The Apollo Theater is a multi-use theater at 253 West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a popular venue for black American performers and is the home of the TV show Showtime at the Apollo. The theater, which has approximately 1,500 seats across three levels, was designed by George Keister with elements of the neoclassical style. The facade and interior of the theater are New York City designated landmarks and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The nonprofit Apollo Theater Foundation (ATF) operates the theater, as well as two smaller auditoriums at the Victoria Theater and a recording studio at the Apollo.
East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or El Barrio, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fifth Avenue to the west, and the East and Harlem Rivers to the east and north. Despite its name, it is generally not considered to be a part of Harlem proper, but it is one of the neighborhoods included in Greater Harlem.
Andrea Desiree Lewis is a Canadian actress and singer, known for her role as Hazel Aden in the long-running TV series Degrassi: The Next Generation.
The Inner City Broadcasting Corporation ("ICBC") was an American media company based in New York City. It was one of the first broadcasting companies wholly owned by African-Americans.
Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) is an American professional ballet company and school based in Harlem, New York City. It was founded in 1969 under the directorship of Arthur Mitchell and later partnered with Karel Shook. Milton Rosenstock served as the company's music director from 1981 to 1992. The artistic director has been Robert Garland since 2022. The DTH is renowned for being both "the first Black classical ballet company", and "the first major ballet company to prioritize Black dancers".
WLIB is an urban contemporary gospel radio station licensed to New York, New York. WLIB is owned by Emmis Communications, along with sister stations WBLS and WQHT. The three stations share studios in the Hudson Square neighborhood of lower Manhattan, and WLIB's transmitter is located in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.
KBLX-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Berkeley, California, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by Salt Lake City–based Bonneville International. The radio studios and offices are along Junipero Serra Boulevard in Daly City. The transmitter is atop the San Bruno Mountains.
Percy Ellis Sutton was an American political and business leader. An activist in the Civil Rights Movement and lawyer, he was also a Freedom Rider and the legal representative for Malcolm X. He was the highest-ranking African-American elected official in New York City when he was Manhattan borough president from 1966 to 1977, the longest tenure at that position. He later became an entrepreneur whose investments included the New York Amsterdam News and the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
Inez E. Dickens is the Assemblymember for the 70th district of the New York State Assembly. She is a Democrat. The district includes portions of El Barrio, Hamilton Heights, Harlem, and Morningside Heights in Manhattan. She formerly served on the New York City Council from 2006 to 2016, representing the 9th district.
Basil Alexander Paterson was an American labor lawyer and politician. He served in the New York State Senate from 1966 to 1971 and as secretary of state of New York under Governor Hugh Carey from 1979 to 1983. In 1970, Paterson was the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of New York on the Arthur Goldberg ticket. Paterson's son David served as governor from 2008 to 2011.
The Gang of Four, also known as the Harlem Clubhouse, was an African-American political coalition from Harlem whose members later ascended to top political posts. It is named after the Gang of Four of China. J. Raymond Jones was influential in helping these men obtain power.
The Virginia Arts Festival is a Norfolk-based non-profit arts presenter which serves southeastern Virginia, offering dozens of performances during the spring and throughout the year. Virginia Arts Festival performances have included international ballet companies, along with modern, contemporary, and ethnic dance companies; world-renowned soloists and ensembles in musical genres including classical, jazz, world, folk, rock, blues, bluegrass, country, and pop; opera; theater and cabaret; and collaborative productions with local arts organizations like the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
Vincent "Vince" Scott Morgan is a Democratic political activist, community leader and businessman from Harlem, New York.
Showtime at the Apollo is an American variety show that first aired in syndication from September 12, 1987 to May 24, 2008. In 2018, the series returned on Fox with Steve Harvey hosting. Filmed at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, the show features live performances from both professional and up-and-coming artists, and also features the Amateur Night competition. In many cities such as New York, it often aired after Saturday Night Live during the late Saturday night/early Sunday morning hours, and was often paired with the similarly-syndicated Soul Train.
Maren Hassinger is an African-American artist and educator whose career spans four decades. Hassinger uses sculpture, film, dance, performance art, and public art to explore the relationship between the natural world and industrial materials. She incorporates everyday materials in her art, like wire rope, plastic bags, branches, dirt, newspaper, garbage, leaves, and cardboard boxes. Hassinger has stated that her work “focuses on elements, or even problems—social and environmental—that we all share, and in which we all have a stake…. I want it to be a humane and humanistic statement about our future together.”
The Billie Holiday Theatre is an AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning theatre that aims to provide "complete and authentic portrayals" of the African diaspora experience, as well as "artistic and institutional residencies and ... educational programming to people of all ages."
Voza Rivers is an American producer and co-producer of theater, film, music, and live events, born in Harlem, New York. River's work as a theater producer, music executive, event producer, and documentary filmmaker has been presented in the United States, Japan, South Africa, Togo, Nigeria, Cuba, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Otto Neals is an American painter and sculptor. Throughout his career, Neals worked as an illustrator at the Brooklyn Post Office while pursuing independent art projects in his spare time. He currently resides in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
Gerri Major (1894–1984) was an African-American woman who lived in Harlem during a career that stretched from the 1920s through the 1970s. She was successful in a number of overlapping vocations, including journalist, editor, newscaster, publicist, public health official, author and community leader. An article celebrating her 80th birthday stated that "Gerri was definitely one of the 'new Negroes' of the early 20th Century," adding that by the end of the 1930s she had become "one of the best known black women in America."
Brian A. Benjamin is an American politician and businessman who was the 64th lieutenant governor of New York from September 2021 until his resignation on April 12, 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously represented the 30th district in the New York State Senate from 2017 to 2021.
