For this week’s blog post, I analyzed the Digital Harlem mapping project, a collaborative research project in efforts to represent everyday life in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood in the years 1915-1930. The information is drawn from legal records, newspapers and other archival and published sources, particularly from the District Attorney’s Closed Case Files, Probation Department Case Files, Newspapers, Committee of Fourteen Papers, and W.P.A. Writers Program Collection. The map included a search function, allowing one to narrow down the results based upon type of event, date, charge/conviction, birthplace and occupation of the participant, race, gender, surname of participant, street, and location type.
It is interesting to note how the project creators claim, “Unlike most studies of Harlem in the early twentieth century, this project focuses not on black artists and the black middle class, but on the lives of ordinary African New Yorkers.” To me, this emphasis on the ordinary, everyday life was not accurately depicted because police arrests and newspapers only depict the out of the ordinary. Rarely do newspapers cover a family eating supper, but rather report on big events or rare circumstances. Similarly, altercations with law enforcement is anything but the norm. Additionally, these records are all based on state ontology and perspectives rather than the community. During a time when racial divides were so heightened, it is likely that those working in powerful positions for the media and law enforcement were not African. Additionally, the map included the option to search by surname since the sources constitute of public records; however, having one’s name in a searchable public record is anything but reflective of ordinary, and everyday life.
Hence, all aspects of this project to me, seemed more like a state ontology rather than a community one. I would change the sources of this map or create a more balanced picture by obtaining interviews from arrestees, family stories and records, jobs and economic activity, plays, music, etc. The more variety of sources, the more accurate the picture can be. As David Turnbull mentioned in his article, maps are always selective and the mapmaker determines what is, and equally importantly, what is not included in the representation. This Digital Harlem map, while a useful tool, provides an inaccurate representation of everyday life in 1915-1930 Harlem. The map reveals only those who have had interactions with law or media entities, and are documented in public record, and obscures the truth by claiming this represents all of Harlem.