This is a list of people from
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
The early period (pre-1920)
*
John James Audubon
John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin; April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was an American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictoria ...
– naturalist
[REMEMBER: Harlem by Jonathan Gill post](_blank)
Harlem+Bespoke, January 24, 2011.
*
Richard Croker
Richard Welstead Croker (November 24, 1843 – April 29, 1922), known as "Boss Croker," was an Irish American political boss who was a leader of New York City's Tammany Hall. His control over the city was cemented with the 1897 election of ...
–
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...
politician, lived at 26 Mount Morris Park West
[Jonathan Gill, ''Harlem'', p. 127.]
*
James Reese Europe
James Reese Europe (February 22, 1881 – May 9, 1919) was an American ragtime and early jazz bandleader, arranger, and composer. He was the leading figure on the African Americans music scene of New York City in the 1910s. Eubie Blake called hi ...
– musician, credited with inventing jazz; 67 West 133rd Street
*
Thomas Gilroy – New York mayor
*
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795.
Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...
– politician; lived in Harlem at the end of his life
*
Hubert Harrison
Hubert Henry Harrison (April 27, 1883 – December 17, 1927) was a West Indian-American writer, orator, educator, critic, race and class conscious political activist, and radical internationalist based in Harlem, New York. He was described by a ...
– "The Father of Harlem Radicalism"
*
Scott Joplin – pianist and composer; lived at 133 West 138th Street in 1916, then at 163 West 131st Street until his death in 1917; had a studio at 160 West 133rd Street
*
Alfred Henry Lewis – cowboy author
[Jonathan Gill, ''Harlem'', p. 128.]
*
Vincent James McMahon – founder of the World Wide Wrestling Federation
*
Paul Meltsner
Paul Raphael Meltsner (1905–1966) was an American artist who was widely recognized for his Works Progress Administration (WPA) era paintings and lithographs, and who was later known for his iconic portraits of celebrities in the performing ar ...
– WPA era painter and muralist; grew up in Harlem
*
Thomas Nast
Thomas Nast (; ; September 26, 1840December 7, 1902) was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon".
He was a critic of Democratic Representative "Boss" Tweed and ...
– artist
*
Philip A. Payton Jr. – real estate entrepreneur; lived at 13 West 131st Street
*
Norman Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...
– lived as a child at 789 St. Nicholas Avenue
*
Norman Thomas
Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 – December 19, 1968) was an American Presbyterian minister who achieved fame as a socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.
Early years
Thomas was the ...
– radical activist
[Jonathan Gill, ''Harlem'', p. 158.]
*
Daniel Tiemann
Daniel Fawcett Tiemann (January 9, 1805 – June 29, 1899) was Mayor of New York City from 1858 to 1860. He was a founding trustee of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.
Life
Tiemann was an industrialist, who lived in Man ...
– New York mayor
[Jonathan Gill, ''Harlem'', p. 87.]
*
Robert Van Wyck – New York mayor
*
Cornelius Van Wyck Lawrence
Cornelius Van Wyck Lawrence (February 28, 1791 – February 20, 1861) was a politician from New York. He became the first popularly elected mayor of New York City after the law was changed in 1834.
Early life
Lawrence was born in Flushing, New Y ...
– New York mayor
Jewish, Italian, Irish Harlem (circa 1900–30)
![MoeBergGoudeycard](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/MoeBergGoudeycard.jpg)
*
Sholem Aleichem
)
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Pereiaslav, Russian Empire
, death_date =
, death_place = New York City, U.S.
, occupation = Writer
, nationality =
, period =
, genre = Novels, sh ...
– writer, 110 Lenox Avenue
[Jonathan Gill, ''Harlem'', p. 146.]
*
Moe Berg
Morris Berg (March 2, 1902 – May 29, 1972) was an American catcher and coach in Major League Baseball, who later served as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Although he played 15 seasons in the major leagues, ...
(1902–1972) – Major League Baseball catcher; spy
*
Milton Berle
Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger; ; July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American actor and comedian. His career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and tel ...
– comedian and actor, born in a five-story walkup at 68 West 118th Street
[Jonathan Gill, ''Harlem'', p. 165.]
*
Fanny Brice
Fania Borach (October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951), known professionally as Fanny Brice or Fannie Brice, was an American comedienne, illustrated song model, singer, and theater and film actress who made many stage, radio, and film appearances. S ...
– actress, houses at West 128th Street and West 118th Street
*
Art Buchwald
Arthur Buchwald (October 20, 1925 – January 17, 2007) was an American humorist best known for his column in ''The Washington Post''. At the height of his popularity, it was published nationwide as a syndicated column in more than 500 newspaper ...
– writer
*
Bennett Cerf
Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearanc ...
– publisher,
[Jonathan Gill, ''Harlem'', p. 137.] was born on May 25, 1898, at 68 West 118th Street, the same address as Milton Berle's
*
Morris Raphael Cohen
Morris Raphael Cohen ( be, Мо́рыс Рафаэ́ль Ко́эн; July 25, 1880 – January 28, 1947) was an American philosopher, lawyer, and legal scholar who united pragmatism with logical positivism and linguistic analysis. This union co ...
– philosopher, 498 West 135th Street
[Jonathan Gill, ''Harlem'', p. 151.]
*
Milt Gabler
Milton Gabler (May 20, 1911 – July 20, 2001) was an American record producer, responsible for many innovations in the recording industry of the 20th century. These included being the first person to deal in record reissues, the first to sel ...
– record producer, responsible for many innovations in the recording industry of the 20th century
*
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
and
Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 2 ...
- composers, grew up in Harlem; lived at 108 West 111th and other addresses. George wrote his first hit song, "Swanee", at his home at 520 W. 144 Street in 1919.
The pair were living at 501 Cathedral Parkway in 1924, and it was in this apartment that George wrote "
Rhapsody in Blue
''Rhapsody in Blue'' is a 1924 musical composition written by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, the work premiered i ...
."
*
Oscar Hammerstein I
Oscar Hammerstein I (8 May 18461 August 1919) was a German-born businessman, theater impresario, and composer in New York City. His passion for opera led him to open several opera houses, and he rekindled opera's popularity in America. He was ...
– inventor and theatrical entrepreneur; lived at 333 Edgecombe Avenue
*
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in the musical theater for almost 40 years. He won eight Ton ...
– writer and theatrical producer, addresses on East 116th Street and 112th Street
*
Lorenz Hart – lyricist half of the Broadway songwriting team
Rodgers and Hart
Rodgers and Hart were an American songwriting partnership between composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and the lyricist Lorenz Hart (1895–1943). They worked together on 28 stage musicals and more than 500 songs from 1919 until Hart ...
, 59 West 119th Street
*
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...
– magician; lived at 278 West 113th Street from 1904 until his death in 1926
*
Frank Hussey – Olympian, 129th Street
[Jonathan Gill, ''Harlem'', p. 149.]
*
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
– Oscar-winning actor and producer
*
Seymour Martin Lipset
Seymour Martin Lipset ( ; March 18, 1922 – December 31, 2006) was an American sociologist and political scientist (President of the American Political Science Association). His major work was in the fields of political sociology, trade union o ...
– political sociologist, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Hazel Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University
*
Ignazio Lupo
Ignazio Lupo (; March 21, 1877 – January 13, 1947), also known as Ignazio Saietta and Lupo the Wolf, was a Sicilian American Black Hand leader in New York City during the early 1900s. His business was centered in Little Italy, Manhattan, w ...
