Lenox Avenue and 134th Street

The fifth post in our series on Black New York, 1921, for Black History Month

One hundred years ago today … This was what Lenox Ave from 134th to 135th Streets looked like one morning or afternoon in 1921.

What was the crowd about? We don’t know. On the back of the photo, part of the New York Public Library Digital Collection, is written:

Scene on Lenox Avenue looking north from 134th Street in the heart of the Negro Colony, New York City.. Many of the buildings are owned and practically all are tenanted by colored residents.

The picture was taken by Paul Thompson, a photographer who had also documented the 1919 parade up 5th Avenue of the US Army’s 369th battalion–the Harlem Hellfighters (about whom see our post from a year ago). Thompson was renowned as a sports photographer. Among other photos, he took this one of Babe Ruth that we posted on January 5th of 2020.

The buildings most visible on the right of the above photo are now gone. This is the spot these days.

Notice that in 1921, as now, 134th Street does not cut through to the East Side.

Lenox Avenue was given the additional name Malcolm X Boulevard in 1987. (Both names are in official use.)

– Jonathan Goldman, February 8, 2021

TAGS: Harlem Renaissance, photography, street scene, coats, Black business, African American history, urban planning, baseball