As a black man looking at this video it truly is bittersweet. I often rolled my eyes when my Grandma and even Mother would tell me how it was when they were younger and what the community “used” to look like. This is what the black community was before it was destroyed by drugs, and ultimately gentrification. I long for these days just to experience what it may have been like to live during that time.
Destroyed by Democrat policies to incentivize fatherless households and single mothers raising their kids alone plus schools that push illiterate uneducated students along through graduation with no hope for a middle class wage. You're Welcome.
@@phantompixie7164 Actually, you can. (1) Eliminate quality water (as was done to Detroit). (2) Eliminate decent paying jobs and promote only low wage paying jobs with no opportunity for advancement. (3) Introduce drugs into the neighborhood. People feeling they're in a hopeless situation will eventually use drugs to numb themselves. (4) Increase the price of drugs knowing addicts will steal and even kill to meet the dealer's price. (5) Displace residents via gentrification and increased prices. Those who are unable to meet new prices will eventually become homeless. This was Richard Nixon's actual playbook used for destroying Black neighborhoods.
It isn't the freedom - its the trick of wanting to be someone else, and having the option to pretend. Fantasy destroys cooperation. Easier to overlook whats important and seek validation from opinions of outsiders. Running from and slandering self.
#I Am Israel. I am glad someone else sees it, the civil rights movement was an invention of the whites and they sent the Trojan hoarse aka black man to deliver the booby prize.
Because is part of the master plan to keep hate alive and the people hating each other regardless of ethnicity. I am not Black but I am very aware of the truth.
blackplaque617 You people are a joke, blacks do have freedom today. They just mess it up just too get back at whites and started believing lies of the media about whites. You blacks are only oppressing y’all self with that mindset. If y’all want to succeed than y’all must stop blaming whites and stop viewing them as your oppressor and come together and move on and rebuild just like all these other races in this country are doing. The only enemy here to blacks are people like you with that hateful mindset that would lead to nothing but chaos.
Because we did. We were more self sufficient. We relied on each other more and therefore were more proud. We were also better educated and our culture hadn't degraded to the point where it is now.
Wow that sign says "THE LAW- keep your sidewalk clean, never sweep ,refuse, into street." Just look at how our people carried themselves, with pride and dignity. Not a single person sloppily dressed. And wow there's black people actually working the carts and booths outside and not another race. Dang what happened to us?! Gosh those projects are ginormous! What a great vid!
Ms Kitty Kitty We Americans ADOS paved the way for other ethnicities and groups to become vendors and the like. Never forget this. ADOS have always been used as a template for the LBQT communities as well. And I still can not equate why. When Black Folk passage did not originate like their plight. Similarities for what they were striving to overcome, but an entirely different passage.🤔
Brian Napier Sr. I never hear Latin Americans say “we’re not Latin” only black folks like you try to erase the African ancestors that runs through your blood
As a Elder born in Harlem Hospital It was magical Full of Pride unity harmony Dad had a small eatery on 136 and Lenox Gone are those days big businesses destroyed Harlem along with the Clintons
First of all I am not a Bitch Your family members may be But then I realize I am dealing with folks would ..who don't have the knowledge keyboard warriors Let me educate you the Clintons plan open a office in Harlem gain the black vote across the country for Killary With the support of Al and Charlie the political powerhouses who both supported Clinton BIG businesses WERE RECRUITED rents went sky high.Harlem was SOLD ..but Obama popped up and destroyed Killarys dream Thank you Obama she passed the stop and search law here in NYC all the small mom and pop stores and the village of Harlem no longer compete with the big retail stores Harlem is white..that was the plan Walk in the African American parade every year ..Killary wanted our votes but did not even walk in the parade her office was in Harlem. Clinton's destroyed Harlem it's called gentrification. Clinton was a regular visitor to Epsteins palace ..UHMMMMMMMMM Next..
@@denisemitchell8477 - Thanks for educating those (hopefully)young, disrespectful, and unknowledgable individuals...."My people perish for lack of knowledge.
My grandpa and grandma lived in Harlem during the war years...always was curious about what it was like back then. Thank you for sharing this priceless video.
I'm nearly 70 years old and the previous. Comment hit the nail on the head. We did have more self respect and dignity back then women always carried them selves like ladies at all times and the men were proud hardworking gentelmen.
There was extreme poverty back then, it was the depression. This was before race riot of 1943 in HArlem and Detroit where there was overcrowding and job discrimination inhousing, wartime jobs and unionization. A great description of the era was in the Autobio of Malcolm X.
Exactly because back then your parents or grandparents would wipp you behind if you misbehaved..Jewamerica destroid all that with thier liberal views.And we have been paying for it ever since...
I enjoy seeing archival videos such as this of our people, it's like you're being placed in a "time machine", and getting to see how it was before you were even thought about, wonderful footage, R.I.P. to all of the souls from this...
those drugs were not even native to this continent. i wonder how they got here.... the sabotage of our people is real and needs to be disussed heavily.
Styles were nice. Men looked good in suits and fedora hats. Women wore stylish, feminine clothing. There seemed to be a relaxed enjoyment on the part of the people. By 1939 the country was coming out of the depression years. Maybe they were feeling a sense of relief, as if the worst was over and there were better days ahead.
