Inside The Harlem Renaissance Ballroom

The dance floor of the Harlem Renaissance Ballroom sprouts mushrooms today, but 80 years ago it quaked with the frenzied rhythms of the Lindy Hop.

The Ballroom was completed in 1924 as part of a larger entertainment hub that included a bustling casino and 900-seat theatre.  Built and operated by black businessmen, the “Rennie” was the only upscale reception hall available to African Americans at the time.  Prize fights, concerts, dance marathons, film screenings, and stage acts were held at the Renaissance, along with elegant parties and meetings of the most influential social clubs and political organizations in Harlem.  The community’s elite gathered to dance the Charleston and the Black Bottom to live entertainment by the most renowned jazz musicians of the age.

The nightspot even played host to the nation’s first all-black professional basketball team, also called the Harlem Renaissance, considered by some to be the best in the world in their day.  On game nights, portable hoops were erected on the dance floor, converting the ballroom into a stadium.  Following each game, almost invariably a victory for the Rens, a dance was held where players would mingle and jive with the choicest ladies of Harlem.  The team barnstormed in towns across the country, playing exhibition games in which coveted matches with white teams drew the largest crowds.  In their best season, the Renns set a record with 88 consecutive wins that has yet to be broken.

View of the ballroom’s ruined interior from the bandstand.

A year before construction on the ballroom was completed, the institution that would one day demolish the Renaissance Casino moved in next door.  The Abyssinian Baptist Church was once the largest Protestant congregation in the country, and continues to prosper today, both as a religious institution and a driving force of change in the surrounding neighborhood.  Established in 1989, its nonprofit arm, the Abyssinian Development Corporation, has invested over $500 million in community development, becoming the most influential social service and housing provider in Harlem.

The corporation currently rents all of its 1,200 units of housing to low-income families, is responsible for constructing Harlem’s first new high school in 50 years, and has attracted numerous supermarkets, department stores, and national retail chains to aid in the development of the neighborhood.   Despite their success, Abyssinian’s dealings have brought controversy in recent years.  Many of their low-income tenants accuse the organization of neglect, pointing to hundreds of standing violations in their residential buildings.  Their vision of the “New Harlem” seems at odds with some long-term community members, who call their “progress” gentrification.

The ADC purchased the Renaissance property in 1991 with plans to renovate the site back to its historical role as a social hall and community space.   In the intervening years, they introduced a new plan that diverges sharply from their traditional housing ventures.  While a portion of the property will be utilized as a community center, only 20% of the residential units will be “affordable,” the rest of the 19-story construction will be set aside for luxury condominiums.  In a Times quote, Executive Director Sheena Wright cites the necessity of bringing “diverse income levels” to the neighborhood as justification for the project; she asserts, convincingly, that “one should not relegate Harlem to housing just for the poor.”

The first stage of development involves the demolition of the theatre structure.  Plans call for the preservation of the ballroom’s facade, but the interior is coming down.  The project almost hit a roadblock in 2006 when the structure was pegged for a Landmarks Commission review, but the ADC exerted its political muscle to block the designation, enlisting big name supporters like former Mayor Dave Dinkins, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and the New York Landmarks Conservancy to voice their opposition.  In the five years that have passed since the ADC overcame this obstacle, a bleak economic climate has forced them to put the project on hold.  Abyssinian is currently pursuing investors for the project.

A spotlight falls on the ballroom once again.

The site of the former theatre is now an empty lot harboring a few disused construction vehicles, but contrary to some reports, the Renaissance Ballroom still stands, for now.

Most of the windows are boarded up, but light finds its way through a caved-in ceiling, exposing the diaphanous remnants of a golden age—colored light bulbs still lodged in the nightclub’s chandeliers, seat numbers pinned in the balcony.  Ghostly images of jazz singers and blasting trombones barely cling to the proscenium of the ballroom’s weathered stage, once graced by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Ella Fitzgerald.  The sense of history here is palpable, and the deterioration absolute.  Reduced to mulch, the dance floor supports a thriving green fungal colony.  Little points to the existence of a casino on the lower floor, but a coatroom remains largely intact.  The rest gives the impression of a war zone—feral cats tread freely over piles of rubble that once delineated rooms.  It’s easy to see why Spike Lee used this location as a nightmare crack den in Jungle Fever.

