The Root Recommends: 'Harlem Is Nowhere'

In Harlem Is Nowhere, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts walks readers through Harlem’s storied streets, recounting its colorful history while narrating the complexities of its present condition. Suggested Reading Strange New Details Emerge About Suspect in Rihanna Home Shooting 13 Reasons Black Folks Fear the Worst Is Already Here Tony! Toni! Toné! Drama: Founder’s Family Fights Over Disinheritance Video…

In Harlem Is Nowhere, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts walks readers through Harlem’s storied streets, recounting its colorful history while narrating the complexities of its present condition.

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Rhodes-Pitts weaves her own experiences with those of famous fictional characters from the Harlem Renaissance’s most memorable novels. But readers also meet Harlem’s real-life protagonists — Zora Neale Hurston, James Van Der Zee, Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison and others — whose difficulty in cementing their identities in a new place, Rhodes-Pitts asserts, is an experience that still rings true for the black residents of a gentrifying Harlem.   

This thoughtful combination of self-reflection and literary analysis is sure to enlighten the curious and intrigue Harlem aficionados everywhere. 

Previous recommendation: CIAA.

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