For the past two weeks, I was studying the history of the Apollo theater and Harlem. The sources I used were newspaper articles, scholarly articles, and the Apollo Theater official website. I have learned that prior to The Apollo Theater we know today, there was its predecessor, Apollo Burlesque. This venue placed a variety of Latin music to fit in with what was popular during the time. This reminded me of the interview I had with Bobby Sanabria from the Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC). Sanabria also mentioned how there was a popular Latin music at the time and Latin musicians, regardless of not being from that country, were expected to play that style of music.
The Apollo Burlesque closed in 1926 and reopened in the 1934 as the Apollo Theater. The reopened venue catered to the growing African American population in Harlem; the music that was showcased reflected this influence. African American artists performed at the Apollo, which changed the trajectory of their careers. The list of famous talent that graced the stage of the Apollo includes Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Pearl Bailey and the Count Basie Orchestra.
https://youtu.be/0uIqSN39rC4%20
As I craft my Apollo article, I draw attention to the influences of the Great Migration as well as the Harlem Renaissance. The Great Migration brought African American to northern cities following Word War 1, due to the increase in jobs. Here is the section I’ve crafted regarding the Great Migration and increased African American population:
“The war brought about labor shortages in the North as the supply of European immigrant labor declined, due to The Immigration Acts of 1921 and 1924 restricting immigration particularly from southern and eastern Europe, along with the native-born white male labor force after the United States entered the war in 1917. Simultaneously, the South’s economy was heavily reliant on agriculture and the southern blacks worked as sharecroppers. This work was very similar to slavery, due to costs that creeped up on sharecroppers, making them indebted to the land. As result, the increasing northern job market as a result of the war looked very appealing to the black sharecroppers who had little to lose at that point.
The increase in the black community in Harlem. These events led to the Harlem people know as fostering black culture. “Between 1920 and 1930, the black population in New York by 115 percent.” In the 1930s, When Sydney Cohen acquired the present-day Apollo Theater, he was hoping to capitalize on the earlier success of the Apollo Burlesque. The Apollo was opened to black patrons in 1934. The Apollo Theater was bought during the Harlem Renaissance, a localized African American art movement that was a breeding ground for artists who would go on to become nationally acclaimed.”
I found it important to note that the increased black presence provided an economic and political power that influenced the creation of the Apollo that went on to popularize black entertainers, artists, and musicians. If the Great Migration did not happen, would the Apollo that we know today exist? Would the music of black artists from that area become popularized?
Site Artifact
Word Cited
Admin, WordPress. “Apollo History.” Apollo Theater. Apollo Theater, n.d. Web. 28 July 2017.
Carter, Jack. “Great Migration.” Salem Press Encyclopedia, January. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=88960813&site=eds-live.
Hasse, John Edward. “The Apollo Theater: “It’s in the Cards”.” National Museum of American History. Smithsonian, 17 Jan. 2017. Web. 28 July 2017.
January 26th, 1934: Apollo Theatre Reopens. YouTube. YouTube, 27 Jan. 2016. Web. 28 July 2017.
“The Harlem Renaissance.” New York Amsterdam News, vol. 108, no. 6, 09 Feb. 2017, pp. 16-39. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=121279847&site=eds-live.
“Vintage Photos: Apollo Theater in Harlem Celebrates 80th Anniversary.” Untapped Cities. Untapped Cities, 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 July 2017.
Good work. I’m sure Molly will have other edits, but don’t forget to talk about violently enforced Jim Crow restrictions (leftover from the Black Codes), the rise of the Klan in the 1920s, and the direct advertising to Black laborers to move north as factors in the Great Migration. I also have a few questions: Was there a Latino population in Harlem during the Apollo Burlesque era, or was there some other reason Latin music was popular there and then? What’s Sydney Cohen’s story? So much of the Harlem Renaissance is periodized as happening in the 1920s and ending by the early 1930s, so it sounds like you’re suggesting that’s incorrect. Could you offer more evidence? Also, it’s super-interesting that the Apollo reopened during the Depression, which hit Harlem particularly hard (see Cheryl Greenberg, Or Does It Explode?) Any scoop on that?