– counterfeiter, gangster
*
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...
– comedians, 239 East 114th Street
*
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), ''Death of a Salesman'' ( ...
– playwright, 45 West 110th Street
*
Giuseppe Morello
Giuseppe "the Clutch Hand" Morello (; May 2, 1867 – August 15, 1930), also known as "The Old Fox", was the first boss of the Morello crime family and later top adviser to Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria. He was known as ''Piddu'' ( Sicilian ...
– gangster, 323 East 107th Street
[Jonathan Gill, ''Harlem'', p. 152.]
*
Belle Moskowitz – political advisor to New York Governor and 1928 presidential candidate Al Smith
*
Al Pacino
Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...
– Academy Award-winning actor
*
Charlie Pilkington – three-time New York champion boxer; East 102nd Street
*
Ed Sullivan
Edward Vincent Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) was an American television personality, impresario, sports and entertainment reporter, and syndicated columnist for the ''New York Daily News'' and the Chicago Tribune New Yor ...
– Broadway & Sports columnist, host of the long-running televised Sunday evening variety show; East 114th Street
*
David Rappaport
David Stephen Rappaport (23 November 1951 – 2 May 1990) was an English actor with achondroplasia. He appeared in the films '' Time Bandits'' and '' The Bride'', and television series '' L.A. Law'', '' The Wizard'' and ''Captain Planet and the ...
– fashion manufacturer, designer and painter
*
Richard Rodgers – composer, 3 West 120th Street
*
Yossele Rosenblatt
Josef "Yossele" Rosenblatt (May 9, 1882 – June 19, 1933) was a Ukrainian-born chazzan (cantor) and composer. He was regarded as the greatest cantor of his time.
Biography
Rosenblatt was born on May 9, 1882, in Bila Tserkva, Russian Empire. ...
– celebrated cantor
[Jonathan Gill, ''Harlem'', p. 148.]
*
Henry Roth – writer, 108 East 119th Street
*
Jessie Sampter
Jessie Sampter (March 22, 1883 – 1938) was a Jewish educator, poet, and Zionist pioneer. She was born in New York City and immigrated to Palestine in 1919.
Biography
Jessie Ethel Sampter was born in New York City to Rudolph Sampter, a New ...
– poet
*
John Sanford, born Julian Lawrence Shapiro – screenwriter and author who wrote 24 books
*
Arthur Sulzberger – publisher of the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''
*
Henrietta Szold – founder of
Hadassah
*
Vincent and Ciro Terranova – gangsters, 352 East 116th Street
The Harlem Renaissance and World War II (1920–1945)
![409 Edgecomb Av jeh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/409_Edgecomb_Av_jeh.JPG)
*
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
– bandleader and trumpet player
[Langston Hughes, "My Early Days in Harlem", in John Henrik Clarke (ed.), ''Harlem U.S.A.,'' 1971 edition, p. 58.]
*
Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
– bandleader and pianist; lived at 555 Edgecombe Avenue
[''Manhattan African-American History and Culture Guide,'' Museum of the City of New York]
*
George Wilson Becton George Wilson Becton was the "first of the colorful cult leaders in Harlem." He began charismatic preaching in about 1930, after the decline of Marcus Garvey, and continued until he was mysteriously murdered in 1933.
Becton's sermons were formal an ...
– religious cult leader
*
Julius Bledsoe – singer; lived at 409 Edgecombe Avenue
[Hamilton Heights – West Harlem Community Preservation Organization](_blank)
*
Arna Bontemps – writer
*
William Stanley Braithwaite
William Stanley Beaumont Braithwaite (December 6, 1878 – June 8, 1962) was an African-American writer, poet, literary critic, anthologist, and publisher. His work as a critic and anthologist was widely praised and important in the development of ...
– poet and essayist; lived at 409 Edgecombe Avenue
*
Eunice Carter – New York state judge; lived at 409 Edgecombe Avenue
*
John Henrik Clarke
John Henrik Clarke (born John Henry Clark; January 1, 1915 - July 16, 1998) was an African-American historian, professor, and pioneer in the creation of Pan-African and Africana studies and professional institutions in academia starting in the ...
– editor of ''Freedomways Magazine'' and of several books; professor; moved to Harlem in 1933
[John Henrik Clarke, ''Harlem U.S.A,'' introductory essay to 1993 edition, A&B Book Publishers.]
*
Collyer brothers
Homer Lusk Collyer (November 6, 1881March 21, 1947) and Langley Wakeman Collyer (October 3, 1885), known as the Collyer brothers, were two American brothers who became infamous for their bizarre natures and compulsive hoarding. The two lived ...
– compulsive hoarders; lived in a townhouse at 128th Street and Fifth Avenue in Harlem their entire adult lives
*
Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen (born Countee LeRoy Porter; May 30, 1903 – January 9, 1946) was an American poet, novelist, children's writer, and playwright, particularly well known during the Harlem Renaissance.
Early life
Childhood
Countee LeRoy Porter ...
– poet
*
Lillian Harris Dean – entrepreneur known as "Pigfoot Mary"
*
Aaron Douglas – painter; lived at 409 Edgecombe Avenue
*
W. E. B. Du Bois – activist, writer; lived at 409 Edgecombe
*
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
– composer, pianist and bandleader; lived on Riverside Drive and at 555 Edgecombe
[Frank Hercules, "To Live In Harlem", ''National Geographic,'' February 1977, p. 178+.]
*
Father Divine
Father Divine (September 10, 1965), also known as Reverend M. J. Divine, was an African-American spiritual leader from about 1907 until his death in 1965. His full self-given name was Reverend Major Jealous Divine, and he was also known as "t ...
– religious leader,
lived in several locations in Harlem, including on
Astor Row
__NOTOC__
Astor Row is the name given to 28 row houses on the south side of West 130th Street, between Fifth and Lenox Avenues in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, which were among the first speculative townhouses built in ...
, and maintained offices at 20 West 115th Street
*
Rudolph Fisher
Rudolph John Chauncey Fisher (May 9, 1897 – December 26, 1934) was an American physician, radiologist, novelist, short story writer, dramatist, musician, and orator. His father was John Wesley Fisher, a clergyman, his mother was Glendora Willia ...
– writer
*
Marcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...
– political figure, Pan-Africanist; home at 235 West 131st Street
*
Billy Higgins
Billy Higgins (October 11, 1936 – May 3, 2001) was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop.
Biography
Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, be ...
(1888–1937), stage comedian, songwriter, and singer
*
Charles Manuel "Sweet Daddy" Grace – evangelist, born in Cape Verde Islands but became prominent in Harlem in the 1920s
*
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles M ...
– jazz musician; lived in Harlem through World War II and for some years thereafter
*
Hubert Harrison
Hubert Henry Harrison (April 27, 1883 – December 17, 1927) was a West Indian-American writer, orator, educator, critic, race and class conscious political activist, and radical internationalist based in Harlem, New York. He was described by a ...
– "the father of Harlem Radicalism"
*
Leonard Harper – Harlem Renaissance producer, stager, and choreographer
*
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...
– musician, saxophone player; lived at 555 Edgecombe Avenue
[Jim Dwyer, "Making a Home, and a Haven for Books", ''New York Times,'' August 11, 2007.]
*
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...
– singer; lived with her mother at 108 West 139th Street
[Tessa Souter, "The New Heyday of Harlem", ''The Independent on Sunday'', June 8, 1997.]
*
Casper Holstein – gangster
*
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of th ...
