Harlem
Historic uptown neighborhood that sparked a golden age of Black music, art, and literature.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Harlem in New York City opens in the winter of 1927, when a young pianist named Duke Ellington arrived to open at the Cotton Club, a Lenox Avenue nightclub run by gangster Owney Madden. You'll hear how the club drew wealthy white audiences nightly to watch Black musicians perform, under a strict rule about who was allowed to sit in the room. The guide follows Ellington's orchestra as its broadcasts began reaching living rooms far beyond New York.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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