Author: Mayme Hatcher Johnson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 252
Book Description
"The first and only full biography on legendary Harlem gangster, Bumpy Johnson who was depicted in the movies Cotton Club, Hoodlum, and American Gansgster. ... Bumpy was a man whose contradictions are still the root of many an argument in Harlem. But there is one thing on which both his supporters and detractors agree in his lifetime, Bumpy was the man in Harlem." --p. [4] of cover.
Harlem Godfather
Author: Mayme Hatcher Johnson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 252
Book Description
"The first and only full biography on legendary Harlem gangster, Bumpy Johnson who was depicted in the movies Cotton Club, Hoodlum, and American Gansgster. ... Bumpy was a man whose contradictions are still the root of many an argument in Harlem. But there is one thing on which both his supporters and detractors agree in his lifetime, Bumpy was the man in Harlem." --p. [4] of cover.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 252
Book Description
"The first and only full biography on legendary Harlem gangster, Bumpy Johnson who was depicted in the movies Cotton Club, Hoodlum, and American Gansgster. ... Bumpy was a man whose contradictions are still the root of many an argument in Harlem. But there is one thing on which both his supporters and detractors agree in his lifetime, Bumpy was the man in Harlem." --p. [4] of cover.
Gangsters of Harlem
Author: Ron Chepesiuk
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 300
Book Description
For the first time ever, author Rob Chepesiuk chronicles the little known history of organized crime in Harlem. African American organized crime has had as significant an impact on its constituent community as Italian, Jewish, and Irish organized crime has had on theirs. Gangsters are every bit as colorful, intriguing, and powerful as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, and have a fascinating history in gambling, prostitution, and drug dealing. In this riveting, vivid documentation, Chepesiuk tells the little-known story of organized crime in Harlem through in-depth profiles of the major gangs and motley gangsters whose exploits have made them legends.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 300
Book Description
For the first time ever, author Rob Chepesiuk chronicles the little known history of organized crime in Harlem. African American organized crime has had as significant an impact on its constituent community as Italian, Jewish, and Irish organized crime has had on theirs. Gangsters are every bit as colorful, intriguing, and powerful as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, and have a fascinating history in gambling, prostitution, and drug dealing. In this riveting, vivid documentation, Chepesiuk tells the little-known story of organized crime in Harlem through in-depth profiles of the major gangs and motley gangsters whose exploits have made them legends.
Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem
Author: Daniel R. Day
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0525510532
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 322
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Dapper Dan is a legend, an icon, a beacon of inspiration to many in the Black community. His story isn’t just about fashion. It’s about tenacity, curiosity, artistry, hustle, love, and a singular determination to live our dreams out loud.”—Ava DuVernay, director of Selma, 13th, and A Wrinkle in Time NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY VANITY FAIR • DAPPER DAN NAMED ONE OF TIME’S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD With his now-legendary store on 125th Street in Harlem, Dapper Dan pioneered high-end streetwear in the 1980s, remixing classic luxury-brand logos into his own innovative, glamorous designs. But before he reinvented haute couture, he was a hungry boy with holes in his shoes, a teen who daringly gambled drug dealers out of their money, and a young man in a prison cell who found nourishment in books. In this remarkable memoir, he tells his full story for the first time. Decade after decade, Dapper Dan discovered creative ways to flourish in a country designed to privilege certain Americans over others. He witnessed, profited from, and despised the rise of two drug epidemics. He invented stunningly bold credit card frauds that took him around the world. He paid neighborhood kids to jog with him in an effort to keep them out of the drug game. And when he turned his attention to fashion, he did so with the energy and curiosity with which he approaches all things: learning how to treat fur himself when no one would sell finished