With a large influx of Caribbean immigrants came a need for housing resources. These immigrants were able to achieve the housing that they needed through various means, and through collectively organizing ways of completing this task, they were able to form a community of their own in Harlem. By collectively pooling money, immigrant populations were able to purchase reasonably large pieces of real estate, thereby enabling immigrants to move in by the thousands. Once this happened, the same thing that happens when any immigrant population begins moving into an area happened in Harlem: nativist sentiments arose in people who were occupied the area first. Even though both groups were of the same race, their vastly different cultures sparked an instant rift between them. They created slanderous terms for each other, and generally made attempts to voice their dislike for each other. All this was turned on its head when it came to one thing, however. That thing was church. Despite their differences, the two groups were able to peacefully interact, as they all went to the same churches.
Politically, Harlem was quite an exciting place, as the changing demographic gave need for new types of policies, and more importantly, new representation for this new demographic. Paramount to all political goals, however, was the importance of establishing a politically autonomous Harlem that could hold its own against the rest of the city. Unfortunately, there were many hinderances to the political stability of Harlem that took years to become resolved. African American and West Indian blacks were largely not registered to vote or not naturalized citizens, respectively, so it was nearly impossible for them to get proper congressional representation. Finally, however, in 1944 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. was elected as the first congressman of Harlem.
Marcus Garvey, an important and rather controversial figure in this era, was essentially the black equivalent of a white supremacist. Due to his connections with the Ku Klux Klan and his divisive language, he was largely disregarded and even condemned for his actions. He began the UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association) to, as the title of the organization suggests, improve the lives of blacks. He was also known for starting the “Back to Africa” movement in which he encouraged blacks, no matter what ethnicity they identified with, to move back to their ancestral homeland, Africa. This idea was hugely unpopular, garnering essentially no traction, as no significant population made such a move as a result.
As for controversial figures, the Gambling scene in Harlem provided many outlets for people with unsavory intentions to fulfill their desires. The numbers racket was a pervasive and totally illegal gambling game, somewhat similar to today’s lottery, that was lead by “bankers” as they were called in the day. This game put lots of money in the pockets of these few bankers and, collectively, took money right out of the pockets of community members. It really is hard to say whether or not this was a beneficial practice. On one hand, notorious numbers bankers like Casper Holstein were extremely generous donators who arguably made contributions that were invaluable to the success of the community. However, if you look at how his money was obtained, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the money he was using came right out of the pockets of the people he was claiming to help! This glaring contradiction is something that should be carefully inspected before making a final judgement on the efficacy and ethicality of his actions. Personally, I take the stance that his actions were selfishly motivated, and this is proven by his reaction to his opponents who pointed out his illegal methods of obtaining his wealth. While he had mansions on Long Island and a car collection, the community-members whose money he stole were having a hard time even finding suitable work.
