Before Harlem, Black Culture Thrived On San Juan Hill

From the 1880s to the 1950s, a primarily Black working-class neighborhood helped set the scene for New York City’s jazz culture. It was the birthplace of the Charleston and bebop. They called it San Juan Hill.

With few places in the country to practice acting, music, and dance, San Juan Hill was the place for discovering up-and-coming Black talent. A new generation of artists would get their time to shine, including jazz icons James P. Johnson and Thelonious Monk.

Although there was poverty, crime, and racial tension from nearby neighborhoods, the people of San Juan Hill remained a close community. That was until urban renewal stuck its nose in Black people’s business.

The 1950s brought the plan to tear down San Juan Hill to build Lincoln Center. More than 7,000 families were forced out and 800 businesses closed. What had been a vibrant Caribbean and African American neighborhood was wiped off the map of New York City.

Our artistic culture wouldn’t have been nearly as rich without San Juan Hill as its seedbed, and destroying that community was a tremendous injustice. The Lincoln Center is now a world-famous landmark, but we must never forget the community and the culture that was sacrificed to build it.