<I>Life in Harlem: A Documentary Film of America's Negro Metropolis</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1940
name: label: Created by
content: Edward W. Lewis, American, born ca. 1914
label: Produced by
content: Harry M. Popkin, American, 1906 - 1991
label: Distributed by
content: Sack Amusement Enterprises, American, 1920 - 1979
label: Subject of
content: Father Divine, American, ca. 1876 - 1965
label: Owned by
content: Ernie Smith, American, ca. 1925 - 2004
notes: label: Description
content: A motion picture film with the title Life in Harlem: A Documentary Film of America's Negro Metropolis. It consists of a single reel of positive, black-and-white, 16mm acetate film with bilateral variable-density optical sound.
label: Description
content: The film opens with text rolling on the screen which reads: [Within sight of the New / York skyscrapers is a city / within a city where over / three hundred thousand / people live in an area / three square miles in / upper Manhattan. These / people work and play, live / and die amidst poverty / and prosperity, tragedy / and laughter, in America's / largest negro settlement, / Harlem.] After the quote, a narrator begins to speak as footage of a horse carriage being pulled down a street plays on screen. Throughout the film, the narrator describes quotidian activities of Harlemites: "a janitor sweeps the tenement sidewalk, a pushcart dealer pulls his heavy load, a little shoeshine-boy starts his day, policemen leave their stationhouse for neighborhood posts…" The film continues in this fashion, with instrumental music playing in the background as the narrator provides commentary about the onscreen activities.
label: Description
content: Some of the other themes featured in the film include wealth inequality in Harlem, with shots of the Sugar Hill neighborhood; people shopping in Harlem’s markets; Harlem’s ethnic diversity; Harlem’s main thoroughfares: Lenox and Seventh Avenues; Father Divine and his evangelical movement; Harlem’s marching band culture; the Good-luck tree that Harlemites call "Tree of Hope.” The final scenes focus on Harlem’s nightlife. At one point, an illuminated sign which reads [SAVOY / World's finest / BALL ROOM] appears on the screen. In another scene, people are seen doing the lindy hop at a swing club followed by other scenes with women dancing in cabarets and couples dancing in a ballroom.
place: label: Place depicted
content: Harlem, New York City, New York County, New York, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Communities
label: Topic
content: Documentary films
label: Topic
content: Film
label: Topic
content: Jazz (Music)
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Time-based Media - Moving Images
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Anonymous Gift in memory of Ernest (Ernie) R. Smith, Jazz Historian
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2015.275.20.1a
objectType: label: Type
content: sound films
label: Type
content: black-and-white films (visual works)
label: Type
content: short subjects
label: Type
content: 16mm (photographic film size)
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: No Known Copyright Restrictions
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: acetate film
label: Dimensions
content: Duration (digital file): 00:10:06
label: Dimensions
content: Physical extent (film): 400 ft