Harlem Chamber of Commerce kicks off Harlem Week at Schomburg
The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce (GHCC) is celebrating its 125th anniversary and held its 49th annual Harlem Week kickoff at the Schomburg Center this Thursday.
To be clear, this pre-celebration bash, organized by the Chamber ,usually happens at the mayor’s Gracie Mansion in July and Harlem Week itself takes place in August. The week began in 1974, originally as Harlem Day. It honors the very best of Harlem’s Black, Caribbean, African, and Hispanic diasporic traditions, and showcases the community’s economic, political, and cultural history.
“This time, we decided to go small, local, because when we do Harlem Week, we have some really exciting big outdoor events coming up,” said Voza Rivers, first vice president of GHCC and cofounder of Harlem Week.
The evening’s program was hosted by NY1 anchor and author Cheryl Wills, with Harlem giants like Assemblymember Inez Dickens and NYS NAACP President Dr. Hazel Dukes, were in attendance. To include Black Music Month recognition, the Chamber invited rapper and author Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run DMC and singer Nona Hendryx, and honored the late Chuck Jackson.
McDaniels, an avid comic book lover as a child, was promoting his children’s book “Darryl’s Dream.” The book is a story about finding confidence and facing bullies—a reflection of feeling awkward growing up as a nerd alongside the advent of hip-hop music.
“These kids are looking at images in hip-hop that are negative and thinking that if I’m not that I’m not cool. Or they’re looking at Instagram, [thinking] if I don’t look like that, I’m not worth anything,” said McDaniels at the event. “I said, ‘How do I communicate to the younger generation before they get to high school?”
The Chamber also held a panel discussion about their feature book “Harlem’s Evolution,” by journalists Jared McAllister, Aurora Flores, and the Amsterdam News’ own Herb Boyd. The book documents the journey of the Chamber since its establishment in 1896 as the Harlem Board of Commerce, and of Harlem’s neighborhoods.
“And you know, I’ve lived almost as long as we talk about the 125-year celebration—I guess that’s one of the reasons they have me here. Someone who has some personal connection to this project,” joked Boyd at the event.
Boyd said coming together to write the book was enjoyable, and found profound significance in examining the various socioeconomic, cultural, and political situations throughout the generations of Harlem.
“Past is prologue,” said Boyd, “and we’ll continue this right into future endeavors because it’s an ongoing, everlasting project.”
Harlem Week will run August 9–20. For more information, visit www.harlemweek.com.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
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