Langston Hughes had the Rennie in mind when he described ”a golden girl, in a golden gown, in a melody night, in Harlem town.”  It’s been decades since the “mellow magic of dancing sound” has reverberated here, but the Ballroom remains significant through its connection to the cultural and intellectual movement it nurtured.

• NY Times—”Powerful Harlem Church is Also a Powerful Harlem Developer”
• NY Times—”A Harlem Landmark in All but Name”
• The Uptowner—”Rennie Rots as Recession Hits Abyssinian”
• Harlem One Stop—”Renaissance Ballroom and Casino”
• YouTube—”Taj Mahal” scene in Jungle Fever, shot on location in the Ballroom

The floor of the ballroom was significantly decayed.

One of the larger mushroom patches.

Can you spot the face beaming on these faded signs?

Box seats in the balcony of the Harlem Renaissance Ballroom.

Another view from the stage.

Walls collapse in the downstairs lobby.

A dark hallway on the first floor.

The Coat Room

This week, NCTL hosted a science event with the The After-School Corporation (TASC) and the Noyce Foundation at the American Natural History Museum in New York. We had the opportunity to highlight our report on how more time can boost science education, Strengthening Science Education: The Power of More Time to Deepen Inquiry and Engagement. In some sense, this event was similar to the one in D.C. at Change the Equation when we released the report back in November, where policy and school leaders discussed how more school time and better science education are inextricably linked. At this week’s event in New York, I was left thinking about comments from four of the speakers…

First, the opening and closing message of the day came from Ron Ottinger, Executive Director of the Noyce Foundation, which provided financial support for our publication. The Noyce Foundation has been a national leader on promoting improved science education. Ron challenged the audience, NCTL and TASC to take the event’s conversation to the next level. How do we implement the strategies and models identified in the report in more schools and with more community science partners across the nation? NCTL takes that challenge seriously because we know better science education can lead to better career opportunities and better lives for our students.

Second, we were delighted to hear Kumar Garg, a policy analyst with the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, talk about our report having caught the attention of key White House staff. Kumar went on to explain that President Obama takes the mission of science education very seriously and, in addition to launching several important initiatives, he is determined to elevate the importance of science education achievement.  If winning sports teams are invited to the White House, why not winning science teams? Check out this awesome video of President Obama firing a marshmallow across the State Dining Room of the White House during the White House Science Fair!

Third, as she was presenting on the role of her Community Development Corporation in trying to provide for better educational opportunities for the children of her neighborhood (Harlem), Sheena Wright, President & CEO of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, described her sense of urgency. “We’re at war,” she declared matter-of-factly. “We don’t have 20 years to try to figure out a plan to fix what is wrong with schools. We have to do this now, for the children who are in the schools now.” I think her strong words reminded the hundred or so folks in the room—a mixture of practitioners and policymakers—that we cannot let up on the work we are all engaged in to improve educational opportunities for disadvantaged children.  The pressure to dramatically improve public education must remain a top American priority.

Finally, the specific task was defined more concretely by Gregg Betheil, the Executive Director, Office of School Programs & Partnerships at the New York City Department of Education. In his remarks about what the NYC Department of Ed is doing to boost science education, he suggested to audience members that “We know what good science education is. And we have the curricula to make science exciting and engaging. It just hasn’t been available to all.” Indeed, what our report shows is that there are schools and teachers and community partners out in the world that are bringing better science learning opportunities to their students, but because of lack of the strategic allocation of resources and better coordination, these success stories are too rare, especially in schools serving large populations of poor children. That has to change.

After witnessing a substantive, serious discussion like this in New York, it is hard not to notice that there are indeed a lot of people paying attention and working hard to turn recommendations of the study into reality. Looks like we’re gaining some ground in the war.

Kids at Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School calculating the density of various objects.

This post was originally published in the Getting Smart blog.

