Harlem, full of life
The people who chose not to move with the great exodus
Chris Wild
July 1970
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Jack Garofalo (1923-2004), one of the leading photographers for Paris Match magazine, spent six weeks in Harlem, New York, in the summer of 1970. His images were the cover story for Match in October that year.
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
In the 1960s, large numbers of residents left Harlem for neighborhoods in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, seeking better schools, improved housing and a stronger sense of safety. Left in Harlem were the people who couldn't afford to or chose not to move.Despite massive federal investment throughout the 1970s, in 1978 the New York Times would publish an article titled "Harlem's Dreams Have Died in Last Decade, Leaders Say."Yet, as these pictures show, that didn't mean Harlem in 1970 was lacking in vibrancy. In the words of Camilo José Vergara, another photographer documenting Harlem during the decade: "There was something vital going on in Harlem in the '70s."
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Since 1970, an exodus of residents has left behind the poor, the uneducated, the unemployed. Nearly two-thirds of the households have incomes below $10,000 a year. In a community with one of the highest crime rates in the city, garbage-strewn vacant lots and tumbledown tenements, many of them abandoned and sealed, contribute to the sense of danger and desolation that pervades much of the area. - New York Times, 1991
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
"Big Joe"
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Inside the African-American bookstore.
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Two members of the Black Panthers at the doorway of the headquarters.
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
An ethnology student.
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Aerial view of the intersection at Amsterdam Avenue.
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Billy, a butcher, his wife and children in their two-room apartment on 8th Avenue.
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
Credit: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match via Getty Images