– singer and actress; lived at 555 Edgecombe Avenue
*
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...
– writer
["Star Map", ''New York'' Magazine, August 14, 2006, p. 35.]
*
Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...
– writer
*
Bumpy Johnson
Ellsworth Raymond "Bumpy" Johnson (October 31, 1905 – July 7, 1968) was an American crime boss in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City.
Early life
Ellsworth Raymond "Bumpy" Johnson was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on October 31, 1905 ...
– gangster; lived in Lenox Terrace at 132nd Street and Lenox Avenue near the end of his life
["Chairman of the Money", ''New York Magazine,'' January 15, 2007, p. 20.]
*
James P. Johnson
James Price Johnson (February 1, 1894 – November 17, 1955) was an American pianist and composer. A pioneer of stride piano, he was one of the most important pianists in the early era of recording, and like Jelly Roll Morton, one of the key ...
– pianist
*
James Weldon Johnson
James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871June 26, 1938) was an American writer and civil rights activist. He was married to civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson. Johnson was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peop ...
– author, activist, composer; lived at 187 West 135th Street
*
Donald Jones – actor and dancer born in Harlem but moved to the Netherlands
*
Fiorello La Guardia
Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (; born Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia, ; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the House of Representatives and served as the 99th Mayor of New York City fro ...
– New York mayor, from East Harlem
*
Alain Locke
Alain LeRoy Locke (September 13, 1885 – June 9, 1954) was an American writer, philosopher, educator, and patron of the arts. Distinguished in 1907 as the first African-American Rhodes Scholar, Locke became known as the philosophical architect ...
– editor
*
Joe Louis – boxer; lived at 555 Edgecombe Avenue
*
Claude McKay – poet and novelist; born in Jamaica but moved to Harlem and wrote the famous novel ''
Home to Harlem'', West 131st Street
*
Florence Mills
Florence Mills (born Florence Winfrey; January 25, 1896 – November 1, 1927), billed as the "Queen of Happiness", was an American cabaret singer, dancer, and comedian.
Life and career
Florence Mills (Florence Winfrey) was born a daughter of for ...
– entertainer
*
Adam Clayton Powell Sr.
Adam Clayton Powell (May 5, 1865
– June 12, 1953) was an American pastor who developed the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York as the largest Protestant congregation in the country, with 10,000 members. He was an African American com ...
– religious, civic leader
*
A. Philip Randolph – activist, labor organizer
*
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...
– singer and actor; lived at 555 Edgecombe Avenue
*
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
Bill Robinson, nicknamed Bojangles (born Luther Robinson; May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949), was an American tap dancer, actor, and singer, the best known and the most highly paid African-American entertainer in the United States during the f ...
– dancer; lived on
Strivers' Row
The St. Nicholas Historic District, known colloquially as "Striver's Row", is a historic district located on both sides of West 138th and West 139th Streets between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Bo ...
*
James Herman Robinson
James Herman Robinson (January 24, 1907 – November 6, 1972) was an African-American clergyman and humanitarian, best known as the founder of Operation Crossroads Africa (OCA), a cross-cultural exchange program considered a forerunner of the ...
– pastor of the Church of the Master on 122nd Street, founder of Operation Crossroads Africa, a forerunner of the
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F ...
*
Stephanie St. Clair – criminal leader; lived at 409 Edgecombe Avenue
*
Willie "The Lion" Smith
William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf Smith (November 23, 1893 – April 18, 1973), nicknamed "The Lion", was an American jazz and stride pianist.
Early life
William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf, known as Willie, was born in 1893 in Goshen, ...
– pianist
*
Wallace Thurman
Wallace Henry Thurman (August 16, 1902 – December 22, 1934) was an American novelist active during the Harlem Renaissance. He also wrote essays, worked as an editor, and was a publisher of short-lived newspapers and literary journals. He is be ...
– writer
*
Jean Toomer
Jean Toomer (born Nathan Pinchback Toomer; December 26, 1894 – March 30, 1967) was an American poet and novelist commonly associated with the Harlem Renaissance, though he actively resisted the association, and with modernism. His reputatio ...
– writer
*
James Van Der Zee
James Augustus Van Der Zee (June 29, 1886 – May 15, 1983) was an American photographer best known for his portraits of black New Yorkers. He was a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Aside from the artistic merits of his work, Van Der Ze ...
– photographer
*
Madam C.J. Walker
Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the ''Gu ...
– philanthropist and tycoon
*
A'Lelia Walker
A'Lelia Walker (born Lelia McWilliams; June 6, 1885 – August 17, 1931) was an American businesswoman and patron of the arts. She was the only surviving child of Madam C. J. Walker, popularly credited as being the first self-made female milli ...
– socialite and businesswoman
*
Fats Waller
Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...
– pianist, born at 107 West 134th Street
*
Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her no ...
– singer, actress; born in Chester, Pennsylvania
*
Margot Webb - professional dancer
*
Walter Francis White
Walter Francis White (July 1, 1893 – March 21, 1955) was an American civil rights activist who led the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for a quarter of a century, 1929–1955, after joining the organi ...
– civil rights leader
*
Bert Williams
Bert Williams (November 12, 1874 – March 4, 1922) was a Bahamian-born American entertainer, one of the pre-eminent entertainers of the Vaudeville era and one of the most popular comedians for all audiences of his time. He is credited as being ...
– vaudeville performer; born in Antigua; died in 1922, near the start of the Harlem Renaissance
*
Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs; May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records (in 78, 45, and ...
– pianist; lived at 63 Hamilton Terrace
*
Lillian "Billie" Yarbo – comedienne, dancer, singer
Famous after World War II
*
Miles Aiken – basketball player
*
Fiona Apple – singer-songwriter and pianist, raised in
Morningside Gardens
*
James Baldwin
James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; de ...
– novelist; lived at 131st Street and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. (then called "Seventh Avenue")
*
Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music criticism. He was the author of numerous bo ...
, born LeRoi Jones – dancer, poet, activist
*
Patricia Bath, ophthalmologist, inventor, humanitarian, and academic
*
Romare Bearden
Romare Bearden (September 2, 1911 – March 12, 1988) was an American artist, author, and songwriter. He worked with many types of media including cartoons, oils, and collages. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden grew up in New York City a ...
– artist, primarily working in collage
*
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...
– calypso musician
*
Claude Brown
Claude Brown (February 23, 1937 – February 2, 2002) was the author of '' Manchild in the Promised Land'', published to critical acclaim in 1965, which tells the story of his coming of age during the 1940s and 1950s in Harlem. He also published ...
– novelist, wrote ''Manchild in the Promised Land''
*
Ron Brown
Ronald Harmon Brown (August 1, 1941 – April 3, 1996) was an American politician. He served as the United States Secretary of Commerce during the first term of President Bill Clinton. Prior to this he was chairman of the Democratic National Co ...
– U.S. Secretary of Commerce, grew up in the
Hotel Theresa
The Hotel Theresa is located at 2082-96 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard between West 124th and 125th Streets in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. In the mid-20th century, it was a vibrant center of African American life in ...
*
Kareem Campbell
Kareem Campbell (born November 14, 1973) is an American professional skateboarder. He is known for popularizing the skateboard trick "The Ghetto Bird" which is a nollie hardflip late 180°.
Skateboarding career
Kareem Campbell was an innovat ...
– pro skateboarder
*
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercul ...
