Harlem Cultural Festival
The Harlem Cultural Festival was a series of music concerts held in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City during the summer of 1969 to celebrate African American music and culture and to promote the continued politics of black pride. Notable participants included Nina Simone, B.B. King,, Chuck Jackson, Abbey Lincoln & Max Roach, The 5th Dimension, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, and Moms Mabley, among many others. For the concert featuring Sly and the Family Stone on June 29, 1969, the New York City Police Department refused to provide security, and it was instead provided by members of the Black Panther Party.
Producer Hal Tulchin filmed the full concert series, though the majority of this film remains commercially unreleased. New York's affiliate television station WNEW Metromedia Channel 5 broadcast hour-long specials of the footage on Saturday evenings at 10:30 PM in June–August 1969. The festival was hosted and promoted by Tony Lawrence, a New York night club singer. The concerts took place in Harlem's Mount Morris Park on Sundays at 3 PM from June 29 to August 24, 1969. Sponsors included Maxwell House Coffee, and the Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs Division of the City of New York.
The series had a combined attendance reaching nearly 300,000.
A 50th Year Anniversary celebration of the Harlem Cultural Festival took place August 14–17 in Harlem, hosted by Future x Sounds and City Parks Foundation Summerstage. The event featured musical performances by Talib Kweli, Cory Henry, Alice Smith, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Keyon Harrold, Braxton Cook, Freddie Stone, George "Spanky" McCurdy, Nate Jones On Bass, and was musically directed by Igmar Thomas. The event also featured conversations with Jamal Joseph, Felipe Luciano, Gale Brewer, Toni Blackman, Juma Sultan, Voza Rivers, among many others at Harlem Stage and the Schomburg.
In 2019, it was announced in numerous outlets that Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson would make his directorial debut with “Black Woodstock,” a feature documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival.
