Customer Reviews

Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto : Negro New York, 1890-1930

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In this book osofsky managed to present detailed and well documented research regarding the afro-american migration to and settlement of Harlem during the early 20th century. By first laying the groundwork of presenting a parallel examination of Harlem before this period and the black migration to New York he manages to create a fascinating and very readable historical document. The economic forces in play at the time are presented as being equally important to the development of Harlem as the social and political climate of the day. Real Estate speculations and a boom and subsequent bust coincided with the building of mass transit that made the upper reaches of Manhattan more accessable.
The book would benefit from the inclusion of some historical photos. However as a pure historical treatise it is extremely informative and readable. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in the history of New York City or Afro- American history. I was traveling down 125th street just yesterday while reading this and the buildings that date from this period held new signifcance for me.

Osofsky really gets into the subject of ghetto creation. Unlike the European immigrants who ghettoized themselves and then were able to climb up society's ladder, Osofsky argues that this possibility was inaccessible to Harlem's black population, with minor exceptions.. As a student of Chicago's housing issues, this is as true today as it was in the beginning of the last century. As a result of this moving book, I feel like I have lived in the squalor of Harlem's ghettos and slums, and I have never been to NYC.

The reading was not about what I thought it would be. I thought it was going to go into the jazz age, but otherwise not bad. It gave a brief history of the early years of how Harlem got to be. What an irony that Harlem wasn't always a ghetto, it was a whealthy neighborhood. Jews and Italians used to live there back in the 1800's and early nineteenth century. How it has change over the years, comparing it to the way it is now, I don't think it has change much in it's ecomomic situation, and also in it's crime and vice. Harlem was where the rich and well to do had their mansions and estates. I went to school in Harlem and I remember I believe it was Hamiltons house there in 143 street and convent ave. They have moved it some where else very few of these historical landmarks are still around New York today.