– comedian; 121st Street between Amsterdam and Broadway
*
Jimmy Castor
James Walter Castor (January 23, 1940 – January 16, 2012) was an American funk, R&B, and soul musician. He is credited with vocals, saxophone and composition. He is best known for songs such as "It's Just Begun", " The Bertha Butt Boogie", an ...
– R&B/funk bandleader
*
Dr. Kenneth Clark – psychologist and activist; lived at 555 Edgecombe Avenue
*
Evelyn Cunningham – civil-rights-era journalist and aide to Gov.
Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York
*
Jules Dassin
Julius "Jules" Dassin (December 18, 1911 – March 31, 2008) was an American film and theatre director, producer, writer and actor. A subject of the Hollywood blacklist in the McCarthy era, he subsequently moved to France, and later Greece, whe ...
– film director
*
Benjamin J. Davis
Benjamin Jefferson Davis Jr. (September 8, 1903 – August 22, 1964), was an African-American lawyer and communist who was elected in 1943 to the New York City Council, representing Harlem. He faced increasing opposition from outside Harlem a ...
– New York City councilman, ultimately sent to jail for violations of the
Smith Act
The Alien Registration Act, popularly known as the Smith Act, 76th United States Congress, 3d session, ch. 439, , is a United States federal statute that was enacted on June 28, 1940. It set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of th ...
*
Ossie Davis
Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He and his wife were named to the NAACP ...
– actor and director; lived in Harlem in the late 1930s and mid-1940s
*
Sammy Davis Jr.
Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director.
At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...
– entertainer, actor, member of
Rat Pack, born in
Harlem Hospital
Harlem Hospital Center, branded as NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, is a 272-bed, public teaching hospital affiliated with Columbia University. It is located at 506 Lenox Avenue in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City and was founded in 1887.
The hosp ...
in 1925
*
Roy DeCarava
Roy Rudolph DeCarava (December 9, 1919 – October 27, 2009) was an American artist. DeCarava received early critical acclaim for his photography, initially engaging and imaging the lives of African Americans and jazz musicians in the commun ...
– photographer, born in Harlem in 1919
*
Wanda De Jesus
Wanda De Jesus (born August 26, 1958) is an American actress. She was the fourth actress to portray Santana Andrade in NBC's soap opera '' Santa Barbara''.
Aside from her work on soap operas, De Jesus appeared in several TV shows in a guest sta ...
– actress
*
David Dinkins
David Norman Dinkins (July 10, 1927 – November 23, 2020) was an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993. He was the first African American to hold the office.
Before enteri ...
– Mayor of New York; lived in the Riverton Houses
[Charles V. Bagli]
"In Harlem Buildings, Reminders of Easy Money and the Financial Crisis"
''The New York Times,'' June 9, 2011.
*
Ralph Ellison
Ralph Waldo Ellison (March 1, 1913 – April 16, 1994) was an American writer, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel ''Invisible Man'', which won the National Book Award in 1953. He also wrote ''Shadow and Act'' (1964), a collecti ...
– novelist, wrote ''Invisible Man,'' about a man who moves from the deep south to Harlem; lived at 730 Riverside Drive in Harlem
*
Erik Estrada
Henry Enrique Estrada (born March 16, 1949) is an American actor and police officer. He is known for his co-starring lead role as California Highway Patrol officer Francis (Frank) Llewelyn "Ponch" Poncherello in the police drama television series ...
– actor, from East Harlem
*
Donald Faison
Donald Adeosun Faison (; born June 22, 1974) is an American actor and comedian, best known for his leading role as Dr. Chris Turk in the ABC/ NBC comedy-drama '' Scrubs'' (2001–2010), and a supporting role as Murray in both the film '' Cluele ...
– actor
*
Jack Geiger – physician, co-founder of
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) is a physician-led organization in the US working to protect the public from the threats of nuclear proliferation, climate change, and environmental toxins. It produces and disseminates publications, p ...
; lived with Canada Lee for a year at 555 Edgecombe Avenue
["Kindness of Strangers", ''This American Life,'' September 12, 1997.]
*
Herbert Gentry
Herbert Alexander Gentry (July 17, 1919 – September 8, 2003) was an African-American Expressionist painter who lived and worked in Paris, France (1946–70; 1976–80), Copenhagen, Denmark (1958–63), in the Swedish cities of Gothenburg (196 ...
– abstract expressionist painter, lived at 126th street and Amsterdam Avenue, 1940s
*
Althea Gibson
Althea Neale Gibson (August 25, 1927September 28, 2003) was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first African American ...
– professional tennis player; lived at 115 West 143rd Street
*
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in the musical theater for almost 40 years. He won eight Ton ...
– writer and theatrical producer
*
W. C. Handy
William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues. Handy was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musici ...
– composer and bandleader; lived on
Strivers' Row
The St. Nicholas Historic District, known colloquially as "Striver's Row", is a historic district located on both sides of West 138th and West 139th Streets between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Bo ...
in Harlem towards the end of his life
*
Benny Harris
"Little" Benny Harris (April 23, 1919 in New York City – May 11, 1975 in San Francisco) was an American bebop trumpeter and composer.
A self-taught musician, in the mid-1930s Benny Harris was already playing with Thelonious Monk. In later y ...
– musician, trumpet
*
Lorenz Hart – lyricist
*
Johnny Hartman
John Maurice Hartman (July 3, 1923 – September 15, 1983) was an American jazz singer who specialized in ballads. He sang and recorded with Earl Hines' and Dizzy Gillespie's big bands and with Erroll Garner. Hartman is best remembered for hi ...
– vocalist; born in Louisiana, grew up in Chicago, moved to Harlem's Sugar Hill in 1950s
*
Evan Hunter
Evan Hunter, born Salvatore Albert Lombino,(October 15, 1926 – July 6, 2005) was an American author and screenwriter best known for his 87th Precinct novels, written under his Ed McBain pen name, and the novel upon which the film '' Blackb ...
, aka Ed McBain – author, grew up in East Harlem
*
Roy Innis
Roy Emile Alfredo Innis (June 6, 1934 – January 8, 2017) was an American activist and politician. He was National Chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) from 1968 until his death.
One of his sons, Niger Roy Innis, serves as Nation ...
– head of the
Congress of Racial Equality
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for African Americans in the civil rights movement. Founded in 1942, its stated mission is "to bring about ...
; lived in Harlem but ultimately moved to Brooklyn
*
June Jordan
June Millicent Jordan (July 9, 1936 – June 14, 2002) was an American poet, essayist, teacher, and activist. In her writing she explored issues of gender, race, immigration, and representation.
Jordan was passionate about using Black English ...
– Caribbean American poet, novelist, journalist, biographer, dramatist, teacher
*
JTG
Jayson Anthony Paul (born December 10, 1984) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to the National Wrestling Alliance. He is best known for his time in WWE under the ring name JTG.
Paul began his professional wrestling career ...
– WWE wrestler
*
Ben E. King
Benjamin Earl King (né Nelson; September 28, 1938 – April 30, 2015) was an American soul and R&B singer and record producer. He is best known as the singer and co-composer of " Stand by Me"—a US Top 10 hit, both in 1961 and later ...
– soul singer and former lead tenor of
The Drifters
The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/Soul music, soul vocal groups. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, f ...
, best known for the song, "
Stand By Me"
*
Canada Lee – actor; lived at 555 Edgecombe Avenue
*
Frank Lucas
Frank Lucas (September 9, 1930 – May 30, 2019) was an American drug trafficker who operated in Harlem, New York City, during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly ...
