accompanying each cycle.[6]
Black People residents began to arrive en masse in 1905, with numbers fed by the Great Migration. In the 1920s and 1930s, Central and West Harlem were the focus of the "Harlem Renaissance", an outpouring of artistic work without precedent in the American black community. However, with job losses in the time of the Great Depression and the deindustrialization of New York City after World War II, rates of crime and poverty increased significantly. Harlem's black population peaked in the 1950s.[7] In 2008, the United States Census found that for the first time since the 1930s, less than half of residents were black, and black residents only counted for 40% of the population.[8]
Since New York City's revival in the late 20th century, Harlem has been experiencing gentrification. Despite this influx of new wealth, many residents of West, Central, and East Harlem have been experiencing a rise in cost of living, without a rise in wages in the area, thus leading to many of the original residents being forced out.
- ↑ "Harlem neighborhood in New York". Retrieved December 16, 2010.
- ↑ "Manhattan CD 10 Profile" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-05-28.
- ↑ "Manhattan CD 9 Profile" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-05-28.
- ↑ "Manhattan CD 11 Profile" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-05-28.
- ↑ Pierce, Carl Horton, et al. New Harlem Past and Present: the Story of an Amazing Civic Wrong, Now at Last to be Righted. New York: New Harlem Pub. Co., 1903.
- ↑ "Harlem History |". Harlemworldmag.com. January 26, 1934. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
- ↑ "No Longer Majority Black, Harlem Is in Transition." 2010. New York Times.
- ↑ "No Longer Majority Black, Harlem Is in Transition." New York Times. 2010.