fur coats to a Black man; finding the best dressed hustler in the neighborhood and converting him into a customer; staying open twenty-four hours a day for nine years straight to meet demand; and, finally, emerging as a world-famous designer whose looks went on to define an era, dressing cultural icons including Eric B. and Rakim, Salt-N-Pepa, Big Daddy Kane, Mike Tyson, Alpo Martinez, LL Cool J, Jam Master Jay, Diddy, Naomi Campbell, and Jay-Z. By turns playful, poignant, thrilling, and inspiring, Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem is a high-stakes coming-of-age story spanning more than seventy years and set against the backdrop of an America where, as in the life of its narrator, the only constant is change. Praise for Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem “Dapper Dan is a true one of a kind, self-made, self-liberated, and the sharpest man you will ever see. He is couture himself.”—Marcus Samuelsson, New York Times bestselling author of Yes, Chef “What James Baldwin is to American literature, Dapper Dan is to American fashion. He is the ultimate success saga, an iconic fashion hero to multiple generations, fusing street with high sartorial elegance. He is pure American style.”—André Leon Talley, Vogue contributing editor and author
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0525510532
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 322
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Dapper Dan is a legend, an icon, a beacon of inspiration to many in the Black community. His story isn’t just about fashion. It’s about tenacity, curiosity, artistry, hustle, love, and a singular determination to live our dreams out loud.”—Ava DuVernay, director of Selma, 13th, and A Wrinkle in Time NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY VANITY FAIR • DAPPER DAN NAMED ONE OF TIME’S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD With his now-legendary store on 125th Street in Harlem, Dapper Dan pioneered high-end streetwear in the 1980s, remixing classic luxury-brand logos into his own innovative, glamorous designs. But before he reinvented haute couture, he was a hungry boy with holes in his shoes, a teen who daringly gambled drug dealers out of their money, and a young man in a prison cell who found nourishment in books. In this remarkable memoir, he tells his full story for the first time. Decade after decade, Dapper Dan discovered creative ways to flourish in a country designed to privilege certain Americans over others. He witnessed, profited from, and despised the rise of two drug epidemics. He invented stunningly bold credit card frauds that took him around the world. He paid neighborhood kids to jog with him in an effort to keep them out of the drug game. And when he turned his attention to fashion, he did so with the energy and curiosity with which he approaches all things: learning how to treat fur himself when no one would sell finished fur coats to a Black man; finding the best dressed hustler in the neighborhood and converting him into a customer; staying open twenty-four hours a day for nine years straight to meet demand; and, finally, emerging as a world-famous designer whose looks went on to define an era, dressing cultural icons including Eric B. and Rakim, Salt-N-Pepa, Big Daddy Kane, Mike Tyson, Alpo Martinez, LL Cool J, Jam Master Jay, Diddy, Naomi Campbell, and Jay-Z. By turns playful, poignant, thrilling, and inspiring, Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem is a high-stakes coming-of-age story spanning more than seventy years and set against the backdrop of an America where, as in the life of its narrator, the only constant is change. Praise for Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem “Dapper Dan is a true one of a kind, self-made, self-liberated, and the sharpest man you will ever see. He is couture himself.”—Marcus Samuelsson, New York Times bestselling author of Yes, Chef “What James Baldwin is to American literature, Dapper Dan is to American fashion. He is the ultimate success saga, an iconic fashion hero to multiple generations, fusing street with high sartorial elegance. He is pure American style.”—André Leon Talley, Vogue contributing editor and author
Arkansas Godfather
Author: Graham Nown
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
ISBN: 1935106511
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 382
Book Description
Originally published under title: The English godfather. London: Ward Lock, 1987.
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
ISBN: 1935106511
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 382
Book Description
Originally published under title: The English godfather. London: Ward Lock, 1987.
