![A Great Day 2](/sites-drupal/default/files/styles/max_scale_640x640/public/field_ers_item_record_image/2021-03/Copy%20of%20_D853891.jpg?itok=wAYkZvs3)
A Great Day 2
Harlem has long been the site of parades and other displays of pride. From the original West Indian Day Parade (first held in Harlem before moving to Brooklyn) to the African American Day Parade, residents have claimed residential blocks and high-trafficked avenues for cultural celebration and sanctuary. We might mark the start of such rituals with the stylings of James Reese Europe and his marching bands, who brought jazz to Europe during World War I, and then brought that acclaim back to the avenues of Harlem.
The 1920s saw the arrival of Augusta Savage, a pioneering sculptor. Her work like Gamin captures the pride of Black lives and the dailiness of dignity. She also helped build community among Harlem visual artists such as Jacob Lawrence, whose work starts the show and who Savage taught at her Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts and the WPA-funded Harlem Community Art Center.
Installation Image by Roy Rochlin. Main Exhibition Gallery, Schomburg Center