Harlem Cultural Festival
The Harlem Cultural Festival was a series of events, mainly music concerts, held annually in Harlem, Manhattan, between 1967 and 1969 which celebrated soul, jazz and gospel and black music and culture and promoted Black pride. The most successful series of concerts, in 1969, became known informally as Black Woodstock, and is presented in the 2021 documentary film Summer of Soul.
Although the 1968 and 1969 events were filmed by Hal Tulchin, the festival had difficulty gaining publicity, partially due to lack of interest by television networks, which felt there would be little benefit in broadcasting it. What was filmed was stored in a basement and hidden from history for decades. The 1969 event took place around the same time as the Woodstock festival, which may have drawn media attention away from Harlem.
Origins and early festivals
A Harlem Cultural Festival was first proposed in 1964 to bring life to the Harlem neighborhood. At the same time, in the mid-1960s, nightclub singer Tony Lawrence began working on community initiatives in Harlem, initially for local churches, but from 1966 working under New York City Mayor John Lindsay and Parks Commissioner August Heckscher. In 1967, Lawrence helped set up the first Harlem Cultural Festival, a series of free events held across Harlem that included "a Harlem Hollywood Night, boxing demonstrations, a fashion show, go-kart grand prix, the first Miss Harlem contest, and concerts featuring soul, gospel, calypso, and Puerto Rican music". In 1968, the second annual Festival included a series of music concerts featuring high profile figures, including Count Basie, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Tito Puente, and Mahalia Jackson. It was filmed by documentary maker Hal Tulchin, and excerpts were broadcast on WNEW-TV in New York.1969 Harlem Cultural Festival
Lawrence also hosted and directed the 1969 festival, held in Mount Morris Park on Sundays at 3 p.m. from June 29 to August 24, 1969. Sponsors included Maxwell House Coffee, and what was then the Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs Division of the City of New York. Lawrence secured a wide range of performers including Nina Simone, B.B. King, Sly and the Family Stone, Chuck Jackson, Abbey Lincoln & Max Roach, the 5th Dimension, David Ruffin, Hugh Masakela, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, Mongo Santamaria, Ray Barretto, and Moms Mabley, among many others. The Woodstock rock festival also took place in August 1969, and the Harlem festival then became known informally as the "Black Woodstock".The Festival also involved the participation of community activists and civic leaders including Jesse Jackson. The series of six free concerts had a combined attendance of nearly 300,000. For the concert featuring Sly and the Family Stone on June 29, 1969, the New York City Police Department refused to provide security, and it was instead provided by members of the Black Panther Party.
Film maker Hal Tulchin used five portable video cameras to record over 40 hours of footage of the Festival. Tulchin, his crew, and his video equipment did not capture the final week of the festival because they were hired away to shoot pilot episodes for Sesame Street. One of the acts they missed was the outdoor performance of the vocal group Listen My Brother which included a young Luther Vandross before he was famous. However, Listen My Brother was soon brought into the Sesame Street studios to sing about counting – this footage survives.
Although the majority of Tulchin's video tape of the Harlem Cultural Festival was not released, CBS broadcast a one-hour special on July 28, 1969, featuring the 5th Dimension, the Chambers Brothers, and Max Roach with Abbey Lincoln. A second hour-long special followed on September 16 on ABC, featuring Mahalia Jackson, the Staple Singers, and Reverend Jesse Jackson. A further five TV specials were announced at the time, but do not appear to have been broadcast.