THE OBSERVER: For much of the last century Harlem was the heart of the black community, but now some locals fear that whites and Hispanics are invading their turf
There was a time when the sight of Sandra Schulze's blond hair in the middle of Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park would have been a shock. But last week, as the 38-year-old graphic designer played with her two-year-old son, it was more a sign of the times.
Harlem has long been one of the most famed names in black American culture. The neighbourhood produced jazz greats, political giants and sports heroes. It kept a firm black foothold in the heart of Manhattan. But that is changing, and fast. Schulze, who moved to Harlem from Connecticut a week ago with her advertising executive husband, is the new face of what was once a place synonymous with either black pride or black ghetto-isation. Not that Schulze, who is German, sees it that way. She just sees a wonderful place to raise her son, with cheap rents, enormous apartments and friendly locals. "So far, it's been wonderful. It is a little like Paris, a little like Berlin. I love it," she gushed.
Schulze is part of a tide of newcomers to Harlem that is changing the historic neighbourhood. In Greater Harlem, black Americans no longer make up a majority. They comprise about four in 10 people, being pushed out by white gentrifiers and the explosive growth of the Latino population of Spanish Harlem. In fact, the black population of Greater Harlem is at its lowest in absolute terms since the 1920s. Those figures are from 2008, but a new census will take a snapshot of America on 1 April 2010 and its results will be announced later this year. For Harlem, one thing is almost certain: the neighbourhood will continue to have become less black and more white and brown. That is mimicking trends at a national level. >>> Paul Harris in New York | Sunday, March 28, 2010
