Presented by Save Harlem Now!
Between roughly 1900 and 1915, San Juan Hill was the center of Black life in Manhattan. In many ways a cultural and economic precursor to Harlem, residents of San Juan Hill established their own businesses, religious organizations, charitable institutions, and more. Though derided by the city’s white outsiders as a neighborhood blighted by crime, vice, and crumbling infrastructure, those who lived in San Juan Hill continuously labored to create a community dedicated to progress and uplift. This talk will explore the history of the neighborhood, including its eventual destruction under Robert Moses under mid twentieth century urban renewal policies. Click here to register.
This Black History Month, Save Harlem Now! presents 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!, SHN! will 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.
Join them virtually this Black History Month on Thursdays at 6:00 p.m. to learn, reflect, and celebrate this essential New York story.