– drug dealer
*
Frankie Lymon
Franklin Joseph Lymon (September 30, 1942 – February 27, 1968) was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of the New York City-based early rock and roll doo-wop group Th ...
– lead tenor of
The Teenagers
The Teenagers are an American music group, most noted for being one of rock music's earliest successes, presented to international audiences by DJ Alan Freed. The group, which made its most popular recordings with young Frankie Lymon as lead s ...
, best known for the song "
Why Do Fools Fall in Love?"
*
Malcolm X
Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of Is ...
– preacher, revolutionary
*
Earl Manigault – basketball player
*
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...
– Supreme Court justice; lived at 409 Edgecombe Avenue
*
Carl McCall
Herman Carl McCall (born October 17, 1935) is an American politician of the Democratic Party. A former New York State Comptroller and New York State Senator, McCall was the Democratic candidate for Governor of New York in 2002. McCall was the ...
– New York State senator, and Comptroller of New York State
*
Jackie McLean
John Lenwood "Jackie" McLean (May 17, 1931 – March 31, 2006) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and is one of the few musicians to be elected to the ''DownBeat'' Hall of Fame in the year of their deat ...
– musician, alto saxophone
*
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), ''Death of a Salesman'' ( ...
– playwright, was married to
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
*
Hal Miller
Sir Hilary Duppa Miller (6 March 1929 – 21 March 2015) was a British Conservative Party politician.
Early life
He was the son of Lieutenant-Commander Jack Duppa-Miller, GC, and Barbara Miller (née Barbara Buckmaster, daughter of the fir ...
– actor (''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
'', ''
Law & Order
''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise.
''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...
'', etc.); also painter, singer, poet, lyricist, lived at 152nd Street & Macombs Place in the 1950s, born in Harlem
*
Moby
Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...
– musician, born in Harlem
*
Edward Mosberg
Edward Mosberg (January 6, 1926 – September 21, 2022) was a Polish-American Holocaust survivor, educator, and philanthropist. During the Holocaust, he was held by the Nazis from 14 years of age in Kraków Ghetto, Kraków-Płaszów concentratio ...
(1926-2022) - Polish-American Holocaust survivor, educator, and philanthropist
*
Alice Neel – artist; lived in East Harlem
*
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Eleanor Holmes Norton (born June 13, 1937) is an American lawyer and politician serving as a delegate to the United States House of Representatives, representing the District of Columbia since 1991. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
Earl ...
– 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
*
Elaine Parker – community organizer and activist, Chairperson of Harlem C.O.R.E. Director of the Manhattan Borough President's Office, Special Assistant to the City Council President City of NY
*
Gordon Parks
Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006) was an American photographer, composer, author, poet, and film director, who became prominent in U.S. documentary photojournalism in the 1940s through 1970s—particu ...
– film director and photographer
*
Basil Paterson
Basil Alexander Paterson (April 27, 1926 – April 16, 2014) was an American labor lawyer and politician. He served in the New York State Senate from 1966 to 1971 and as secretary of state of New York under Governor Hugh Carey from 1979 to 1983 ...
– New York state senator, New York City deputy mayor for labor relations, Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee
*
Fannie Pennington Harlem Civil Rights Foot Soldier
*
Samuel Pierce
Samuel Riley Pierce Jr. (September 8, 1922 – October 31, 2000) was an American attorney and politician who served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from January 23, 1981 until January 20, 1989, during the administration of Ronald ...
– Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; lived in the Riverton Houses
*
Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (November 29, 1908 – April 4, 1972) was an American Baptist pastor and politician who represented the Harlem neighborhood of New York City in the United States House of Representatives from 1945 until 1971. He was t ...
– politician
*
Bud Powell
Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Along with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke and Dizzy Gillespie, Powell was a leading figure in the development of modern ...
– musician, pianist
[William R. Dixon, "The Music of Harlem", in John Henrik Clarke (ed.), ''Harlem USA'', 1971, p. 136.]
*
Tito Puente, Sr.
Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo (music) , mambo ...
– musician, Spanish Harlem
*
Gene Anthony Ray
Gene Anthony Ray (May 24, 1962 – November 14, 2003) was an American actor, dancer, and choreographer. He was known for his portrayal of dancer Leroy Johnson in both the 1980 film '' Fame'' and the 1982–1987 ''Fame'' television ser ...
– dancer and actor
*
Ving Rhames
Irving Rameses Rhames (born May 12, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his supporting roles as IMF Agent Luther Stickell in the ''Mission: Impossible'' film series and gang kingpin Marsellus Wallace in ''Pulp Fiction''. He also a ...
– actor
*
Brandon 'Scoop B' Robinson
Brandon Robinson, known professionally as Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson, is an American television host, sportswriter, podcaster and executive producer who is currently an NBA Insider at Bally Sports Network. He's had prior stops as a radio host and ...
, NBA analyst
*
Sugar Ray Robinson
Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989), better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is often regarded ...
– boxer, entrepreneur; moved to Harlem at age 12
*
Sonny Rollins
Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a ...
– musician, tenor saxophone
*
Steve Rossi
Joseph Charles Michael Tafarella (May 25, 1932 – June 22, 2014), better known as Steve Rossi, was an American stand-up comedian and singer, best known from his work with Marty Allen as Allen & Rossi.
Early life
Born in New York City in 1932, ...
– comedian, former manager for
Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...
*
Henry Roth – novelist
*
J. D. Salinger
Jerome David Salinger (; January 1, 1919 January 27, 2010) was an American author best known for his 1951 novel ''The Catcher in the Rye''. Salinger got his start in 1940, before serving in World War II, by publishing several short stories in '' ...
– novelist; lived at 3681 Broadway until he was nine years old
*
Hazel Scott
Hazel Dorothy Scott (June 11, 1920 – October 2, 1981) was a Trinidad-born American jazz and classical pianist and singer. She was an outspoken critic of racial discrimination and segregation. She used her influence to improve the representat ...
– pianist, wife of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., first African-American woman with her own television show
*
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, ...
– singer; lived, for a time, in Duke Ellington's old house in Harlem
*
Thomas Sowell
Thomas Sowell (; born June 30, 1930) is an American author, economist, political commentator and academic who is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. With widely published commentary and books—and as a guest on TV and radio—he becam ...
– professional economist and author
*
Billy Strayhorn
William Thomas Strayhorn (November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967) was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger, who collaborated with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington for nearly three decades. His compositions include "Take ...
– jazz composer, arranger
*
Percy Sutton
Percy Ellis Sutton (November 24, 1920 – December 26, 2009) was an American political and business leader. An activist in the Civil Rights Movement and lawyer, he was also a Freedom Rider and the legal representative for Malcolm X. He was ...
– Borough President of Manhattan: "If I were offered a million dollars, I wouldn't leave Harlem."
*
Billy Taylor
Billy Taylor (July 24, 1921 – December 28, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and from 1994 was the ...
– jazz pianist; lived in the Riverton Houses
*
Clarice Taylor
Clarice Taylor (September 20, 1917 – May 30, 2011) was an American stage, film and television actress. She is best known for playing Cousin Emma on ''Sanford and Son'' and the mother of Cliff Huxtable Anna Huxtable on ''The Cosby Show''. and Mr ...
– actress on the ''
Cosby Show
''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper middle-class African- ...
''
*
Conrad Tillard
Conrad Bennette Tillard (born September 15, 1964) is an American Baptist minister, radio host, activist, politician, and author.
Tillard was in his early years a prominent minister of the black nationalist organization the Nation of Islam (NOI) ...