C. T. I ask my Mother (RIP) y did she not share the experiences of the depression. She stated, that they were so poor that they did not know that it was a depression. I gathered that it was just a part of life for them. However, they share their food. Someone had the meal. The other person raised and slaughtered hogs. Others raised chickens. It was a Co-op before it became trending.
Tyrone norfleet Norfleet no, GENTRIFICATION killed Harlem! There was no welcome we let nobody in. It was when those greedy land developers and realtors started burning and buying our buildings and raising the rates so high we had to move out that white people started moving in! Before Harlem was indeed black, my brother.
Harlem started to deteriorate when law enforcement, and the politicians looked the other way when the Mafia crime families flooded the community with heroin. This happened after WW2. The second wave of destruction came in the 60's with more heroin. And then came the crack epidemic in the mid 80's. The final nail in the coffin was when the " Empowerment Zone" was created, to start up new businesses and housing. That's when Harlem became gentrified and super expensive so the long time residents couldn't afford it. A damn shame.
Leslie Scarver yeah, heroin did play a huge part in it but the real destruction came from those greedy landlords who burned down their buildings to gain profit from their policies and didn't care how many people they killed or put on the street. The more of the buildings they burned, the more people they put on the street to be driven into heroin and to crime!
You present good stuff as always! I'm in awe at how clean the streets of Harlem were! I love the way our people dressed. Everyone seemed to take pride in their appearance then.
You're so right about the being happy part...you ever noticed that the haves seems to be more angrier than the have nots.I used to hear my older relatives say that they made things happen with very little...and didn't really complain about what they didn't have.
My Mother was born in Harlem in 1931, I like these videos because I always hope to get a glimpse of her as a young girl.... She’ll be 89 this year and she still roller skates!!❤️😁
This is amazing footage. It was so different back then. I was was also thinking about how young my grandmother & grandfather were during the time this footage was shoot. I think about where some of the people were going & or coming from. I think about a whole bunch of things watching this video.
@@3alarm247 after enough bullshit we would of came with our own similar mobs that would have crashed the klan,but we definitely would be better off if we didn't segregate with the land 😈
Reading the comments it is unanimous that we want some of the old culture to return. The respectably dressed men and women, the black businesses, the evident self-respect that can be noticed on a silent video. How do regain these jewels back? A) God has to enter back into the family. Regardless of whether the family is a single parent household or not. I didn't say religion. I said God B) Men have to be taught how to be the heads of their household or take care of the children that they produce... without being bitter at the mother. Women must be better examples of womanhood to their daughters and well as their sons. No dressing in the freak clothes that comes out of the mind of white people. Dress with dignity so our daughters can emulate that dignity. Fight like hell to keep the families unified. No ADULTERY(emphasis on the brothers). C) strong push at home for EDUCATION. We've been pushing but we have to push a little more. Get our youth in college! With the importance of coming back to the community to help edify the community and not flee from the community. We have to blame ourselves to some extent for GENTRIFICATION. It's happening all over the country. It ain't 100% the white man's fault. Some of it is ours. D) The knowledge of ourselves and our history(beyond slavery!!!) E)Unity starting at home; extending to the church, the mosque, the temples then into the community. F) Strong promotion of financial literacy to as many black families that will listen to the information. **in my humble observation, these are some important things that we're missing in the 21st century that the black community may have possessed or was working toward possession at the date of this video. I dont have all the answers and I ask any of my people to forgive me if I seem to come across arrogant or self-righteous. I love black people and I hurt when I see where we are at today which is why I've been working hard at helping us get out of this condition that we're in today.
Amen! God bless you in being apart of the answer and it hurts me too I still choose a black man by my side because they're historically the strongest men on the planet.
Giving out roses to ReelBlack once again! This isn't taught in schools or at home but it needs to be. Thanks for the collection of positive historical black images instead of focusing on black pain like the mainstream
Year my mom is born, she's in a nursing home right now with some health challenges. We live in Harlem too. God bless you forever mom, keeping getting better and stronger and be filled with joy and happiness. 8/7/19. (Wed.) 1:33 a.m. 🌟
"The night is beautiful, So the faces of my people. The stars are beautiful, So the eyes of my people. Beautiful, also, is the sun. Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people." Langston Hughes
_No fast food places, no liquor stores, no Chinese or Arab businesses, no pimps, no street gangs, no drug dealers or addicts, no prostitutes, no questionable genders. Just black men, women and children going about their day. People conversing and conducting themselves with self respect, dignity and pride. Film in B&W yet the skies STILL seem clearer and bluer._
You're naive if you think drugs, prostitution and crime weren't rampant back then. Heroin for one, was a popular choice of drug. I wish people wouldn't get so stuck on how they dressed. A conservative attire doesn't say anything about a person's character.
