Lenox Avenue Clubs

Lenox Avenue Clubs

Lenox Avenue

Lenox Avenue was the most popular street in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance. Lenox Avenue served as a major hub for African American culture during the Harlem Renaissance. Here, clubs and restaurants sprung up that featured some of the most talented black musicians of the time. Jazz music flourished at each of the clubs on this street. The picture shows Lenox Avenue during the 1920s, with its bright lit signs attracting customers. Langston Hughes mentions Lenox Avenue in "When the Negro Was in Vogue." The famous, whites-only, Cotton Club was located on the street. Quickly, Lenox Avenue became the main attraction for whites in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance. People of all different races, from black to white to latino, would go to Lenox Avenue for the nightlife and food. Hughes says, "Nor did ordinary Negroes like the growing influx of whites toward Harlem after sundown, flooding the little cabarets and bars where formerly only colored people laughed and sang, and where now the strangers were given the best ringside tables to sit and stare at the Negro customers--like amusing animals in a zoo." Here, Hughes confirms how popular the street became. With Negroes suddenly subjected to segregation in their own neighborhoods, it was a matter of time until Lenox Avenue would come under fire. In the 1960s, Harlem and Lenox became the center of the civil rights movement in New York City. The street later took up another name, Malcolm X Boulevard, after Malcolm X, the late civil rights leader.

"An Amazing Photographic Tour Of New York In The 1920s." All That Is Interesting. N.p., 24 July 2012. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.

1920

Jessa Laspesa

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