(born 1964) - politician, Baptist minister, radio host, author, and civil rights activist
*
Samuel E Vázquez – abstract expressionist painter
*
Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...
– "Queen of the Blues"; born in Alabama but became famous when she lived in Harlem
*
Roy Wilkins
Roy Ottoway Wilkins (August 30, 1901 – September 8, 1981) was a prominent activist in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the 1930s to the 1970s. Wilkins' most notable role was his leadership of the National Association for the ...
– civil rights leader; lived at 409 Edgecombe
*
Louis T. Wright – physician, chairman of the board of the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
["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).]
*
Morrie Yohai – rabbi, inventor of
Cheez Doodles
Cheez Doodles are a cheese puff produced by Wise Foods. Originally developed and manufactured in 1964 by King Kone Corp. of the Bronx, New York, it became the prevalent cheese puff snack on the East Coast.
Description
Cheez Doodles are a c ...
Rap, hip hop, R&B and reality
*
40 Cal – rapper
*
ASAP Ferg – rapper
ASAP Mob
ASAP Mob (stylized as A$AP Mob, ASAP being an acronym for "Always Strive And Prosper") is an American hip hop collective formed in 2006 in Harlem, New York City, that consists of rappers (most of whom carry the "ASAP" moniker), record producers, ...
*
ASAP Rocky
Rakim Athelaston Mayers (born October 3, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Rocky ( ; stylized as A$AP Rocky), is an American rapper, music producer and record executive. Born and raised in Harlem, he embarked on his musical career as a membe ...
– rapper from Harlem (member of
ASAP Mob
ASAP Mob (stylized as A$AP Mob, ASAP being an acronym for "Always Strive And Prosper") is an American hip hop collective formed in 2006 in Harlem, New York City, that consists of rappers (most of whom carry the "ASAP" moniker), record producers, ...
)
*
Azealia Banks
Azealia Amanda Banks ( ; born May 31, 1991) is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. Raised in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, she began releasing music through Myspace in 2008 before being signed to XL Recordings at age 18. In 2 ...
– rapper, singer, lyricist
*
Big L
Lamont Coleman (May 30, 1974February 15, 1999), known professionally as Big L, was an American rapper and record executive.
Emerging from Harlem in New York City in 1992, Coleman became known among underground hip-hop fans for his freestyling ...
– rapper
*
Black Rob
Robert Ross (June 8, 1968 – April 17, 2021), known professionally as Black Rob, was an American rapper who was signed to Bad Boy Records. He was best known for his 1999 single " Whoa!", which peaked at number 43 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ...
– rapper from Spanish Harlem
*
Cam'ron
Cameron Ezike Giles (born February 4, 1976), better known by his stage name Cam'ron, is an American rapper, record executive, and actor from Harlem, New York City. Beginning his career in the mid-1990s as Killa Cam, Giles signed to Lance "Un" ...
– rapper (owner of Diplomat Records) (Dipset)
*
Cannibal Ox – rap duo
*
Crash Crew
Crash Crew is an American early hip-hop group who recorded for Mike and Dave Records in 1980 and then signed to Sugar Hill Records. The group, based in Harlem, Lincoln Projects New York City, consisted of members DJ Daryll C. (who died in 19 ...
– old-school rap group
*
Yaya DaCosta
Camara DaCosta Johnson (born November 15, 1982), better known as Yaya DaCosta, is an American actress and model. She was the runner-up in Cycle 3 of ''America's Next Top Model''. DaCosta eventually went to star in ABC's daytime drama series ''Al ...
– ''America's Next Top Model'' contestant/model
*
Damon Dash
Damon Anthony Dash (born May 3, 1971) is an American entrepreneur and record executive. Dash is best known as co-founder of Roc-A-Fella along with Jay-Z and Kareem Burke.
Early life
Born in New York City, Dash swept the floors of a local barbe ...
– Co-founder of
Roc-A-Fella Records
Roc-A-Fella Records was an American hip hop record label and music management company founded by record executives and entrepreneurs Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon "Dame" Dash, and Kareem "Biggs" Burke in 1994.
History
1994–2000: Formation ...
*
DJ Hollywood
DJ Hollywood (born Anthony Holloway; December 10, 1954) is an American MC and disc jockey.
Background
According to Kurtis Blow and Pete DJ Jones, Hollywood was the first rapper in the hip-hop style, making him the "Father" of the Hip Hop sty ...
– VH-1 hip hop honoree; rap/hip-hop pioneer
*
DJ Red Alert
Frederick Crute (born November 27, 1956), known professionally as Kool DJ Red Alert, is an American disc jockey who rose to fame on WRKS 98.7 Kiss FM in New York City and is recognized as one of the founding fathers of hip hop music and cultur ...
– DJ, hip hop pioneer
*
Kool Moe Dee
Mohandas Dewese (born August 8, 1962), better known by his stage name Kool Moe Dee, is an American rapper, writer and actor. Considered one of the forerunners of the new jack swing sound in hip hop, he gained fame in the 1980s as a member of one ...
– old-school rapper and one-third of the
Treacherous Three
The Treacherous Three was a pioneering American hip hop group that was formed in 1978 and consisted of DJ Easy Lee, Kool Moe Dee, L.A. Sunshine, Special K and Spoonie Gee (who left in the late 1970s), with occasional contributions from DJ ...
*
Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock
Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock were an American hip hop duo from Harlem, New York City. Rob Base is the stage name of Robert Ginyard (b. 1967) and DJ E-Z Rock was Rodney "Skip" Bryce (1967–2014). They are best known for the 1988 hit " It Takes Two", ...
– rap duo best known for their hit "
It Takes Two"
*
Dave East
David Lawrence Brewster Jr. (born June 3, 1988), better known by his stage name Dave East, is an American rapper. East began his career in 2010, and gained attention in 2014 from his eighth mixtape, ''Black Rose''. Its release garnered the attent ...
– rapper (Mass Appeal Records)
*
Famous Dex
Dexter Tiewon Gore Jr. (born September 6, 1993), better known by his stage name Famous Dex, is an American rapper and singer. His 2018 debut album ''Dex Meets Dexter'' peaked at number 12 on the ''Billboard'' 200, while its singles " Pick It Up ...
– rapper
*
Fatman Scoop
Isaac Freeman III (born August 6, 1971), better known by his stage name Fatman Scoop, is an American rapper, promoter and radio personality famed for his on-stage rough, raw loud voice.
He is known for the song " Be Faithful", which topped the c ...
– Grammy and MTV Award winner; radio personality; reality TV star
*
The Fearless Four – pioneer rap group
*
Doug E. Fresh
Doug E. Fresh (born September 17, 1966) is a Barbados-born American rapper, record producer, and beatboxer, also known as the "Human Beat Box". The pioneer of 20th-century American beatboxing, Fresh is able to accurately imitate drum machines an ...
– '80s rapper, runs a waffle house in Harlem
*
Spoonie Gee
Gabriel Jackson (born May 27, 1963), better known by his stage name Spoonie Gee, is one of the earliest rap artists, and one of the few to have released rap records in the 1970s. He has been credited with originating the term hip hop and some o ...
– pioneer rapper
*
Ebony Haith – ''America's Next Top Model'' contestant, model
*
Charles Hamilton – rapper
*
Ilacoin – hip hop artist, creator of the "Pause" game
*
Freddie Jackson
Frederick Anthony Jackson (born October 2, 1956) is an American singer. Originally from New York, Jackson began his professional music career in the late 1970s with the California funk band Mystic Merlin. Among his well–known R&B/soul hits are " ...