In December, The After-School Corporation (TASC) launched an initiative to take its ExpandED Schools program to the national stage. ExpandED Schools connects schools to community organizations in order to provide students with increased learning opportunities in the community through an extended school day. At Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School (TMALS) in Harlem, an ExpandED School, Principal Dawn Brooks DeCosta discusses her experience with the program.

Q: What inspired the ExpandED Schools program?

A: My school, Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School in Manhattan, was invited by TASC to be one of the schools that piloted the initiative beginning in the 2008-09 school year. It’s been so successful here that we were happy to be a part of the national initiative TASC launched at the start of this school year.

All ExpandED Schools partner with a community organization to expand learning time, and that fits directly with our conviction that communities need to be partners with their schools. Our ExpandED partner is Abyssinian Development Corporation (our school was founded by Abyssinian in collaboration with the NYC Department of Education and New Visions for Public Schools). We were interested in expanding the day for all kids because we know they need that additional time for healthy movement, for a healthy snack at the end of the day and for enrichments.

We value having the additional time with our children to deepen their understanding and provide more enrichment activities that address all of our learning styles. We can give struggling students extra help and advanced students greater challenges that keep them interested.

Our program has grown since its inception. We now offer academic focus days that run until 5:15 p.m. where teachers are able to remain with their students to reinforce the day curriculum and provide additional supports. We have a variety of enrichments that include a visual arts and literacy program where students have several exhibits throughout the year. We also offer West African Dance, a Girls Step team, sports, African drumming, Reader’s Theatre, chorus, Math Buddies Technology Program, tap dancing and Yoga/Relaxercise. The older students are able to choose enrichments based on their interests and talents.

Q: What key challenge did ExpandED seek to target with its extended school day program?

A: Together with our community partner, we look carefully at all the data we have on students, starting with achievement data, but we also look at students’ attendance, behavior, and areas of particular interest. What kinds of activities would really engage them? Then we plan together how to use additional learning time and staff to meet those challenges.

Last school year we focused particularly on language arts, math and science. This year, since we have experienced great gains on the NYS assessments, we will continue with this same focus. Schoolwide our ELA scores increased by 15 percent and our Math Scores increased by 20 percent. We believe our successes have a great deal to do with our ExpandED school day and the additional supports it provides.

This school was founded with a focus on arts and the rich cultural history of Harlem, so it’s great to have the additional time and staff to devote to arts education. Another focus of our program is self-esteem and character building. ExpandED has been instrumental in providing more opportunities for students to explore their individual talents and interests and find confidence in their unique abilities. This gain in self-esteem has shown up in our academic performance as well as our total school culture.

Q: Were there any positive effects that occurred from the extended school day that were not originally intended or predicted?

A: The desire to improve science instruction was a driving factor in becoming an ExpandED School. We didn’t anticipate how much our classroom teachers would appreciate the less formal, hands-on science curriculum we introduced in the hours after 3 p.m. with support from TASC. They found it so engaging that they’ve brought many of those hands-on activities into the school day. There’s not enough conversation about science in our community and we want our students to understand this is a subject they can master and pursue into careers.

Q: What makes an extended school day program most successful?

A: You need a strong partnership with the community organization, including day-to-day communication. You need to communicate with parents and make sure they have a voice and are involved. We appreciate having a strong framework for planning and implementing the curriculum. It’s important to include both teachers and the community educators in professional development. A seamless transition from day to evening is key in maximizing the instructional minutes available. The staff hired is a very important part of the formula. Having staff members who are committed to excellence and who hold our core values in high esteem is necessary.

Q: What challenges do communities face in terms of policy, resources, etc.?

A: We’re all struggling in this budget environment. This year alone we lost over $80,000 of our budget. In a small school, this is critical. Without ExpandED Schools we would not be able to provide all of the support and resources necessary for our children to achieve and do well. Right now, private investment by foundations and others is critical to developing and testing models for expanding the school day, but ultimately we have to find a way to sustain this largely through public funding. ExpandED Schools blend education and youth development funding. But it’s hard to build long-term sustainability when you have to draw on a patchwork of different local, state and federal funds every year. It would be helpful if public agencies could streamline their funding and reporting requirements and get on the same funding schedules so we could spend less time dealing with those administrative tasks and more time concentrating on instruction.

