Black Gotham: African Americans in New York City, 1900–2000

Abstract

For almost four centuries, African Americans in New York City have engaged in ethnic “dream-work,” shaping the city and being shaped by the city in return. The longstanding practice of racism forced a heterogeneous community of Blacks—originating in different parts of the country and the world, speaking many languages, and comprised of different economic classes— to coalesce as a community in order to challenge their subjugation. This article explores the issues, conditions, and experiences that frame the coalescence of the African American community in New York City during the twentieth century, highlighting how racial identities have been produced in the city. In the first part of this article, I reflect on the presence of Blacks in New York City to illuminate some of the common themes that have emerged from the African American experience in Gotham. The second section is a historical exploration of the black experience in New York City, illuminating the conditions, expectations, events, and spaces that have shaped its formation. The research for this article was conducted while the author was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Urban Research (CUNY Graduate Center) on the “Immigrant Second Generation in Metropolitan New York” project. The Russell Sage Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD), and the UJA-Federation provided funding for the “Second Generation” project. I greatly appreciate the support of John Mollenkopf, Phillip Kasinitz, and Mary Waters. Kristin Norget, Michelle McKenzie, and Jennifer Ramirez provided extensive editorial comments.