– singer
*
Jim Jones
James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American preacher, political activist and mass murderer. He led the Peoples Temple, a new religious movement, between 1955 and 1978. In what he called "revolutionary suicide ...
– rapper (co-CEO of Diplomat Records) (Dipset)
*
Joe Budden
Joseph Anthony Budden II (born August 31, 1980) is an American media personality and former rapper. He first gained recognition as a rapper with his 2003 top 40 single " Pump It Up" and as a member of the hip hop supergroup Slaughterhouse. In ...
– rapper, media personality, host of ''
The Joe Budden Podcast''
*
Kareem "Biggs" Burke - co-founder of
Roc-A-Fella Records
Roc-A-Fella Records was an American hip hop record label and music management company founded by record executives and entrepreneurs Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon "Dame" Dash, and Kareem "Biggs" Burke in 1994.
History
1994–2000: Formation ...
*
Kelis
Kelis Rogers-Mora (; born August 21, 1979), known mononymously as Kelis, is an American singer, songwriter and a professionally trained chef. At age 14, she was admitted to New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Perform ...
– R&B singer and songwriter
*
Rayne Storm – rapper, producer (Digiindie)
*
Puff Daddy – rapper, businessman, founder of
Bad Boy Records
Bad Boy Records (or Bad Boy Entertainment) is an American record label founded in 1993 by rapper Sean "Puffy" Combs. It operates as an imprint of Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. It has been home to many artists, including ...
*
Freekey Zekey
Ezekiel Giles (born October 13, 1975), better known by his stage name Freekey Zekey, is an American rapper and music executive best known as a founding member of The Diplomats, a group he helped form in Harlem in 1997 alongside his childhood frie ...
– rapper (owner, CEO of 730 Dips Records)
*
Immortal Technique
Felipe Andres Coronel (born February 19, 1978), better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is an American rapper. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics, from a radical left-wing perspective.
Immortal Techn ...
– rapper
*
Kurtis Blow
Kurtis Walker (born August 9, 1959), professionally known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record/film producer, b-boy, DJ, public speaker and minister. He is the first commercially successful rapper ...
– rapper
*
Lil Mama
Niatia Jessica Kirkland (born October 4, 1989), better known by her stage name Lil Mama, is an American rapper, singer, actress and television presenter from Brooklyn, New York and Harlem, New York. She experienced top 10 ''Billboard'' placemen ...
– rapper; judge of ''
America's Best Dance Crew''
*
Biz Markie
Marcel Theo Hall (April 8, 1964 – July 16, 2021), known professionally as Biz Markie, was an American rapper, singer, songwriter, DJ, and record producer. Markie was best known for his 1989 single "Just a Friend", which became a Top 40 hit in ...
– rapper, disc jockey owns a Waffle House
*
Mase
Mason Durell Betha (born August 27, 1975), better known by his mononym Mase (formerly Murda Mase and stylized as Ma$e), is an American rapper and minister. In the late 1990s, he recorded on the Bad Boy Records label alongside its founder Sean ...
– rapper
*
Jae Millz – rapper
*
P-Star – rapper, singer, actress
*
Q-Tip – rapper, producer (
A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,[Q-Tip](_blank)
)
*
Teddy Riley
Edward Theodore Riley (born October 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer credited with the creation of the New Jack Swing genre. Riley credits Barry Michael Cooper with giving the genre its name.Hogan, Paul. "Tedd ...
– producer, artist
*
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the Li ...
- rapper
*
Carl Hancock Rux
Carl Hancock Rux () is an American poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, recording artist, journalist, curator and conceptual installation artist working in text, dance, ritualized performance, audio, video, and photography. Described in the NY T ...
– writer, performer
*
Isabel Sanford
Isabel Sanford (born Eloise Gwendolyn Sanford; August 29, 1917 – July 9, 2004) was an American stage, film, and television actress and comedian best known for her role as Louise "Weezy" Mills Jefferson on the CBS sitcoms ''All in the Fami ...
– actor; co-star of ''
The Jeffersons
''The Jeffersons'' is an American sitcom television series that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, to July 2, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of 253 episodes. ''The Jeffersons'' is one of the longest-running sitcoms in history, ...
''
*
Juelz Santana
LaRon Louis James (born February 18, 1982), better known by his stage name Juelz Santana, is an American rapper and member of East Coast hip hop group The Diplomats, also known as Dipset. He is best known for his appearances on Cam'ron's 2002 si ...
– rapper (owner, CEO of Skull Gang Records)
*
Bre Scullark
Brittany "Bre" Scullark (born April 26, 1985) is an American fashion model and actress. She became the last eliminated on ''America's Next Top Model, Cycle 5''.
Early life
Scullark was born in Harlem, New York. She began swimming competitively ...
– ''America's Next Top Model'' contestant, model
*
Smoke DZA
Sean Pompey (born February 8, 1984), better known by his stage name Smoke DZA, is an American rapper and songwriter.
Biography
1984–2007: Early life and career beginnings
Smoke DZA was born February 8, 1984 at Harlem Hospital in New York ...
– rapper
*
Dani Stevenson
Dani Stevenson (born September 3, 1980) is an American contemporary R&B singer-songwriter. She is best known for her background vocals on Nelly's single, "Hot in Herre" and her own singles, "Honk Your Horn" (featuring Missy Elliott) and "Yo, Y ...
– singer
*
Keith Sweat
Keith Sweat (born July 22, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and an early figure in the new jack swing musical movement. He is known for his collection of hits including "I Want Her", " Make It Last Forever", "I'll Give A ...
– singer
*
Teyana Taylor
Teyana Me Shay Jacqueli Shumpert ( Taylor; born December 10, 1990) is an American singer, actress, dancer and choreographer. In 2005, she signed a record deal with Pharrell Williams' Star Trak Entertainment imprint. Afterwards, she choreographed ...
– singer and rapper signed to
Kanye West
Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer.
Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...
's
G.O.O.D. Music
GOOD Music (also known simply as GOOD, stylized as G.O.O.D. Music; a backronym for Getting Out Our Dreams) is an American record label founded by rapper Kanye West in 2004. The label signed an exclusive long-term worldwide label agreement with t ...
label
*
Treacherous Three
The Treacherous Three was a pioneering American hip hop group that was formed in 1978 and consisted of DJ Easy Lee, Kool Moe Dee, L.A. Sunshine, Special K and Spoonie Gee (who left in the late 1970s), with occasional contributions from DJ ...
– old-school rap group
*
T-Rex
''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...
– battle rapper (member Of Dot Mob)
*
Vado – rapper (We The Best Records)
*
Billy Dee Williams
William December Williams Jr. (born April 6, 1937) is an American actor. He appeared as Lando Calrissian in the '' Star Wars'' franchise, first in the early 1980s for ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) and ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), and thir ...
– actor
*
JR Writer
Rusty Brito (born May 28, 1985) better known by his stage name J.R. Writer, is a Dominican American rapper and freestyle champion. He was also a member of East Coast hip hop group The Diplomats.
Career
Writer is from Harlem, New York. He has re ...
– rapper (Dipset member)
*
Bodega Bamz
Nathaniel De La Rosa (born March 17, 1985), known professionally as Bodega Bamz, is of Dominican/Puerto Rican decent rapper/actor from Spanish Harlem, New York. De La Rosa first attracted attention for his 2012 mixtape, ''Strictly 4 My P.A.P.I. ...