Watch 2:14. It seems the man is not happy and refuses the product. It seems the lady tries to convince him but, he waves his hand as he walks away. He’s not having it 😆
I love old footage like this! Look how everyone dressed so well just for everyday life, suits and nice dresses its ashame what our world has turned into, I'd love to turn back time and start over!!! That's when people had morals, dignity and cared how they were acting and living!! ✌
I love viewing these videos and I often wish that I was around to be a part of that time. Things were a lot different at that time but it certainly wasn't all roses as many of us know. There were hustlers, pimps, thieves, prostitutes, killers, etc back then but some people here see a short video from that time and act as if these things didn't exist at that time and they somehow only came about in the last 30-40 years. After viewing some of the comments I have to say, and with all due respect to everyone speaking on how people dress and behave now a days as oppose to back then, we have to blame the generations who came many years before the "now a days people". My point is that there has been a lot of ball dropping over the years to get to this point. Complacency, lack of respect for self and others, etc didn't begin in the 80s & 90s. I'm just calling it how it is.
Al B. Respectfully. I don't believe any of us think back to that time as our Utopia. This shows a small slice of us interacting with each other during the day. We appear to be respectful of each other and we dressed nice for ourselves and others. Of course the realities of the day certainly included all that you expressed, but what they saw on a daily basis up and down the streets of Harlem was shown on this clip. Nighttime? Much different. But I'm positive we all know that. 🤔
LOOK AT THE KIDS INNOCENTLY PLAYING OUTSIDE THERE BUILDING NOT WORRYING BOUT GUNSHOTS OR TERRORIST COMING THROUGH THERE NEIGHBORHOOD LOOK LIKE SO MUCH FUN HERE AT 4:15!!!!
Fell LIKE 😢 crying. No ARGURING fighting. People going and coming so happy and free.. Among each other. Business people. Dressed with respect and dignity. Children going about so playful.. But now? Lord GOD of Abraham. So distant and froozen in there hatred lost identity and hardly no trust are safety within our own people.. Lost values and morals..less and less of..Thanks for sharing the footage.. Didn't know we would come to where we are now??? 😢
Although this was way before my time and even my parents. I was blessed to live through a time that seemed similar to this and that was the eighties. A time before the black on black war and the neighborhood I grew up in at a time wasn't plagued by drugs. The streets were safe and you didn't have to worry about children are innocent people killed or injured by strays. The music culture wasn't polluted, children minded their parents or any neighboring adults especially elders. When will we see those happy days again?
The start of building Queens Bridge projects were 1937. I guess this is a finish product. Anyway, the project concept was never favorable by the majority of people. But somehow, the government convince people that it would lift people out of poverty. But all it did was gave people access to basic services that was seen as a luxury back than. A lot of people don't know that many of the tenements did not have piping for running water. So many residence had to live like common country folks. But the projects change that, and that was good. Also, the apartments offer more space and there was always a play area outside the building. This wasn't so with the tenements that line the blocks. So in the beginning, the projects were a good concept. Than the 1970s came. The fiscal crisis and changing policies across the nation when it comes to manufacturing jobs. Since a large bulk of the black population relied on these jobs to make a living, when they left, so did their quality of life. For the record, it was common for a blue wage worker to make $13 an hour in 1960s if they had been on the job for several years. So this wage allow them to be stable and be a productive citizen. So when the jobs left, so did quality of life. In order for these individuals to carve a living for themselves and families, they engaged in illegal activity. This allow the crime to be concentrated in poor and black areas. So the projects once a ok thing, became a bad thing. But New York had been managing projects a lot longer than other cities, so the majority of them survived. But as you see today, their survival come at a risk, higher maintenance cost.
I was born in Queensbridge in 1946. I lived there until 1953 . My dad bought a house about a mile away in Long Island City. I always went back to visit until 1967. The drugs were so common, that I became very skeptical of going into the projects.
Perhaps I am not the most knowledgeable guy when it comes to the history of neighborhoods in New York, however from looking at this video one gets the impression that Harlem was a very tight knit community back in the day with strong family values regardless of the socioeconomic status of its residents. Clean streets with well dressed folks from all walks of life. I've only been to Harlem once, I hear it has gone through quite the Renaissance recently. Hope this area continues to thrive.
Back when we cared for each other' be kind respect and love you like I love me family in the neighborhoods all was family that what we lack nowadays Period
From miami but love this footage of NY Harlem. BLACK PEOPLE ALWAYS WAS AND ALWAYS WILL BE BEAUTIFUL
Clive Moses
I’m from Miami too 🤗 and I agree. Harlem has so much history, I would love to go and visit there one day
Cap
💯
We will will recreate this by practicing group economics. - Dr Claud Anderson -
As a black man looking at this video it truly is bittersweet. I often rolled my eyes when my Grandma and even Mother would tell me how it was when they were younger and what the community “used” to look like. This is what the black community was before it was destroyed by drugs, and ultimately gentrification. I long for these days just to experience what it may have been like to live during that time.
As well ✍🏿💯💯
Destroyed by Democrat policies to incentivize fatherless households and single mothers raising their kids alone plus schools that push illiterate uneducated students along through graduation with no hope for a middle class wage. You're Welcome.
