France held a special value for Langston Hughes even before he first visited Paris. "I will never forget the thrill of first understanding the French of de Maupassant," he writes in The Big Sea (1940). "I think it was de Maupassant who made me really wan...

American author Langston Hughes (1902-1967), a moving spirit in the artistic ferment of the 1920s often called the Harlem Renaissance, expressed the mind and spirit of most African Americans for nearly half a century. Langston Hughes was born in Joplin,...

As a household name for so many readers of varying persuasions, Langston Hughes was perhaps the most significant black American writer in the twentieth century. From the Harlem Renaissance of the early twenties, to the Black Arts reorientations of the si...

The Harlem Tenant League, organized in uptown Manhattan during World War I, began as a white organization committed to combating rent increases and organizing grassroots support for the Socialist Party. With never more than a handful of dues-paying...

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Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, long known as a major African American cultural and business center. After being associated for much of the twentieth century with black culture, but also crime and poverty, it is now...

In case you've been sleeping, Cameron Giles is back on his grizzly. Anticipation started building a year ago, when the 26-year-old MC signed with rap's reigning dream team, Roc-A-Fella. "Cam coming to the Roc is like Jordan going to the Lakers," said Damon Dash, the...

Harlem is the historic capital of black American culture, but like many New York neighborhoods, it is rapidly changing.Condos can go for $1 million. Big retailers like Old Navy, Starbucks, Payless, Staples and Blockbuster are ubiquitous. On 125th Street near Fifth Avenue, bulldozers clear a...

On Saturday nights in summer, hundreds of fingers pound out mesmerizing rhythms on African drums _ a ritual repeated for decades in Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park.This year, the drums have a counterpoint: the complaints of "new Harlemites.""African drumming is wonderful for the first four hours,...

The head of the U.S. Forest Service visited a Harlem elementary school to talk about trees and to promote a program that will give $1.5 million to 24 schools nationwide to send kids into nature.Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell later joined Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Bette...