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Explore 1930's Harlem with this self-guided audio tour of the places and artworks that inspired a young Jacob Lawrence. Narrated by WQXR host Terrance McKnight, the tour features commentary by key cultural leaders working in Harlem today.
Begin Tour ShowHide open hoursFor offline use, download the Harlem Walking Tour on iTunes.
Jacob Lawrence. This is Harlem. 1943. Gouache and pencil on paper, 15 5/16 × 22 5/8 in. (38.9 × 57.5 cm.)Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Joseph H. Hirschhorn, 1966. Photo: Lee Stalsworth. © 2015 Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Jacob Lawrence with a panel from the Frederick Douglass series, c. 1939. Harmon Foundation Collection, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.
Street corner orator, 125th Street, ca. 1938. Photo: Morgan and Marvin Smith. Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations. © Morgan and Marvin Smith
Jacob Lawrence. Street Orator’s Audience. 1936. Tempera on paper, 24 1/8 × 19 1/8” (61.3 × 48.6 cm). Tacoma Art Museum. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roger W. Peck by exchange. © 2015 Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Harlem Hospital Center’s Mural Pavilion, 2012. Photo: Paul Warchol Photography, Inc. Courtesy of HOK
Harlem Hospital Center, Lenox Avenue at 136th street, 1920s. Harlem Hospital Center Archives. Photo courtesy Harlem Hospital Center
Charles Alston, 1939. Photo: Andrew Herman. Federal Art Project, Photographic Division collection, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Charles Alston, Magic in Medicine (left) and Modern Medicine (right), 1936. Originally installed in the Women’s Pavilion lobby, Harlem Hospital Nurses’ Residence, New York. Harlem Hospital Center, New York. Courtesy EverGreene Architectural Arts
Charles Alston. Magic in Medicine. 1936. Originally installed in the Women’s Pavilion lobby, Harlem Hospital Nurses’ Residence, New York. Harlem Hospital Center, New York. Courtesy EverGreene Architectural Arts
Charles Alston, Modern Medicine, 1936. Originally installed in the Women’s Pavilion lobby, Harlem Hospital Nurses’ Residence, New York. Harlem Hospital Center, New York. Courtesy EverGreene Architectural Arts
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Courtesy of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library
103 West 135th Street near Lenox Avenue, n.d. Photo: Wurts Brothers. Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations
The New York Public Library’s 135th Street branch, c. 1930. Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations
Aaron Douglas. Aspects of Negro Life: From Slavery through Reconstruction. 1934. Oil on canvas, 5’ × 11’ 7” (152.4 × 353.1 cm). Art and Artifacts Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Art © Heirs of Aaron Douglas/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Aaron Douglas. Aspects of Negro Life: An Idyll of the Deep South. 1934. Oil on canvas, 5’ × 11’ 7” (152.4 × 353.1 cm). Art and Artifacts Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Art © Heirs of Aaron Douglas/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Aaron Douglas. Aspects of Negro Life: Song of the Towers. 1934. Oil on canvas, 94 ½ × 88” (240 × 223.5 cm) Art and Artifacts Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Art © Heirs of Aaron Douglas/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Harlem YMCA 180 West 135th Street from below. Photo: Beyond My Ken. Licensed under GFDL via Wikimedia Commons
Aaron Douglas, n.d. Photo: P. H. Polk. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Aaron Douglas. Evolution of Negro Dance. 1933. Photo: Joshua McHugh. Harlem YMCA. Art © Heirs of Aaron Douglas/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Newspaper exterior after 1933. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Newspaper city room of Amsterdam News in Harlem, 1938. Photo: Hansel Mieth. The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
The Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. Piotr Redlinski/The New York Times/Redux
Adam Clayton Powell Sr., in the black suit, presides over the Abyssinian Baptist Church’s soup kitchen in Harlem, n.d. Courtesy Abyssinian Baptist Church, Harlem
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Leading the Crowds, ca. 1941. Photo: Morgan and Marvin Smith. Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. © Morgan and Marvin Smith
Former headquarters of the Harlem Artists’ Guild. Photo: Dina Brunstein
Members of the Harlem Artists’ Guild picketing with the Works Progress Administration Artists Union to protest cutbacks to WPA programs. Harry Henderson Papers, Penn State University Archives, Pennsylvania State University Libraries, University Park, Pa.
Former headquarters of Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Photo: Dina Brunstein
Member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, n.d. Photo: Morgan and Marvin Smith. Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations. © Morgan and Marvin Smith
A. Philip Randolph, 1942. Photo: Gordon Parks. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Courtesy and © The Gordon Parks Foundation
New York Urban League. Photo: Dina Brunstein
New York Urban League. From The Story of the New York Urban League, 1919-1979: Sixty Years of Service. New York: New York Urban League, 1979.
Crowds of unemployed New Yorkers outside the New York Urban League during the Great Depression. From The Story of the New York Urban League, 1919-1979: Sixty Years of Service. New York: New York Urban League, 1979.
Utopia Children’s House, 1938. Photo: Jack Allison. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
A child strikes up the band at Utopia Children's House. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.
Former site of the Harlem Community Art Center. Photo: Dina Brunstein
Jerome Henry Rothstein. Hundreds are receiving free instruction at Harlem Community Art Center. WPA Federal Art Project poster, ca.1936-1938. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The Studio Museum in Harlem. Photo: Adam Reich.
The Studio Museum, c. 1993. Photo: Sherman Bryce. Courtesy The Studio Museum in Harlem
Jacob Lawrence. The Architect. 1959. Egg and tempera on Masonite, 13 6/10 × 17 5/10” (34.5 × 44.5 cm). The Studio Museum in Harlem. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James Hathinas. © 2015 Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Jacob Lawrence. Cabinet Maker. 1957. Casein tempera on paper, 30 1/2 × 22 1/2 in. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966. Photo: Cathy Carver. © 2015 Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
