Harlem Nightlife Map

Harlem Nightlife Map

This map depicts the social nightlife of Harlem in the early 1930’s. It was drawn by E. Simms Campbell who was an African American artists in the 1900’s, who frequently had his work publish in African American magazines. The map shows specific night clubs through the main section of Harlem where people went for performances. It includes depictions of well-known clubs such as the Cotton Club and the Radium club on Lenox Avenue. What stuck out in my opinion is how well this corresponds with what we have been reading about the Harlem Renaissance in articles such as “When the Negro Was in Vogue.” The African Americans and the white people don’t seem to be integrating in this map, which is due to the strict Jim Crow Laws of must Harlem night clubs. Most of the artwork on the map shows a general separation between races. Either African Americans were performing and white people attended or vice versa. At the top of the map we a depiction of the Lafayette Theatre. It shows many different African American artist such as the famous Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. The description for the Lafayette Theatre is ‘Friday nite is the midnight show – Most negro Revues begin an end here.” This tells us that this is the place to see the big African American performers. The map also shows that white people are getting out of the cars to get in to see the show. It also depicts the cars crashing all over the street, which to me represents the madness and craze that people had to see the great African American performers during the Harlem Renaissance. Overall this map to me shows that the separation between African American and white people shown in “When the Negro Was in Vogue” was still strong even as the Harlem Renaissance progressed into the early 1930’s.

Frank Jacobs

Jacobs, Frank. "476 - "Go Late!": A Night-Club Map of Harlem | Big Think." Big Think. N.p., 16 Aug. 2010. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.

Edward Regler