Q: How can local community members support ExpandED?

A: Parent voice is important. If this is something your community needs, make it known to your local and school leaders. Professionals can volunteer to mentor students, they can give them exposure to careers and opportunities beyond their neighborhoods, and they can support us financially by donating to our nonprofit community partners and they can support reasonable school budgets.

This Q&A with Dawn Brooks DeCosta was edited and condensed by Sarah Cargill. Sarah manages the content and design of the Getting Smart website. Find her on Twitter at @SarahCargill.

WCBS 880′s Paul Murnane On The Story

Download: murnane_starbucks1w_midday_111004.mp3|titles=Starbucks%20To%20Donate%20Profits%20From%20Harlem%20Coffee%20Shop%20-%20WCBS%20880%20reporter%20Paul%20Murnane%20has%20the%20story.|artists=WCBS%20880

His company will be donating profits from Harlem back to the community.

“Profitability as a singular objective is a very shallow goal,” said Schultz on Tuesday. “Business leaders small and large and especially those that are running public companies, are going to have to realize that success  is best when it’s shared.”

Sheena Wright, president and CEO of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, says the money will fund after school and other education efforts, often ignored, she says when other so-called investments are made.

“In education as compared to level of investment that we make in incarcerating a person is very lopsided,” she told WCBS 880 reporter Paul Murnane.

She hopes other corporations will follow suit.

“If communities are not healthy, companies will not be healthy,” she said.

Starbucks is committing a minimum $100,000 from two stores – the one on 125th Street here in Manhattan and one out in Los Angeles.

Do you know of any similar corporate efforts? Share them in the comments section below!

Sources told The Observer that City Hall officials have asked Deborah Wright, president of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation, to withhold funds from projects in which Mr. Butts or the Abyssinian Development Corporation, the development arm of his church, is involved. Ms. Wright helps oversee the distribution of $300 million in economic development assistance for the New York Empowerment Zone in upper Manhattan as well as the South Bronx. (Ms. Wright, through an aide, declined to comment. City Hall did not return calls seeking comment.) Mr. Butts and Mayor Giuliani have had a stormy relationship, and it reached its nadir last year when the cleric called the Mayor a racist.

City Hall’s actions threaten to bring to a halt at least two major community development projects–the restoration of the Astor Row homes on West 130th Street and the construction of 80 units of lower- and middle-income housing nearby. The A.D.C. has played a role in both projects.

In addition, sources said that administration officials have suggested that City Hall will not approve Government grants and will not allow development of any city-owned land for any projects with ties to Mr. Butts or the A.D.C., which has attracted financial support for its work from private sources such as Chase Manhattan Corporation, General Electric Company and American Express Company. The A.D.C. is just completing work on a sprawling new supermarket in Harlem and was involved in a major renovation of an underused parking garage–a project that reportedly has been blocked by City Hall since Mr. Butts accused the Mayor of racism.

Mr. Butts and the A.D.C. are major players in the neighborhood’s economic revitalization effort, which began when Harlem and the South Bronx were designated as Federal “empowerment zones” in the mid-1990′s.

“We’ve just gone through a period of great tension–we’ve gone through a lot of misunderstanding and name-calling,” Mr. Butts said. “In the end, we’re going to find out that we can work these things through. If we can’t, it won’t be because I haven’t tried.”

The tension in Harlem comes at a time when City Hall is embroiled in racially charged complaints about police brutality, and when African-American leaders are complaining that the Mayor refuses to talk to them.

Critics charge that City Hall has been dragging its feet in general on zone matters. Mr. Giuliani’s representative on the New York Empowerment Zone Board of Directors, Deputy Mayor Rudy Washington, has twice canceled meetings of the zone board in the last month over what one insider deemed “non-economic-development issues.” And, sources said, the city’s procedural slowdowns on zone issues are now systemic. According to one, “the [Giuliani administration] just keeps coming up with these problems. When someone objects to four out of 10 of the Empowerment Zone’s initiatives, you can deal with it. But when they object to 10 out of 10 because somebody didn’t get a piece of paper on time, that’s a problem. It postpones everything.” The Empowerment Zone board includes Mr. Washington, Empire State Development Corporation chairman Charles Gargano, U.S. Representatives Charles Rangel of Harlem and Jose Serrano of the Bronx and Ms. Wright.

