Beloved Harlem: A Literary Tribute to Black America's Most Famous Neighborhood, from the Classics to the Contemporary

Ebony, August, 2005

"Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr., once said: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." ln terms of the world of writing created about the Black experience in America, the arc is also long--certainly longer than the twentieth century--and it bends toward Harlem." William H. Banks Jr., executive director of the Harlem Writers Guild and award-winning author, wrote those words in the introduction to BELOVED HARLEM: A LITERARY TRIBUTE TO BLACK AMERICA'S MOST FAMOUS NEIGHBORHOOD, FROM THE CLASSICS TO THE CONTEMPORARY (Broadway Books, $18.95). Banks himself edited the collection of some of the best essays, short stories and novel excerpts inspired by Harlem life from the 20th century to present, showcasing classic and contemporary writings. The list of writers includes luminaries such as W.E.B. DuBois, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Dorothy West, Toni Morrison and Wallace Thurman, the author best known for his satirical novel dealing with Black intraracial prejudice, THE BLACKER THE BERRY (1929). "Harlem has been called the Mecca of the New Negro, the center of Black America's cultural renaissance ..." begins Thurman's essay, "Negro Life in New York's Harlem," which is included in the book. "It has been surveyed and interpreted, explored and exploited. It has had its day in literature, in the drama, even in the tabloid press. It is considered the most popular and interesting section of contemporary New York ... There is no Negro settlement anywhere comparable to Harlem ..."

Banks says writers were first drawn to Harlem because of its promise as a sanctuary. But they "fell in love with it and with the art of putting the African-American experience into words. It then became their Harlem and ours."