Philip Payton
Author: Kevin McGruder
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231552874
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 156
Book Description
At the turn of the early twentieth century, Harlem—the iconic Black neighborhood—was predominantly white. The Black real estate entrepreneur Philip Payton played a central role in Harlem’s transformation. He founded the Afro-American Realty Company in 1903, vowing to vanquish housing discrimination. Yet this ambitious mission faltered as Payton faced the constraints of white capitalist power structures. In this biography, Kevin McGruder explores Payton’s career and its implications for the history of residential segregation. Payton stood up for the right of Black people to live in Harlem in the face of vocal white resistance. Through skillful use of print media, he branded Harlem as a Black community and attracted interest from those interested in racial uplift. Yet while Payton “opened” Harlem streets, his business model depended on continued racial segregation. Like white real estate investors, he benefited from the lack of housing options available to desperate Black tenants by charging higher rents. Payton developed a specialty in renting all-Black buildings, rather than the integrated buildings he had once envisioned, and his personal successes ultimately entrenched Manhattan’s racial boundaries. McGruder highlights what Payton’s story shows about the limits of seeking advancement through enterprise in a capitalist system deeply implicated in racial inequality. At a time when understanding the roots of residential segregation has become increasingly urgent, this biography sheds new light on the man and the forces that shaped Harlem.
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231552874
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 156
Book Description
At the turn of the early twentieth century, Harlem—the iconic Black neighborhood—was predominantly white. The Black real estate entrepreneur Philip Payton played a central role in Harlem’s transformation. He founded the Afro-American Realty Company in 1903, vowing to vanquish housing discrimination. Yet this ambitious mission faltered as Payton faced the constraints of white capitalist power structures. In this biography, Kevin McGruder explores Payton’s career and its implications for the history of residential segregation. Payton stood up for the right of Black people to live in Harlem in the face of vocal white resistance. Through skillful use of print media, he branded Harlem as a Black community and attracted interest from those interested in racial uplift. Yet while Payton “opened” Harlem streets, his business model depended on continued racial segregation. Like white real estate investors, he benefited from the lack of housing options available to desperate Black tenants by charging higher rents. Payton developed a specialty in renting all-Black buildings, rather than the integrated buildings he had once envisioned, and his personal successes ultimately entrenched Manhattan’s racial boundaries. McGruder highlights what Payton’s story shows about the limits of seeking advancement through enterprise in a capitalist system deeply implicated in racial inequality. At a time when understanding the roots of residential segregation has become increasingly urgent, this biography sheds new light on the man and the forces that shaped Harlem.
The Harlem Plug
Author: Harlem Holiday
Publisher: Harlem Westside Publishing
ISBN: 9780990613114
Category : Criminals
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
"To have once been a criminal is no disgrace. To remain a criminal is the disgrace." MALCOLM X In Harlem's tumultuous history, there are many tragedies. For those growing up in this part of New York City, a young man known simply as Fritz from West 112th Street became an urban legend in Harlem. In the 1970s, Richard "Fritz" Simmons is introduced to the drug trade, by an associate of the Lucchese crime family, one of the five families of La Cosa Nostra (the Mafia). After negotiating a deal with the Medellín Cartel, Fritz becomes New York's Cocaine Consignment King. The lucrative deal unlocks a lavish lifestyle with more money than Fritz's family and Harlem could've imagined. Now, distributing kilos of cocaine on a kingpin level to many well-known Harlem heavyweights, Fritz employs hundreds throughout the five boroughs of New York City and neighboring states. Fritz further extends his generosity in ways few from the community had ever seen. Fritz reigns supreme for over a decade in the drug game, making millions under the radar of the NYPD and he never got busted. Some look at Fritz as the Keyser Soze of the 80s. The most enigmatic drug dealer of that time. HARLEM HOLIDAY brings her readers the inside scoop after almost three decades of silence, speculation, and secrecy. This biography is the in-depth story of Fritz never before told; the tale of how a lowly street hustler rises to orchestrate a one-man syndicate. It's an account of events, as told by Fritz's family and closest friends, and details gathered from newspaper clippings, magazine articles, court transcripts, and social media. Fritz's truth, joy, and despair are fully disclosed, while circumstances surrounding his death still remain a mystery.
