George Wilson Becton was the "first of the colorful cult leaders in Harlem." [1] He began charismatic preaching in about 1930, after the decline of Marcus Garvey, and continued until he was mysteriously murdered in 1933.
Harlem is a neighborhood in the northern section of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is bounded roughly by Frederick Douglass Boulevard, St. Nicholas Avenue, and Morningside Park on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. It is part of greater Harlem, an area that encompasses several other neighborhoods and extends west to the Hudson River, north to 155th Street, east to the East River, and south to 96th Street.
Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. ONH was a Jamaican-born political leader, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). He also was President and one of the directors of the Black Star Line, a shipping and passenger line incorporated in Delaware. The Black Star Line went bankrupt and Garvey was imprisoned after a trial that was "probably politically motivated" for mail fraud in the selling of its stock. Even though Garvey's conviction was upheld on appeal, his sentence was commuted in 1927. Advocates of African Redemption have openly sought to have him exonerated since 1987, continuing to the present day.
Becton's sermons were formal and presented in a dignified setting, with orchestral music and liveried pages. He was kidnapped and shot to death on May 25, 1933. He died without describing his attackers or explaining why anybody might have wanted him killed. [2]
Claude McKay wrote about Becton in his book Harlem, Negro Metropolis.
Festus Claudius "Claude" McKay was a Jamaican writer and poet, who was a seminal figure in the Harlem Renaissance. He wrote four novels: Home to Harlem (1928), a best-seller that won the Harmon Gold Award for Literature, Banjo (1929), Banana Bottom (1933), and in 1941 a manuscript called Amiable With Big Teeth: A Novel of the Love Affair Between the Communists and the Poor Black Sheep of Harlem which remained unpublished until 2017. McKay also authored collections of poetry, a collection of short stories, Gingertown (1932), two autobiographical books, A Long Way from Home (1937) and My Green Hills of Jamaica, and a non-fiction, socio-historical treatise entitled Harlem: Negro Metropolis (1940). His 1922 poetry collection, Harlem Shadows, was among the first books published during the Harlem Renaissance. His Selected Poems was published posthumously, in 1953.
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American fiction writer best known for his celebrated and prolific output in the adventure and science-fiction genres. Among the most notable of his creations are the jungle hero Tarzan, the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter and the fictional landmass within Earth known as Pellucidar. Burroughs' California ranch is now the center of the Tarzana neighborhood in Los Angeles.
The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, is a millenarian nontrinitarian restorationist Christian sect founded around the year 1747 in England and then organized in the United States in the 1780s. They were initially known as "Shaking Quakers" because of their ecstatic behavior during worship services. Espousing egalitarian ideals, women took on spiritual leadership roles alongside men, including founding leaders such as Jane Wardley, Mother Ann Lee, and Mother Lucy Wright. The Shakers emigrated from England in the 1770s and settled in Revolutionary colonial America, with an initial settlement at Watervliet, New York. They practice a celibate and communal lifestyle, pacifism, uniform charismatic worship, and their model of equality of the sexes, which they institutionalized in their society in the 1780s. They are also known for their simple living, architecture, technological innovation, and furniture.
John Henry Hammond II was an American record producer, civil rights activist, and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s. In his service as a talent scout, Hammond became one of the most influential figures in 20th-century popular music. He is the father of famous blues musician John P. Hammond.
Alden Albert Nowlan was a Canadian poet, novelist, and playwright.
Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, was a historian, writer, and activist. Schomburg was a Puerto Rican of African and German descent who moved to the United States and researched and raised awareness of the great contributions that Afro-Latin Americans and Afro-Americans have made to society. He was an important intellectual figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Over the years, he collected literature, art, slave narratives, and other materials of African history, which were purchased to become the basis of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, named in his honor, at the New York Public Library (NYPL) branch in Harlem.
Ellsworth Raymond Johnson —known as "Bumpy" Johnson—was an American mob boss and bookmaker in New York City's Harlem neighborhood. The main Harlem associate of Charles "Lucky" Luciano and what would become later known as the Genovese crime family, Johnson's criminal career has inspired films and television.
John Henrik Clarke, was an African-American historian, professor, and a pioneer in the creation of Pan-African and Africana studies, and professional institutions in academia starting in the late 1960s.
The Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District is a regional public high school and school district serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from both Carlstadt and East Rutherford, two relatively small communities in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States.
The Battle of Fort Washington was a battle fought in New York on November 16, 1776 during the American Revolutionary War between the United States and Great Britain. It was a British victory that gained the surrender of the remnant of the garrison of Fort Washington near the north end of Manhattan Island. It was one of the worst Patriot defeats of the war.
Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited, more commonly called HARYOU, was an American social activism organization founded by psychologists Kenneth Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark in 1962. Its director was Cyril deGrasse Tyson, father of astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and founding member of the 100 Black Men of America. The group worked to increase opportunities in education and employment for young blacks in Harlem. It also was designed to teach residents of Harlem how to work with governmental agencies to meet their demands.
Hughie Flint is an English drummer, known for his stint in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, for his group McGuinness Flint in the early 1970s and for his subsequent association with The Blues Band.
"Oh Woman, Oh Why" is a song written by English musician Paul McCartney, first released on the Apple Records label in February 1971 as the B-side to McCartney's debut single as a solo artist, "Another Day".
Movers & Shakers is a 1985 American comedy film distributed by MGM, starring Walter Matthau and directed by William Asher.
John Glover Jackson was an American Pan-Africanist historian, lecturer, teacher and writer. He promoted ideas of Afrocentrism, and Jesus Christ in comparative mythology.
Founded in the 17th century as a Dutch outpost, Harlem developed into a farming village, a revolutionary battlefield, a resort town, a commuter town, a ghetto, and a center of African-American culture.
Harlem Writers Guild (HWG) is the oldest organization of African-American writers, founded in 1950 by John Oliver Killens, Rosa Guy, John Henrik Clarke, Willard Moore and Walter Christmas.
Harlem History Club was a study circle founded in Harlem in the 1930s and based at the Harlem YMCA.
Millennial Praises is the first published collection of Shaker hymns. It was first printed by the Shakers in 1812.
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