About this episode

This episode discusses the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, highlighting its significance in celebrating Black music and culture.

Over six weekends in the summer of 1969, nearly 300,000 Black people gathered in Harlem’s Mount Morris Park for the Harlem Cultural Festival, a series of concerts celebrating Black music. A star-studded roster of artists appeared, representing Black sounds from West Africa to Motown and beyond. These performances are documented in the Oscar-winning 2021 documentary Summer of Soul. Written by Charles L. Hughes. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video production by Hannah Keller, Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle, Justin Troyer, and Victoria Paige. A transcript is available at https://origins.osu.edu/read/black-woodstock-1969-harlem-cultural-festival. This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

Topics covered

• Harlem Cultural Festival
• Black music
• 1969
• cultural events
• music history
• community gathering

Keywords

• Harlem Cultural Festival
• Black music
• 1969
• Summer of Soul
• cultural events
• concerts
• community

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, The Ohio State University, Miami University

Books & works: Summer of Soul

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