You can't force drugs on ppl. It was destroyed by drugs bc ppl CHOSE to do them
@@phantompixie7164 no not necessarily
@@phantompixie7164 Actually, you can. (1) Eliminate quality water (as was done to Detroit). (2) Eliminate decent paying jobs and promote only low wage paying jobs with no opportunity for advancement. (3) Introduce drugs into the neighborhood. People feeling they're in a hopeless situation will eventually use drugs to numb themselves. (4) Increase the price of drugs knowing addicts will steal and even kill to meet the dealer's price. (5) Displace residents via gentrification and increased prices. Those who are unable to meet new prices will eventually become homeless. This was Richard Nixon's actual playbook used for destroying Black neighborhoods.
I get the sense that we had more dignity back then.
It isn't the freedom - its the trick of wanting to be someone else, and having the option to pretend. Fantasy destroys cooperation. Easier to overlook whats important and seek validation from opinions of outsiders. Running from and slandering self.
#I Am Israel. I am glad someone else sees it, the civil rights movement was an invention of the whites and they sent the Trojan hoarse aka black man to deliver the booby prize.
Because is part of the master plan to keep hate alive and the people hating each other regardless of ethnicity. I am not Black but I am very aware of the truth.
blackplaque617 You people are a joke, blacks do have freedom today. They just mess it up just too get back at whites and started believing lies of the media about whites. You blacks are only oppressing y’all self with that mindset. If y’all want to succeed than y’all must stop blaming whites and stop viewing them as your oppressor and come together and move on and rebuild just like all these other races in this country are doing. The only enemy here to blacks are people like you with that hateful mindset that would lead to nothing but chaos.
Because we did. We were more self sufficient. We relied on each other more and therefore were more proud. We were also better educated and our culture hadn't degraded to the point where it is now.
Wow that sign says "THE LAW- keep your sidewalk clean, never sweep ,refuse, into street." Just look at how our people carried themselves, with pride and dignity. Not a single person sloppily dressed. And wow there's black people actually working the carts and booths outside and not another race. Dang what happened to us?! Gosh those projects are ginormous! What a great vid!
Ms Kitty Kitty
We Americans ADOS paved the way for other ethnicities and groups to become vendors and the like. Never forget this. ADOS have always been used as a template for the LBQT communities as well. And I still can not equate why. When Black Folk passage did not originate like their plight. Similarities for what they were striving to overcome, but an entirely different passage.🤔
@@bigvalley4987 that's why it's up to us to fix it. The older generation dropped the ball, but the younger generation can fix it.
Drugs changed everything,
Drugs changed everything,
Politics and drugs the greatest menace to black people everywhere.
Thank you for keeping the history alive.❤️❤️
WOW! This is AMAZING to see rare footage of life in historic Harlem African American community!
Derrick Phelps We’re not Africans
Brian Napier Sr. I never hear Latin Americans say “we’re not Latin” only black folks like you try to erase the African ancestors that runs through your blood
Many of them were West Indians and Black Africans, not all Black Americans.
@@briannapiersr.3026 woww
@@briannapiersr.3026 not all of us are indigenous to the land that is now called North and South America
As a Elder born in Harlem Hospital
It was magical
Full of Pride unity harmony
Dad had a small eatery on 136 and Lenox
Gone are those days big businesses destroyed Harlem along with the Clintons
Denise Mitchell Hey Denise as an young elder, I am born at Harlem Hospital too and a sister of mine in Yonkers. 8/7/19. (Wed.) 2:09 a.m. 🌟
What black person in their right mind gives a flying fuck about the Clintons?
First of all I am not a Bitch
Your family members may be
But then I realize I am dealing with folks would ..who don't have the knowledge keyboard warriors
Let me educate you the Clintons plan open a office in Harlem gain the black vote across the country for Killary
With the support of Al and Charlie the political powerhouses who both supported Clinton
BIG businesses WERE RECRUITED rents went sky high.Harlem was SOLD ..but Obama popped up and destroyed Killarys dream
Thank you Obama
she passed the stop and search law here in NYC
all the small mom and pop stores and the village of Harlem no longer compete with the big retail stores
Harlem is white..that was the plan
Walk in the African American parade every year ..Killary wanted our votes but did not even walk in the parade her office was in Harlem.
Clinton's destroyed Harlem it's called gentrification.
Clinton was a regular visitor to Epsteins palace ..UHMMMMMMMMM
Next..
@@bigbyn8032 agree totally ..
Killary..
@@denisemitchell8477 - Thanks for educating those (hopefully)young, disrespectful, and unknowledgable individuals...."My people perish for lack of knowledge.
Very little equality but so much more respect back then for each other.
Our parents were perfect role models. I guess some of us starting picking the wrong role models. Get back to basics.
@Anahata Healing yes, but at least the dollar circulated alot within the community
That’s an oxymoron
@@c.calliecoleman1531 do you mean your personal parents or parents in general ?
@@aldofhister6859 Mine and most of the grownups I was raised around.
Wow. Everyone dressed so nice when leaving the house. No butt cheeks hanging out, sagging pants or raggedy clothes.
EricaYE6................... Yea, and black music was cool and nice , today they sing about hate, put it this way it sucks.......
I know right! Dude, the other day, I saw a man sagging (there were stains on his underwear...).
@@alidi13 Ohhhh Nooooooo😂😂😂
@@alidi13….Ugh
EricaYE6 and no dudes rubber knocking drooling talking about how phat a woman’s but was
My grandpa and grandma lived in Harlem during the war years...always was curious about what it was like back then. Thank you for sharing this priceless video.
thomas sowell (soul) moved to harlem around this time as a 9 year old.