- rapper, actor
*
Sheck Wes - rapper
21st-century residents
*
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
- owned a brownstone on
Striver’s Row from 1980’s until year 2000. The townhouse is located at 265 West 139th Street and it sold in 2018 for $3.7M
*
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran.
Given name Karim
* Karim A ...
– basketball player, moved into a Mount Morris brownstone at 30 West 120th Street in September 2006
*
Lorraine Adams
Lorraine Adams is an American journalist and novelist. As a journalist, she is known as a contributor to the '' New York Times Book Review'', and a former contributor to ''The Washington Post''. As a novelist, she is known for the award-winning '' ...
– writer and journalist
*
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...
– poet and author, owned a home on 120th Street in Mount Morris Park district
*
Angela Bassett
Angela Evelyn Bassett (born August 16, 1958) is an American actress. She had her breakthrough with her portrayal of singer Tina Turner in the biopic ''What's Love Got to Do with It'' (1993), which garnered her a nomination for the Academy Award ...
–
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
and
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-nominated, and
Golden Globe-winning actress
*
Keith David
Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his signature deep voice and commanding screen presence in over 300 roles across film, stage, television, and interactive media.
He has starred in such films as '' T ...
– actor and singer
*
Charlotte d'Amboise
Charlotte d'Amboise (born May 11, 1964) is an American actress and dancer. She has played starring roles in musical theatre, and has been nominated for two Tony Awards and won the Los Angeles Ovation Awards for Best Leading Actress in a Musical ...
– actress and dancer
*
Jonathan Franzen
Jonathan Earl Franzen (born August 17, 1959) is an American novelist and essayist. His 2001 novel '' The Corrections'', a sprawling, satirical family drama, drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, was a Pulitzer Pr ...
– author; lived on 125th Street when he wrote his book ''The Corrections''
*
Daphne Frias – activist
[Sarah, R. (2021). Girl Warriors: How 25 Young Activists Are Saving the Earth. United States: Chicago Review Press.]
*
Marcia Gay Harden
Marcia Gay Harden (born August 14, 1959) is an American actress. She is the recipient of accolades including an Academy Award and a Tony Award, in addition to nominations for a Critics' Choice Movie Award and three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Born ...
– Oscar-winning actress
*
Edward W. Hardy – Composer, musician and producer
*
Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host. Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and musical stage roles, he has received multiple accolades throughout ...
– actor; lives near Morningside Park when not in Los Angeles
*
, writer
*
Jeff L. Lieberman – film director
*
Terrance Mann – actor and dancer
*
Cameron Mathison
Cameron Arthur Mathison (born August 25, 1969) is a Canadian-American actor and television host. From 1997 to 2011, he played the role of Ryan Lavery on ''All My Children''.
Early life and personal life
Mathison was born on August 25, 1969, in S ...
– actor on ''
All My Children
''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 20 ...
'' and contestant on ''Dancing with the Stars'', 136 West 130th Street
*
S. Epatha Merkerson
Sharon Epatha Merkerson (born November 28, 1952) is a film, stage, and television actor. Known by her stage name S. Epatha Merkerson, she has received numerous high-profile accolades for her work, including an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, ...
– actress
*
Harold "Hal" Miller – actor ("Gordon" on ''Sesame Street''), lived on 152nd Street & Macombs Place, before going to live and work in China, India and throughout Europe
*
Mandy Patinkin
Mandel Bruce Patinkin (; born November 30, 1952) is an American actor and singer, known for his work in musical theatre, television and film. He is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received three Tony Award nominations, winning ...
– actor
*
Adam Clayton Powell IV
Adam Clayton "A.C." Powell IV (born Adam Clayton Powell Diago;
Andy Newman. The New York Times. April 14, 2010. Retrieved July ...
–
New York City Council
The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five Borough (New York City), boroughs.
The council serves as a check against the Mayor of New York City, mayor in a may ...
member
*
Richard Price
Richard Price (23 February 1723 – 19 April 1791) was a British moral philosopher, Nonconformist minister and mathematician. He was also a political reformer, pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the French ...
– author and screenwriter
[Jeremy Egner, "Crime and Punishers on Streets of Harlem", ''The New York Times,'' April 4, 2012, Arts & Leisure, p. 13.]
*
Marcus Samuelsson
25 January 1971) is an Ethiopian-born Swedish-American celebrity chef, restaurateur and television personality. He is the head chef of Red Rooster in Harlem, New York.
Early life and education
Kassahun Joar Tsegie was born in Ethiopia. His fa ...
– chef and restaurateur; lived in duplex near Frederick Douglass Boulevard
*
Miz Cracker
Miz Cracker (born April 19, 1984) is the stage name of Maxwell Elias Heller, an American drag queen and television personality. He is best known for placing fifth on the tenth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and for being a runner-up on the fi ...
- Drag Queen
*
Akhnaten Spencer-El
Akhnaten Spencer-El (born April 13, 1979) is an American sabre fencer. He competed in the individual sabre event at the 2000 Summer Olympics, finishing 34th. Akhnaten Spencer-El joined the Columbia University fencing coaching staff in September ...
– Olympic fencer
*
Stephen Spinella –
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...
-winning actor
*
Joel Steinberg – killed his adopted daughter; moved to Harlem after his 2004 release from prison
["The monster now", The New York ''Daily News,'' July 10, 2006.]
*
Alton White – hockey player
*
Khalid Yasin
Khalid Yasin (born in 1946), is an American Islamic preacher, a former Christian, who lives in Manchester, England and lectures in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world. Yasin frequently travels overseas to spread his faith and has cal ...
– born in Harlem; raised in Brooklyn; teacher and lecturer of Islam
*
Oscar Peñas – composer and jazz guitarist – born in Barcelona, Spain; moved from Clinton Hill, Brooklyn to Hamilton Height, Harlem in 2018
*
Alysia Reiner - American actress and producer. Reiner is best known for playing Natalie "Fig" Figueroa in the
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
comedy drama series
Orange Is the New Black
''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Wo ...
(2013–2019), for which she won a
Screen Actors Guild Award for her role as part of the ensemble cast.
Representatives
*
Inez Dickens
Inez E. Dickens (born July 15, 1949) is the Assemblymember for the 70th district of the New York State Assembly. She is a Democrat. The district includes portions of El Barrio, Hamilton Heights, Harlem, and Morningside Heights in Manhattan. Sh ...
- New York City Council
*
Robert Jackson – New York City council
*
David Paterson
David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to December 2010. A ...
–
New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
*
Bill Perkins – New York State Senator
*
Adam Clayton Powell IV
Adam Clayton "A.C." Powell IV (born Adam Clayton Powell Diago;
Andy Newman. The New York Times. April 14, 2010. Retrieved July ...
–
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits.
The Assem ...
*
Charles B. Rangel
Charles Bernard Rangel (, ; born June 11, 1930) is an American politician who was a U.S. representative for districts in New York from 1971 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the second-longest serving incumbent member of the ...
–
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
, lives in Lenox Terrace at 132nd Street and Lenox Avenue
*
José M. Serrano
José Marco Serrano (born June 19, 1972) is a member of the New York State Senate from the New York's 29th State Senate district, 29th District, representing Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, Bronx, Melrose, Highbridge, Bronx, Highbridge, M ...
– New York State Senate
*
Keith L.T. Wright – New York State Assembly
References
{{Harlem, state=collapsed
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
*
Harlem