This course investigates how African descended peoples from around the world - African Americans, Africans, Afro Latin Americans and Caribbeans - shaped the development of Harlem from the early twentieth century to the present. We begin with learning about the Great Migration which began in 1910 - one of the largest moments of internal migration in U.S. history - and how the movement of millions of African Americans from the South to North shaped Harlem. We will examine how African American settlement in Harlem created social, cultural, and economic innovation and contestation in an era of American racial segregation. We will then analyze the Harlem Renaissance - a moment that began in the 1930s - of explosive literary, musical, visual, and intellectual production. In moving towards the 1950s and 1960s, we will examine how Harlem, its residents and those who temporarily sojourned there, made it a center of Civil Rights mobilization in the United States. Our focus on the 1970s and 1980s allows us to examine poverty, flight, crime, and processes of zoning laws and tax policies that shaped life and education in the neighborhood. The early aughts permits us to examine how the expansion of migrants from West African shaped cultural and economic change and urban renewal and contestation. We will end with present day dynamics of gentrification, environmental factors, new construction and renewal and how historical dynamics shape the present and future. The city will be our classroom, and the focus will be experiential learning. Class sessions and conversations will take place at iconic Harlem landmarks. And will include conversations with business owners, residents, archivists, and curators. Our intellectual engagement with key texts will be enhanced by conversations with their authors.
5 units · Letter (ABCD/NP)
This course investigates how African descended peoples from around the world - African Americans, Africans, Afro Latin Americans and Caribbeans - shaped the development of Harlem from the early twentieth century to the present. We begin with learning about the Great Migration which began in 1910 - one of the largest moments of internal migration in U.S. history - and how the movement of millions of African Americans from the South to North shaped Harlem. We will examine how African American settlement in Harlem created social, cultural, and economic innovation and contestation in an era of American racial segregation. We will then analyze the Harlem Renaissance - a moment that began in the 1930s - of explosive literary, musical, visual, and intellectual production. In moving towards the 1950s and 1960s, we will examine how Harlem, its residents and those who temporarily sojourned there, made it a center of Civil Rights mobilization in the United States. Our focus on the 1970s and 1980s allows us to examine poverty, flight, crime, and processes of zoning laws and tax policies that shaped life and education in the neighborhood. The early aughts permits us to examine how the expansion of migrants from West African shaped cultural and economic change and urban renewal and contestation. We will end with present day dynamics of gentrification, environmental factors, new construction and renewal and how historical dynamics shape the present and future. The city will be our classroom, and the focus will be experiential learning. Class sessions and conversations will take place at iconic Harlem landmarks. And will include conversations with business owners, residents, archivists, and curators. Our intellectual engagement with key texts will be enhanced by conversations with their authors.
Offered in Autumn 2026 at Stanford University.