I’m loving all the beautiful black people that I see here 💕💕💕
I notice everyone is well-dressed and has a certain dignity about them. The streets are clean. Not for a long time now has Harlem been like this.
Harlem has been gentrified for years, with expensive boutiques and high end corporate retail stores. You’re holding on to some image from 1986.
@@jeffaholics2289 😅 The image in my mind is of the late forties through the early sixties, long before it became gentrified.
@@mariekatherine5238 Well if you go back now you might like it. It’s expensive and trendy.
@@jeffaholics2289 😂🤣😂 No thanks! If I want chain stores and chain restaurants, I can go to any mall or shopping center in the rest of USA.
@@mariekatherine5238
Yeah, Harlem has really changed.
I'm nearly 70 years old and the previous. Comment hit the nail on the head. We did have more self respect and dignity back then women always carried them selves like ladies at all times and the men were proud hardworking gentelmen.
I'm( mostly) white. Our people have gone downhill, too. It's partly the drugs, but I think more an overall lack of respect.
There was extreme poverty back then, it was the depression. This was before race riot of 1943 in HArlem and Detroit where there was overcrowding and job discrimination inhousing, wartime jobs and unionization. A great description of the era was in the Autobio of Malcolm X.
I remember those people in my East Texas neighborhood as well...they presented themselves w/ dignity and always spoke carefully around children.
@@ruthsherman2507 "Those people?" IDIOT.
Not true
When women dressed respectable.
Men dressed presentable and children were children.
Those days long long gone.
Exactly because back then your parents or grandparents would wipp you behind if you misbehaved..Jewamerica destroid all that with thier liberal views.And we have been paying for it ever since...
And back then they didn't look like fat disgusting slobs either.
America destroyed us
Real Talk
So true.
Everything looks so peaceful! A real community. How do we get this back?
green byrd this is a perfect question, I work at it everyday.
By coming together and rebuilding
Take TVs always cell phones with sounds
Respecting eachother
Speaking of my own suggestion - Connect with those you can trust. . .and keep it moving. . .most of us are too far gone. . .and I am ok with that. . .
I enjoy seeing archival videos such as this of our people, it's like you're being placed in a "time machine", and getting to see how it was before you were even thought about, wonderful footage, R.I.P. to all of the souls from this...
Back when men walked with THEIR PANTS UP! BEAUTIFUL 😊👍
40 & a mule yes & females had clothes on too
40 & a mule she said nothing about race or put anybody down american men are very very very sensitive
I still do. Always have.
40 & a mule 24 or as news
24 or as news
This footage is amazing! I was raised in Harlem!
Born Harlem Hospita
Lived 136 and Lenox
The good old days when Harlem was the mecca..
Lenox Lounge!
@brice landy I was thinking the same thing. This footage is very clear for being from the 1930''s!
thomas sowell (soul) moved to harlem around this time as a 9 year old.
Born and raised on 125th. street in Harlem the best cultural experience ever. Inspite of the hidden oppresion
Just cross 110th street
B4 drugs ravaged our communities
That’s a cop out ! People on drugs ravaged our communities
those drugs were not even native to this continent. i wonder how they got here....
the sabotage of our people is real and needs to be disussed heavily.
JL G
Nd you're deluded. Where do you think the drugs came from? Can't wait to see you expose more of your ignorance...
@@jlg5798 Drugs were set but no one had to fall for the bait.
Before integration
Beautiful Black people.
@@billshea6657 and what are you?
Beautiful, indeed.
bill shea what do you look like?
@@billshea6657 You were describe your mother again shame on you she's ugly and fat true enough but do you have to tell the whole world such a bastard
William Kirksey is he wrong though
Styles were nice. Men looked good in suits and fedora hats. Women wore stylish, feminine clothing. There seemed to be a relaxed enjoyment on the part of the people. By 1939 the country was coming out of the depression years. Maybe they were feeling a sense of relief, as if the worst was over and there were better days ahead.
C. T.
I ask my Mother (RIP) y did she not share the experiences of the depression. She stated, that they were so poor that they did not know that it was a depression. I gathered that it was just a part of life for them. However, they share their food. Someone had the meal. The other person raised and slaughtered hogs. Others raised chickens. It was a Co-op before it became trending.
VALERIE BLOUNT she must’ve been raised in the country.
INTEGRATION killed HARLEM, YOU BE HARD PRESSED TO FIND 20 BLACK BUSINESSES, that are NOT a Barbershop & a RESTURANT in HARLEM.BLACK POWER RIP!
START A BUSINESS
I agree
Tyrone norfleet Norfleet no, GENTRIFICATION killed Harlem! There was no welcome we let nobody in. It was when those greedy land developers and realtors started burning and buying our buildings and raising the rates so high we had to move out that white people started moving in! Before Harlem was indeed black, my brother.
Harlem started to deteriorate when law enforcement, and the politicians looked the other way when the Mafia crime families flooded the community with heroin. This happened after WW2. The second wave of destruction came in the 60's with more heroin. And then came the crack epidemic in the mid 80's. The final nail in the coffin was when the " Empowerment Zone" was created, to start up new businesses and housing. That's when Harlem became gentrified and super expensive so the long time residents couldn't afford it. A damn shame.
