"We knew that Woodlawn was famous for many musicians, dancers, entertainers, veterans, but who are the other folks in the Harlem Renaissance that really made the Harlem community work. The conservancy teamed up with historians like Eric K. Washington to highlight 25 notable Black people buried there and unearth their stories from the period leading up to and during the Harlem Renaissance."
"He's credited with being Americans first Black ophthalmologist and otolaryngologist. Much of what we know about the Harlem Renaissance is thanks to Bessie Bearden, from her regular columns for the Chicago Defender. These narratives now have a new voice as part of the Woodlawn Conservancy's "Where Harlem Rests" initiative."
"The goal of the project is to take people on a guided tour of some hidden pieces of history. This tour will have a booklet, it will have an online component, and it will have some outdoor signage, which is something we have not yet done in Woodlawn."
Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx holds the graves of many significant figures from the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural movement celebrating Black creativity in the early 1900s. While famous musicians like Duke Ellington and Miles Davis draw visitors, many other important contributors have been overlooked. The Woodlawn Conservancy received a $50,000 grant from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund to highlight 25 notable Black individuals buried there, including David McDonough, America's first Black ophthalmologist and otolaryngologist, and Bessie Bearden, a journalist whose columns documented the Harlem Renaissance. The "Where Harlem Rests" initiative will feature guided tours with booklets, online components, and outdoor signage to share these previously hidden historical narratives.
#harlem-renaissance #african-american-history #woodlawn-cemetery #historical-preservation #cultural-heritage
Read at ABC7 Los Angeles
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]