NEW YORK (AP) — In the 1970s, Harlem’s deserted streets and tumbledown tenements told the story of a neighborhood left behind. Disinvestment had taken its toll. Violence, crime and poor living conditions had become the norm and nearly 50,000 residents — a third of the area's population — left Harlem over the decade.
Amid the exodus, a girl named LeeSandra Moore hugged her own mother goodbye. Her mother was relocating to Virginia. “It was a scary time,” said Moore, now 52 and still living in Harlem.
“I couldn’t blame her for that.” Harlem and hardship were often seen as one, but in 1974 Percy Sutton, then the Manhattan borough president, launched a revitalization campaign. His brainchild, Harlem Week, shifted the spotlight from Harlem’s troubles to its legacy as a global Black mecca of arts, culture and entrepreneurship.
Over the years, it helped bring back long-departed residents. On Sunday, New York celebrated Harlem Week’s 50th anniversary, capping off 18 days of free programming that showcased all the iconic neighborhood has to offer. Through challenges and changes, said the Rev.
Al Sharpton, whose National Action Network is headquartered in Harlem, “Harlem Week has been the constant line through the last 50 years of America’s most historic Black neighborhood.” —----- In the 1970s, considered the neighborhood’s darkest years by many historians, Sutton knew Harlem needed a resurrection. Those who stayed during urban flight — mostly low-inco.