Leslie Scarver yeah, heroin did play a huge part in it but the real destruction came from those greedy landlords who burned down their buildings to gain profit from their policies and didn't care how many people they killed or put on the street. The more of the buildings they burned, the more people they put on the street to be driven into heroin and to crime!
That housing project looks like a prison I hate it.....We are such strong beautiful graceful people♥️
Looks like they wanted all Black people to live in one area.
Everyone in suits and dresses.
Dignity and decency.
Yes
@@EricaYE6 I agree.
Everyone during that time was dressed in suits and dresses. Black white brown yellow
Aka Sundays Best
You present good stuff as always! I'm in awe at how clean the streets of Harlem were! I love the way our people dressed. Everyone seemed to take pride in their appearance then.
Willie Gordon Me too. I believe immigrant white Irish and Italian held those jobs.
So true
I love the modesty of the women...
@@ruthsherman2507 bro what
@@lavendermilk3010 do you not speak English?
I miss harlem i was born in raised there from the late 60s.We didnt have much but we were proud in happy.
You're so right about the being happy part...you ever noticed that the haves seems to be more angrier than the have nots.I used to hear my older relatives say that they made things happen with very little...and didn't really complain about what they didn't have.
WAIT, 1:31 first brutha to hitch a free ride off the back bumper of the bus... love my history baby😂😂😂
It was called bus " surfing"
thomas sowell (soul) moved to harlem around this time as a 9 year old.
THIS IS AN NOSTALGIC ERA,IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY AND HISTORY!!! GOOD TIMES!!!
Nostalgic? How old are you?
My Mother was born in Harlem in 1931, I like these videos because I always hope to get a glimpse of her as a young girl.... She’ll be 89 this year and she still roller skates!!❤️😁
thomas sowell (soul) moved to harlem around this time as a 9 year old.
this is so freaking cool!
Nia Rose WHATS So FUCKING Coooool oh I know your a asson LOL 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😊😊😊😊😊😊😂😂😂😂😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😊😊😊😊😊😊😂😂😊😊😊
Nia Rose You from NYC?
@@heatherhodge8396 Russia bot go back to Russia slimy bastard
Wow what a safe time, that little girl was walking alone. Truly care free
No empty storefronts. Business was booming.
This was everything to see our people back then.... and conducting themselves so dignified
1920s and 30s beautiful Harlem films I wish I had a time machine!
This was made the year My Mother was born in Harlem in Harlem Hospital.
thomas sowell (soul) moved to harlem around this time as a 9 year old.
Back in the day when kids could safely play in the streets. Thank you for sharing this piece of history.
This is amazing footage. It was so different back then. I was was also thinking about how young my grandmother & grandfather were during the time this footage was shoot. I think about where some of the people were going & or coming from. I think about a whole bunch of things watching this video.
The way it should be! The people looked sharp. The streets were clean. Everybody had their chin up! I love history!
This is beautiful, like I aways say “they did a number on us”
They really did. It's all a social experiment that certain other Countries have taken noticed on, believe that.
We should’ve stayed segregated look at all those black business
RIGHT IT WAS ABOUT THE DOLLAR
THE EQUALITY
It’s hard to stay segregated and prosper when the clan and others kept destroying towns that were thriving like Black Wall Street.
@@3alarm247 after enough bullshit we would of came with our own similar mobs that would have crashed the klan,but we definitely would be better off if we didn't segregate with the land 😈
I totally agree
@@3alarm247 at least the black wall street rebuilt after the destruction caused by clans.
@ 2:58 I noticed the lady selling ices...my father use to sell the same (peragwa) in Brooklyn RIP...miss you
Reading the comments it is unanimous that we want some of the old culture to return. The respectably dressed men and women, the black businesses, the evident self-respect that can be noticed on a silent video. How do regain these jewels back?
A) God has to enter back into the family. Regardless of whether the family is a single parent household or not.
I didn't say religion. I said God
B) Men have to be taught how to be the heads of their household or take care of the children that they produce... without being bitter at the mother.
Women must be better examples of womanhood to their daughters and well as their sons. No dressing in the freak clothes that comes out of the mind of white people. Dress with dignity so our daughters can emulate that dignity.
Fight like hell to keep the families unified. No ADULTERY(emphasis on the brothers).
C) strong push at home for EDUCATION. We've been pushing but we have to push a little more. Get our youth in college! With the importance of coming back to the community to help edify the community and not flee from the community. We have to blame ourselves to some extent for GENTRIFICATION. It's happening all over the country. It ain't 100% the white man's fault. Some of it is ours.
D) The knowledge of ourselves and our history(beyond slavery!!!)
E)Unity starting at home; extending to the church, the mosque, the temples then into the community.
F) Strong promotion of financial literacy to as many black families that will listen to the information.
**in my humble observation, these are some important things that we're missing in the 21st century that the black community may have possessed or was working toward possession at the date of this video. I dont have all the answers and I ask any of my people to forgive me if I seem to come across arrogant or self-righteous. I love black people and I hurt when I see where we are at today which is why I've been working hard at helping us get out of this condition that we're in today.