Publisher: Harlem Westside Publishing
ISBN: 9780990613114
Category : Criminals
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
"To have once been a criminal is no disgrace. To remain a criminal is the disgrace." MALCOLM X In Harlem's tumultuous history, there are many tragedies. For those growing up in this part of New York City, a young man known simply as Fritz from West 112th Street became an urban legend in Harlem. In the 1970s, Richard "Fritz" Simmons is introduced to the drug trade, by an associate of the Lucchese crime family, one of the five families of La Cosa Nostra (the Mafia). After negotiating a deal with the Medellín Cartel, Fritz becomes New York's Cocaine Consignment King. The lucrative deal unlocks a lavish lifestyle with more money than Fritz's family and Harlem could've imagined. Now, distributing kilos of cocaine on a kingpin level to many well-known Harlem heavyweights, Fritz employs hundreds throughout the five boroughs of New York City and neighboring states. Fritz further extends his generosity in ways few from the community had ever seen. Fritz reigns supreme for over a decade in the drug game, making millions under the radar of the NYPD and he never got busted. Some look at Fritz as the Keyser Soze of the 80s. The most enigmatic drug dealer of that time. HARLEM HOLIDAY brings her readers the inside scoop after almost three decades of silence, speculation, and secrecy. This biography is the in-depth story of Fritz never before told; the tale of how a lowly street hustler rises to orchestrate a one-man syndicate. It's an account of events, as told by Fritz's family and closest friends, and details gathered from newspaper clippings, magazine articles, court transcripts, and social media. Fritz's truth, joy, and despair are fully disclosed, while circumstances surrounding his death still remain a mystery.
From Harlem Hoodlum to Hollywood Heavyweight
Author: Deanna-Marie Smith
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 300
Book Description
Hank Garrett was raised in a multi-cultural neighborhood. In the 1950s where poverty was a way of life, Survival was the goal and violence was the means. By age 12, Hank was carrying a .25 caliber handgun. He would either end up dead or in prison. But a serendipitous meeting with Sammy Davis Jr. changed the trajectory of Hank's life, and Hank stepped into the worlds of comedy, acting, martial arts, and wrestling. Lying about his age, at 17, Hank balanced a career as a pro wrestler with doing comedy acts at various clubs, all while still attending high school. By age 19 he had landed a role in a successful television series. With success also came challenges, however. Hank experienced love, loss, injury, and discrimination. Opportunities were lost or stolen from him. But Hank persevered. The fight inside the man, which could have proved disastrous, became his greatest asset. Up from the Streets is a true story of survival, redemption, and hope. His book, "From Harlem Hoodlum to Hollywood Heavyweight," will make you happy, sad and will make you laugh all the way through as he tells us all the stories of his life, the famous people he worked with and all he had to go through to make it from the streets of Harlem to his hard-earned stardom. He was going to survive the street life of Harlem where he learned to become a professional wrestler along with reaching the top as a martial arts expert inducted into the Hall of Fame in both sports. Hank was also an accomplished comedian and moved on to acting where he landed the part of officer Nicholson in the highly acclaimed Car 54 Where Are You. His story will surprise and entertain you as you read of all his accomplishments, his successes, the surprises in his life and the sometimes sad stories, told in his book, From Harlem Hoodlum to Hollywood Heavyweight. One thing guaranteed is that Hanks book will entertain and surprise you reading about all he accomplished in his life written with his unique style of comedy and truth. His book will leave you smiling at Hanks take on life....so far.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 300
Book Description
