List of people from Harlem
People from Harlem, New York.
The Early Period
- Alexander Hamilton - politician, lived in Harlem at the end of his life
- John James Audubon - naturalist
- Collyer brothers - compulsive hoarders, lived in Harlem their entire adult lives
- Frederic Alexander Birmingham - editor of Esquire Magazine from 1945-1957, grew up in Harlem[1]
- Scott Joplin - pianist/composer, lived on West 131st Street shortly before his death in 1917
- George and Ira Gershwin: Composers, grew up in Harlem
- F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald - author and wife[2]
- Richard Croker - Tammany Hall politician[3]
The Harlem Renaissance
- Langston Hughes - writer[2]
- Claude McKay - poet and novelist. Born in Jamaica but moved to Harlem and wrote the famous novel "Home to Harlem"
- Countee Cullen - poet
- Jean Toomer - writer
- Zora Neal Hurston - writer[2]
- Rudolph Fisher - writer
- Arna Bontemps - writer
- Jesse Fauset - poet
- Bert Williams - vaudeville actor. Born in Antigua. Died in 1922, near the start of the Harlem Renaissance.
- James Van Der Zee - photographer[4]
- James Weldon Johnson - author, activist, composer. Lived at 187 West 135th Street.[5]
- A. Philip Randolph - activist, labor organizer
- W.E.B. DuBois - activist, writer. Lived at 409 Edgecombe.[5]
- Aaron Douglas - painter
- Madam C. J. Walker - philanthropist and tycoon
- A'Lelia Walker - socialite and businesswoman
- Paul Robeson - singer and actor, lived at 555 Edgecombe.[5]
- Johnnie Hodges - musician, lived at 555 Edgecombe.[5]
- Count Basie - bandleader and pianist. Lived at 555 Edgecome.[5]
- Duke Ellington - composer, band leader. Lived on Riverside Drive in Harlem and, at another point, at 555 Edgecombe.[4][5]
- Ethel Waters - singer, actress. Born in Chester, PA
- Walter White - civil rights leader
- Wallace Thurman - writer
- Willie "The Lion" Smith - pianist
- James P. Johnson - pianist
- Willie Gant - pianist
- Fats Waller - pianist
- Bill "Bojangles" Robinson - dancer, lived on Strivers' Row.[5]
- Bumpy Johnson - gangster
- Casper Holstein - gangster
- Florence Mills - entertainer
- Mary Lou Williams - pianist, lived at 63 Hamilton Terrace[6]
- Billie Holiday - singer, lived with her mother at 108 West 139th Street[6]
- Charles "Sweet Daddy" Grace – evangelist, born in Cape Verde islands but became prominent in Harlem in the 1920s[4]
- Father Divine - religious leader[4]
- Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. - priest, civic leader[4]
Famous After WWII
- Roy Wilkins - civil rights leader, lived at 409 Edgecombe.[5]
- Ralph Ellison - novelist, wrote Invisible Man, about a man who moves from the deep south to Harlem. Lived in Sugar Hill, Harlem.[5]
- Sugar Ray Robinson - Boxer, Harlem entrepreneur. Moved to Harlem at age 12.
- Thurgood Marshall - Supreme Court justice, lived at 409 Edgecombe.[5]
- Harry Belafonte - calypso musican
- Ossie Davis - actor, lived in Harlem in the late 1930s and mid-1940s
- W. C. Handy - composer and bandleader, lived on Strivers' Row in Harlem towards the end of his life.[5]
- James Baldwin - novelist
- Althea Gibson - professional tennis player. Lived at 115 West 143rd Street.[5]
- Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. - politician
- Malcolm X - preacher, revolutionary
- Earl Manigault - Basketball player
- Ron Brown - Secretary of Commerce
- Dr. Kenneth Clark - psychologist and activist
- LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka - dancer / poet / activist
- Isiah Robinson, one-time president of the New York City Board of Education[4]
- Hazel Scott - pianist, first African American woman with her own television show.[4]
- Gordon Parks - film director and photographer[4]
- Erik Estrada - actor, from East Harlem
- Percy Sutton - one-time Borough President of Manhattan. "If I were offered a million dollars, I wouldn't leave Harlem."[4]
- Eleanor Holmes Norton - one-time head of the Commission of Human Rights for New York City, "There is something magical about Harlem."[4]
- Basil Patterson - one-time Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee[4]
- Carl McCall - one-time New York State Senator, and Comptroller of New York State[4]
- Dinah Washington - "Queen of the Blues", born in Alabama but became famous when she lived in Harlem.[4]
- Nina Simone - singer. Lived for a time in Duke Ellington's old house in Harlem.[4]
- Charles Kenyatta - activist, pastor, bodyguard and confidant of Malcolm X[4]
Rap and Hip Hop
- Damon Dash - CEO
- Sean "Puffy" Combs - Owner of Bad Boy Entertainment
- Big L - deceased rapper
- Cam'ron - rapper (Co-CEO of The Diplomats)
- Jae Millz - rapper
- JR Writer - rapper
- Juelz Santana - rapper
- Joe Budden - rapper
- Mase - rapper
- Freekey Zeekey - rapper (president of Diplomat Records)
- Jim Jones (rapper) - rapper (Co-CEO of The Diplomats)
- Immortal Technique - Rapper
Current Residents
- Marcia Gay Harden - actress[2]
- Mandy Patinkin - actor[2]
- S. Epatha Merkerson - actress [2]
- Alimoe aka Tyrone Evans (streetballer) - streetball
- Adam Clayton Powell IV - New York City council member
- Akhnatan Spencer-El - Olympic fencer
- Joel Steinberg - Famously killed his adopted daughter, moved to Harlem after his 2004 release from prison[7]
Representatives
- Charles B. Rangel - United States House of Representatives
- David Paterson - New York State Senate minority leader
- Jose M. Serrano - New York State Senate
- Keith L.T. Wright - New York State Assembly
- Adam Clayton Powell IV - New York State Assembly
- Robert Jackson - New York City council
- Inez Dickens- New York City Council
References
- ^ It Was Fun While it Lasted, Frederic Alexander Birmingham, 1960
- ^ a b c d e f "Star Map," New York Magazine, August 14, 2006, p.35
- ^ Malcolm, Bruce Perry, Station Hill, 1991. page 154
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "To Live In Harlem," Frank Hercules, National Geographic, February 1977, p.178+
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Manhattan African-American History and Culture Guide, Museum of the City of New York
- ^ a b "The New Heyday of Harlem," Tessa Souter, The Independent on Sunday, June 8, 1997
- ^ "The monster now," The New York Daily News, July 10, 2006