Well put. Thanks for sharing
All truth brother!!🤔
Great points.
Amen! God bless you in being apart of the answer and it hurts me too
I still choose a black man by my side because they're historically the strongest men on the planet.
Sean Wright wish i could u waayyyy more upvotes for this comment💯
Giving out roses to ReelBlack once again! This isn't taught in schools or at home but it needs to be. Thanks for the collection of positive historical black images instead of focusing on black pain like the mainstream
I love how they stand tall, going about their day. Some even with smiles on their face..
no sound. I grew up in Detroit, Michigan. Most of the businesses in my neighborhood were Black own.
Year my mom is born, she's in a nursing home right now with some health challenges. We live in Harlem too. God bless you forever mom, keeping getting better and stronger and be filled with joy and happiness. 8/7/19. (Wed.) 1:33 a.m. 🌟
Even though they were poor they still had some level of class!
This video took me back, saw someone riding the back of a bus... Ol skool'd
We have definitely moved backwards in today's society.
"The night is beautiful,
So the faces of my people.
The stars are beautiful,
So the eyes of my people.
Beautiful, also, is the sun.
Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people."
Langston Hughes
Queens Bridge (Project) was looking like a Huge Prison System to prepare for the Real Prison system that my people are still be Farmer into...
Om Ra yeah it does look a lot like a prison.....
We said that about the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago. The way the front looked it looked like a prison.
That's what they was preparing blacks youth for subliminally with the new living conditions that they would only see in hindsight 20/20.
Yes sir, building so-called black people prison cells to live in back then but now the whole world is a ghetto so it doesn't matter.
Yeah,they lock black people up for no reason at all huh?
Love these old videos. Amazingly how it's so clear.
_No fast food places, no liquor stores, no Chinese or Arab businesses, no pimps, no street gangs, no drug dealers or addicts, no prostitutes, no questionable genders. Just black men, women and children going about their day. People conversing and conducting themselves with self respect, dignity and pride. Film in B&W yet the skies STILL seem clearer and bluer._
It's nice to have nostalgia..... buts let be clear..... there were definitely gangs ..pimps.. prostitutes ...drug dealers and addicts......
@John Kimber I agree
You're naive if you think drugs, prostitution and crime weren't rampant back then. Heroin for one, was a popular choice of drug. I wish people wouldn't get so stuck on how they dressed. A conservative attire doesn't say anything about a person's character.
Watch 2:14. It seems the man is not happy and refuses the product. It seems the lady tries to convince him but, he waves his hand as he walks away. He’s not having it 😆
I noticed that 🙉
Yup I caught that too
That was funny
Wow!! My grandparents lived in Harlem. This is amazing
My beautiful people , have to get back to this😢🌷
This is awesome footage!
I wonder how many black brothers ,and sisters from this footage are still alive today .
music from the era would go nice with this
They were addicts. It was vulgarity all along. If u listen to the words, they were highly sexual too.
I love old footage like this! Look how everyone dressed so well just for everyday life, suits and nice dresses its ashame what our world has turned into, I'd love to turn back time and start over!!! That's when people had morals, dignity and cared how they were acting and living!! ✌
Wow!Wonderful testimony!Wish there would be sound also.Thank you for sharing😊
I saw theblack police officer. I love this
Jeanica2Natural but he was only aloud to arrest blks...
That was the law at that time.
Very true. If he were to arrest a white person he would lose his job.
Fernicus Maximus blacks were not aloud to touch whites or use the same facilities as whites. This is a time of segregation
Modest One there were lots of white people in this video
Yes - Weren't they the Good 'ol days!... When People knew the Basics!!....
These people were respectable and went about their business without bothering people . Nice to
see . Where did this go ? To Bad .
SO MANY BEAUTIFUL COLORS!!!
1 THING IN COMMON THEIR ALL BLACK & GORGEOUS!!!👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑
Whoa! Harlem World Back in the Day. Truly Black Folks Business Mecca. Ty for the Awesome Nostalgic Throwback.👍💜😉
I love viewing these videos and I often wish that I was around to be a part of that time. Things were a lot different at that time but it certainly wasn't all roses as many of us know. There were hustlers, pimps, thieves, prostitutes, killers, etc back then but some people here see a short video from that time and act as if these things didn't exist at that time and they somehow only came about in the last 30-40 years. After viewing some of the comments I have to say, and with all due respect to everyone speaking on how people dress and behave now a days as oppose to back then, we have to blame the generations who came many years before the "now a days people". My point is that there has been a lot of ball dropping over the years to get to this point. Complacency, lack of respect for self and others, etc didn't begin in the 80s & 90s. I'm just calling it how it is.
Al B. Respectfully. I don't believe any of us think back to that time as our Utopia. This shows a small slice of us interacting with each other during the day. We appear to be respectful of each other and we dressed nice for ourselves and others.
