One of the most striking things about Home to Harlem is that no one seems to be at home in Harlem. Not Jake, the novel’s main character, a Virginia‑born African American migrant to New York; not Ray, his friend, an educated Black Haitian immigrant; and not its itinerant Black residents, whose precarious lives seem to
While most historians have focused on New Orleans as the birthplace of jazz, big band music was also developing in other large cities such as Chicago and New York. As early as 1905 the sounds of the modern jazz band were heard on stage in New York, with saxophones, brass instruments, drums and string instruments.
Imagine stepping into 1920s Harlem — the streets bursting at the seams with the vibrant energy of Black brilliance set to a boisterous jazzy soundtrack provided by legends like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. Nightclubs like the Cotton Club or the Savoy Ballroom are venues for Black creativity, joy, and fashion at its finest. Among