Hank Garrett was raised in a multi-cultural neighborhood. In the 1950s where poverty was a way of life, Survival was the goal and violence was the means. By age 12, Hank was carrying a .25 caliber handgun. He would either end up dead or in prison. But a serendipitous meeting with Sammy Davis Jr. changed the trajectory of Hank's life, and Hank stepped into the worlds of comedy, acting, martial arts, and wrestling. Lying about his age, at 17, Hank balanced a career as a pro wrestler with doing comedy acts at various clubs, all while still attending high school. By age 19 he had landed a role in a successful television series. With success also came challenges, however. Hank experienced love, loss, injury, and discrimination. Opportunities were lost or stolen from him. But Hank persevered. The fight inside the man, which could have proved disastrous, became his greatest asset. Up from the Streets is a true story of survival, redemption, and hope. His book, "From Harlem Hoodlum to Hollywood Heavyweight," will make you happy, sad and will make you laugh all the way through as he tells us all the stories of his life, the famous people he worked with and all he had to go through to make it from the streets of Harlem to his hard-earned stardom. He was going to survive the street life of Harlem where he learned to become a professional wrestler along with reaching the top as a martial arts expert inducted into the Hall of Fame in both sports. Hank was also an accomplished comedian and moved on to acting where he landed the part of officer Nicholson in the highly acclaimed Car 54 Where Are You. His story will surprise and entertain you as you read of all his accomplishments, his successes, the surprises in his life and the sometimes sad stories, told in his book, From Harlem Hoodlum to Hollywood Heavyweight. One thing guaranteed is that Hanks book will entertain and surprise you reading about all he accomplished in his life written with his unique style of comedy and truth. His book will leave you smiling at Hanks take on life....so far.
Don't Bring Home a White Boy
Author: Karyn Langhorne Folan
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 143916939X
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
Folan encourages readers to look beyond common generalizations and stereotypes about race and gender in interracial relationships. In Don’t Bring Home a White Boy, writer Karyn Langhorne Folan debunks the myths and common preconceptions about interracial relationships: Is a black woman who dates white men a traitor to her race? And is America’s history of black oppression a factor? Drawing on real-life testimonials, she boldly tackles this difficult subject with warmth, humor, and understanding, as she explores stereotypes of black female sexuality and white male perspectives on black female beauty. Folan goes beyond statistics and offers firsthand insights on her own interracial relationship and attempts to tap into a woman’s desire to have all that they deserve instead of restricting themselves, simply because they want a “good black man.” Frank, authoritative, and universally relevant, her message to women is to look beyond skin color, accept themselves for who they are, and seek a man who truly loves them, regardless of race.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 143916939X
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
Folan encourages readers to look beyond common generalizations and stereotypes about race and gender in interracial relationships. In Don’t Bring Home a White Boy, writer Karyn Langhorne Folan debunks the myths and common preconceptions about interracial relationships: Is a black woman who dates white men a traitor to her race? And is America’s history of black oppression a factor? Drawing on real-life testimonials, she boldly tackles this difficult subject with warmth, humor, and understanding, as she explores stereotypes of black female sexuality and white male perspectives on black female beauty. Folan goes beyond statistics and offers firsthand insights on her own interracial relationship and attempts to tap into a woman’s desire to have all that they deserve instead of restricting themselves, simply because they want a “good black man.” Frank, authoritative, and universally relevant, her message to women is to look beyond skin color, accept themselves for who they are, and seek a man who truly loves them, regardless of race.