Mr. Rangel, a Democrat who helped write the Federal legislation for Empowerment Zones, complained that “there’s just no excuse” for Mr. Washington’s apparent snubs of his partners on the Empowerment Zone board. City Council member Bill Perkins of Harlem said that City Hall’s actions were “acts of revenge,” while State Senator David Paterson called Mr. Giuliani an “obstacle to the Empowerment Zone for a long time.”

The criticism of City Hall from Harlem’s community leaders contrasts with the kind words that many have for Gov. George Pataki and his allies for their work in the area’s rejuvenation. Mr. Pataki would seem to be an odd champion of Harlem development, but his economic development czar, Mr. Gargano, and Randy Daniels, a Harlem resident who is a senior official with the Empire State Development Corporation, have garnered high marks for their efforts in Harlem. Mr. Butts, himself an ally of Mr. Pataki, said he has only “high complimentary comments” for state officials, adding that the Pataki administration “is doing more to help Harlem than anyone in the last 25 years.”

A Local Hero?

Many sources placed much of the blame for the current difficulties on the very man who ostensibly acts as the Mayor’s ambassador to the city’s black constituencies, Mr. Washington. Several sources complained that Mr. Washington has been unresponsive to their needs and virtually inaccessible to representatives of the Harlem community. “It’s inexplicable,” said Mr. Perkins. “[Mr. Washington], the local kid, he should be our champion. But also you have to understand that our local champion is representing someone else: the Mayor. [Mr. Washington] won’t even meet with black leaders.”

Senator Paterson, who last year chastised Mr. Butts for “fan[ning] the flames of contempt” with his provocative criticism of the Mayor, said that he has never had a conversation with Mr. Washington about the Empowerment Zone, although he had talked with Mr. Daniels and Mr. Gargano. “To me, the state is fighting over a vision for the project [while] the city is fighting more over control of the process. Maybe the city has a vision I don’t know about.”

According to Mr. Daniels, the state has enjoyed some measure of success in the Empowerment Zone by maintaining a flexible attitude in dealing with its partners: “The Governor and Chairman Gargano are prepared to do whatever we have to do to make the Empowerment Zone work. At times we will have to compromise, and we will do so as long as our principles are not reduced in any way. It’s really important that we compromise politically when we have to.” Asked if Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Washington were attempting to freeze out political adversaries from the Empowerment Zone, Mr. Daniels said he would not “single anyone out and say that. But we will not accept that from anyone. I don’t know what motivates some of the decisions that are being made. But it’s really important to put politics aside. We will not support or exclude anyone because of political reasons. It’s inappropriate.”

Tensions are such that a source close to Ms. Wright speculated that she might step down as president of the development corporation because of strained relations with Mr. Washington and City Hall. That, said the source, would be “a disastrous blow to Harlem’s hopes of working successfully with the city.” But sources familiar with the zone said they’ve nearly resigned themselves to waiting for Mr. Giuliani to leave City Hall, either in January 2002, when his second term expires, or in January 2001, when he would leave office if he runs for and wins a Senate seat next year.

Apparent setbacks notwithstanding, there are some signs of progress. On 125th Street, ugly scaffolding covers what will soon be the gleaming new exterior of a long-awaited mall called Harlem USA. Nearby, on Lexington Avenue, a new Pathmark is set to open its doors, meaning that residents will no longer have to travel out of the neighborhood for routine grocery shopping. And Harlem will soon enter the company of some of Manhattan’s most yuppified neighborhoods when a Starbucks outlet opens on the corner of 125th Street and Lenox Avenue.

Mr. Perkins, the local Council member, remains upbeat about the New York Empowerment Zone’s potential, saying it could have a “ripple effect” not just in Harlem but throughout the city.