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 Three Friends Were Headed To A Beyoncé Concert, But One Dies On the Way. Guess What The Other Two Did Next? Our Fave Moments From A$AP Rocky’s Fashion Show During…

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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Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?
Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?

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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