An American Friendship
Author: David Weinfeld
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501763105
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 265
Book Description
In An American Friendship, David Weinfeld presents the biography of an idea, cultural pluralism, the intellectual precursor to modern multiculturalism. He roots its origins in the friendship between two philosophers, Jewish immigrant Horace Kallen and African American Alain Locke, who advanced cultural pluralism in opposition to both racist nativism and the assimilationist "melting pot." It is a simple idea—different ethnic groups can and should coexist in the United States, perpetuating their cultures for the betterment of the country as whole—and it grew out of the lived experience of this friendship between two remarkable individuals. Kallen, a founding faculty member of the New School for Social Research, became a leading American Zionist. Locke, the first Black Rhodes Scholar, taught at Howard University and is best known as the intellectual godfather of the Harlem Renaissance and the editor of The New Negro in 1925. Their friendship began at Harvard and Oxford during the years 1906 through 1908 and was rekindled during the Great Depression, growing stronger until Locke's death in 1954. To Locke and Kallen, friendship itself was a metaphor for cultural pluralism, exemplified by people who found common ground while appreciating each other's differences. Weinfeld demonstrates how this understanding of cultural pluralism offers a new vision for diverse societies across the globe. An American Friendship provides critical background for understanding the conflicts over identity politics that polarize US society today.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501763105
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 265
Book Description
In An American Friendship, David Weinfeld presents the biography of an idea, cultural pluralism, the intellectual precursor to modern multiculturalism. He roots its origins in the friendship between two philosophers, Jewish immigrant Horace Kallen and African American Alain Locke, who advanced cultural pluralism in opposition to both racist nativism and the assimilationist "melting pot." It is a simple idea—different ethnic groups can and should coexist in the United States, perpetuating their cultures for the betterment of the country as whole—and it grew out of the lived experience of this friendship between two remarkable individuals. Kallen, a founding faculty member of the New School for Social Research, became a leading American Zionist. Locke, the first Black Rhodes Scholar, taught at Howard University and is best known as the intellectual godfather of the Harlem Renaissance and the editor of The New Negro in 1925. Their friendship began at Harvard and Oxford during the years 1906 through 1908 and was rekindled during the Great Depression, growing stronger until Locke's death in 1954. To Locke and Kallen, friendship itself was a metaphor for cultural pluralism, exemplified by people who found common ground while appreciating each other's differences. Weinfeld demonstrates how this understanding of cultural pluralism offers a new vision for diverse societies across the globe. An American Friendship provides critical background for understanding the conflicts over identity politics that polarize US society today.
The Pain Tree
Author: Olive Senior
Publisher: Cormorant Books
ISBN: 1770864350
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 204
Book Description
The Pain Tree tells stories that speak to all aspects of Jamaican life. Among the characters we hear from are: poor folk making the best of past hardships (“Coal”); rich folk plotting future selfishness (“The Goodness of My Heart”); an old man, familiar with darkness, who discovers in foreign capitalism a force even he cannot control (“Boxed-In”); a young girl, uprooted to a new country, forced to shoulder her mother’s unspoken burdens in addition to her own (“Lollipop”). Bookending these are two powerful stories about the inextricability of home and history: in “The Pain Tree,” the protagonist comes to realize the love she has abandoned, and the pain she has left behind; in “Flying,” the lead character, searching for that which has been missing most of his life, comes home for good. Senior navigates the hills and valleys of narrative with natural ease, interweaving thick strands of emotion and insight yet never losing sight of a story’s ebb and flow. Her Pain Tree is an engaging, thought-provoking read that transports readers fully to another place, where the unfamiliar and exciting clash and commingle with the universal.
Publisher: Cormorant Books
ISBN: 1770864350
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 204
Book Description
The Pain Tree tells stories that speak to all aspects of Jamaican life. Among the characters we hear from are: poor folk making the best of past hardships (“Coal”); rich folk plotting future selfishness (“The Goodness of My Heart”); an old man, familiar with darkness, who discovers in foreign capitalism a force even he cannot control (“Boxed-In”); a young girl, uprooted to a new country, forced to shoulder her mother’s unspoken burdens in addition to her own (“Lollipop”). Bookending these are two powerful stories about the inextricability of home and history: in “The Pain Tree,” the protagonist comes to realize the love she has abandoned, and the pain she has left behind; in “Flying,” the lead character, searching for that which has been missing most of his life, comes home for good. Senior navigates the hills and valleys of narrative with natural ease, interweaving thick strands of emotion and insight yet never losing sight of a story’s ebb and flow. Her Pain Tree is an engaging, thought-provoking read that transports readers fully to another place, where the unfamiliar and exciting clash and commingle with the universal.