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Kirk Welsh

August 8, 2009

SWC 100 Paper 3

The Roughest Times of Harlem

The 1950s was a rough time for the Black community in the United States. The Black

neighborhoods of the country were filled with violence, hatred, and poverty for the minorities.

The mistreatment of blacks and poverty has a lot to do with the reason these communities were

in such a chaotic state. Harlem, one of the African American areas affected, was a prime

example of this mistreatment. Roy DeCarava and Langston Hughes came together to create the

book The Sweet Flypaper of Life, in 1955. DeCarava’s photographers and Hughes’ story

captions captures Harlem in the 1950s. The borough’s paucity, hostility, misery, and form of fun

were shown throughout the story.

“$2500 Tax Credit For Couple Asked,” printed in 1949, explained the living conditions of the

minorities of Harlem. “The living conditions in the Harlem area are completely intolerable, with

as many as twenty-four persons living in a four room apartment… and segregating Puerto Ricans

with Negroes making the conditions very worse.”Not only were the African Americans bunched

together in one small area, but also Latin Americans were crunched into the limited space

making situations even worse. “Poor people do not make the slums, and don’t want to live in

them… there were many children of the slums who did not show an aptitude for higher

education. They needed to be ‘sold’ on the idea that they should learn to work with their hands

and that there was no disgrace in taking a job where they got dirty.” Therefore, blacks were

given the worst living areas, worst education, and had even worse ideas. They were taught to

believe that they could not become white-collar workers, only blue-collar. This distorted
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perception resulted in Blacks working harder and living in unsanitary situations from generation

to generation.

One of the pictures in the story The Sweet Flypaper of Life resembles the poverty of the

Harlem minority community in the mid-1900s; the photo of the young boy against the street pole

on the corner. This child’s family is far from wealthy. The boy wears dusty clothes that can

possibly be hand-me-downs. The etiquette of the child is poor; his shirt hangs off his shoulders

with only one button attached, his pants are flooding, and he could use a new pair of shoes. The

complete physical demeanor of the boy seems as if he dresses like his slavery ancestors. On top

of his clothing, his face is hot and sweaty, and he needs a nice haircut. If he were born of a

middle class family, then, more than likely, his physical appearance would be much cleaner.

Contrastingly, there is a white family of four walking down the street in the background (A

mother, a daughter, and two sons). All four of them are well dressed and walk as a family,

holding one another’s hands. The mother and daughter are covered in pretty summer dresses;

and the two sons in shorts and clean shirts. The family displays proper appearance and,

obviously, they are of the middle-upper class. While the Caucasian family strolls down the street

happily, where it the little guy’s family? This neglect was caused by poverty and, as a result,

created violence among the Black communities in Harlem. By the year 1950, essentially all of

the whites moved out of Harlem, the predominately-white area became a predominately-African

American and Puerto Rican area. In order to make ends meet, young blacks sold heroin and

cocaine, which created drug addicts around the community. Drugs created gangs that fought

over territory and money. Gangs walked the streets terrorizing civilians and the unemployment

rate was on the rise.

Alongside poverty, racial brutality proved to be a frequent action toward Blacks during this

time. The picture DeCarava captures of the young men with his shirt half way on, under Hughes’
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caption “then the cops come--- and they have to grab their clothes quick,” puts poverty and fear

in one photo. The poor children could not afford to go many places so they made fun out of the

environment. One way of fun was cutting on the city’s fire hydrant on a scorching day.

However, the excitement became ruined by the law enforcement. It becomes evident that this

guy, too, suffers from poverty; but, also, looking closer at his facial expression fear and sorrow

comes to mind. The treatment of the whites and the police had many of the Blacks in these

communities horrified. Most of their equality was taken away and their form of enjoyment, so

really they were not left with anything. The sorrow on this young man’s face represents the

feeling of the Black community during this time.

During the fall and winter months of 1954, Police Commissioner Francis W. H. Adams

planned to increase Harlem’s police force numbers, calling this “Operation 25.” He added 250

hundred more police officers in East Harlem to decrease the crime by 50%.

“On August 1 it was my unhappy duty to report to you on the stat of the crime in

this city. At that time I had to tell you that this community was on the verge of

becoming a city of violence and crime. I then reported for the first six months of

1954 there was an increase of about 11 percent in major crimes over the first half

of 1953. Now in November, I have the equally unpleasant duty of reporting to

you that the crime continues to rise…” (New York Times, 10)

Francis Adams’ speech broadcasted over the WCRA radio station and television November 28,

1954. The crimes of the Black community were beginning to become out of control, and these

crimes included: rape, murder, robbery, burglary, grand larceny, and auto theft. As a response,

Francis came up with the new objective thatwould spread over ten weeks (September 1, 1954 to

November 15, 1954) and turned out to be a success. The community’s crimes were indeed
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decreased by 50% and kept many of its citizens in line, due to the fear the officers put in their

hearts.

The Sweet Flypaper of Life catches many of Harlem’s lifestyles of the 1950s, like a fly

running into insect flypaper. The photos of DeCarava and the story of Hughes captured all the

poor of Harlem, the rough of Harlem, and the fun of Harlem. Among all of these different views,

the poverty of Harlem stuck out the most. The deficiency caused many things to go wrong in the

community, causing gangs, violence, and hardship. DeCarava’s photos show that the result of

everything that went on in the community caused everyone to suffer. African American kids

were abandoned and left alone in this cold world, standing on street corners with no one to hold

their hands. These children, for many years, watched Whites live the lavish life as a family,

which created a brutal character mentally. How can one be born into these circumstances make

something better of themselves? The blame cannot only be put on these Blacks for their actions.

Psychologically, the treatment of the white man has the majority of the censure for the instances

that occurred in Harlem during the 1950s.

Works Cited
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“Harlem.” Wikipedia. 8 Aug. 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem>.

Kihss, Peter. “Major Crimes Cut % By Enforced Police; Adam Widen Experiment.” New

York Times Nov. 1954: 1, 10.

Trussell, C.P. “$2,500 Tax Credit For Couple Asked; Return to That Figure Would Aid Low-

Income Families, Economic Inquiry Is Told.” New York Times Dec. 1949: 46.