Of course the realities of the day certainly included all that you expressed, but what they saw on a daily basis up and down the streets of Harlem was shown on this clip. Nighttime? Much different. But I'm positive we all know that. 🤔
Wow
@@TrudyPatootie Oh
LOOK AT THE KIDS INNOCENTLY PLAYING OUTSIDE THERE BUILDING NOT WORRYING BOUT GUNSHOTS OR TERRORIST COMING THROUGH THERE NEIGHBORHOOD LOOK LIKE SO MUCH FUN HERE AT 4:15!!!!
Duh it's New York try living in the south
This is truly beautiful and cool to be able to see day to day life back then. I love nostalgic footage. Priceless 🙂
We looked more civilized back then
Steph LDV we WERE.
Because we were. Even in the 1960, and 70's, but things were declining. But afterwards things went way South.
Dam..you make it seem like we live like cavemen now😁
@@jamesvickers9476 It's getting there.
Fuck up stupid
All I saw a was class! Sharp suits, sharp dresses. A proud community.
My beautiful people had so much love for them selves and others back then.
It's sad and melancholic to know that most of the children here are either dead or senile at the nursing homes.
This is what decent black folks looked like many years ago. I love this footage, and it’s important to share with our children today✊🏿
Awesome! Anyone else see the man hanging/riding on the back of the bus at 1:30? LOL!
Yes.. LOL!
that guy passed away !
Wow the making of queensbridge
Unfortunately that Queensbridge is gone.
@@bigh9884where'd it go?
no sound kind of irritating a lil bit but love the experience 😍😎
Fell LIKE 😢 crying. No ARGURING fighting. People going and coming so happy and free.. Among each other. Business people. Dressed with respect and dignity. Children going about so playful.. But now? Lord GOD of Abraham. So distant and froozen in there hatred lost identity and hardly no trust are safety within our own people.. Lost values and morals..less and less of..Thanks for sharing the footage.. Didn't know we would come to where we are now??? 😢
They all were dressed to a tee! Love the style....
Although this was way before my time and even my parents. I was blessed to live through a time that seemed similar to this and that was the eighties. A time before the black on black war and the neighborhood I grew up in at a time wasn't plagued by drugs. The streets were safe and you didn't have to worry about children are innocent people killed or injured by strays. The music culture wasn't polluted, children minded their parents or any neighboring adults especially elders. When will we see those happy days again?
That's my town and my other town of my grandparents. Wow, things change 80 years later and that's cool.
Fascinating! Seeing their dress, movements, actions. I love it!
One year before my parents were born. Dad's passed on, but mom is still here!
This Is Priceless!
Wow just amazing to watch. Everyone looked so Dapper! Fabulous
LOL @ 2:22 whatever price she said he was not trying to hear it.
UptownKal 🤣🤣🤣
😁
Love this and in the projects was so clean and the kids playing looks like a pool too
The start of building Queens Bridge projects were 1937. I guess this is a finish product. Anyway, the project concept was never favorable by the majority of people. But somehow, the government convince people that it would lift people out of poverty. But all it did was gave people access to basic services that was seen as a luxury back than. A lot of people don't know that many of the tenements did not have piping for running water. So many residence had to live like common country folks. But the projects change that, and that was good. Also, the apartments offer more space and there was always a play area outside the building. This wasn't so with the tenements that line the blocks. So in the beginning, the projects were a good concept.
Than the 1970s came. The fiscal crisis and changing policies across the nation when it comes to manufacturing jobs. Since a large bulk of the black population relied on these jobs to make a living, when they left, so did their quality of life.
For the record, it was common for a blue wage worker to make $13 an hour in 1960s if they had been on the job for several years. So this wage allow them to be stable and be a productive citizen. So when the jobs left, so did quality of life.
In order for these individuals to carve a living for themselves and families, they engaged in illegal activity. This allow the crime to be concentrated in poor and black areas. So the projects once a ok thing, became a bad thing.
But New York had been managing projects a lot longer than other cities, so the majority of them survived. But as you see today, their survival come at a risk, higher maintenance cost.
And here we are 90 years later watching these old generations on UA-cam, who would have a thought ...... Amazing
And the neighborhood is clean.
This film is fantastic, thank you very much.
When Blacks loved each other all is well.
I was born in Queensbridge in 1946. I lived there until 1953 . My dad bought a house about a mile away in Long Island City. I always went back to visit until 1967. The drugs were so common, that I became very skeptical of going into the projects.
Wonder what Billy Holiday was doing on that day. She would have been in Harlem
Shooting up heroin.
A young Malcolm X too.
Karrieem Dixon Jr not yet, he came around 42-43.
Drunk, I’m sorry but it’s true, also she loved heroin
@@N2LADIES55 😨😨
I wish it had sound! Awesome video
We've strayed so far from this type of humanity that this feels like a movie.
Perhaps I am not the most knowledgeable guy when it comes to the history of neighborhoods in New York, however from looking at this video one gets the impression that Harlem was a very tight knit community back in the day with strong family values regardless of the socioeconomic status of its residents. Clean streets with well dressed folks from all walks of life. I've only been to Harlem once, I hear it has gone through quite the Renaissance recently. Hope this area continues to thrive.
Back when we cared for each other' be kind respect and love you like I love me family in the neighborhoods all was family that what we lack nowadays Period
Appropriate [period music] would be a nice addition to this video. It would make the movie even more interesting to watch.