In Search of “Black Bohemia”
A Black in Historic Preservation Member Talk in collaboration with Save Harlem Now!, as a part of its Black History Month Series, “The Road to Harlem.”
Join Black in Historic Preservation’s Founder and preservation architect k. kennedy Whiters as she shares history uncovered in the required graduate historic preservation studio she co-taught with Erica Avrami, PhD, at Columbia University in spring 2025.
The students uncovered little-known history about Manhattan’s Tenderloin district: Black life and culture in Midtown Manhattan before Harlem. Leave the talk with an understanding of the Black cultural institutions linked to Harlem, seeded in the Tenderloin's Black Bohemia.
Series description from Save Harlem Now:
“This Black History Month, Save Harlem Now! invites you to join us for a powerful new program series, The Road to Harlem: The Forgotten History of Black Manhattan—a journey through the deep, often overlooked history of Black life in Manhattan before Harlem.
Long before Harlem, Black New Yorkers were shaping the city’s history, neighborhoods, culture, and institutions. This multi-part series explores that extraordinary story, beginning in 1613 with Juan Rodriguez—the first non-Indigenous person to settle on Manhattan—and continuing through centuries of resilience, community-building, creativity, and struggle.
Together with preservation partners: The Merchant House Museum, Village Preservation, Black in Historic Preservation and Landmark West!, we’ll explore early enslavement in New Amsterdam, the remarkable free Black settlement known as the “Land of the Blacks,” the vibrant communities of Little Africa in Greenwich Village and the Tenderloin’s Black Bohemia in Midtown, and the storied neighborhood of San Juan Hill, lost to urban renewal and the building of Lincoln Center. Along the way, we’ll uncover how these communities laid the groundwork for what would become Harlem.
This series is about rediscovering erased histories, honoring the lives and neighborhoods that came before us, and understanding Harlem not just as a destination—but as part of a much longer road.
We hope you’ll join us virtually this Black History Month on Thursdays at 6:00 PM to learn, reflect, and celebrate this essential New York story.”
