“ WHAT’S HAPPENING IN HARLEM? “ 1949 EFFECTS OF GREAT MIGRATION IN NEW YORK, POLICE ABUSE XD81355

Join this channel to get access to perks: Want to learn more about Periscope Film and get access to exclusive swag? Join us on Patreon. Visit Visit our website This 1949 film “What’s Happening in Harlem?” was produced by the Communist Party USA as a sort of campaign film for council member Benjamin Davis. (Davis was one of the few communists ever to hold city office in New York. Later the same year the film was made, Smith was prosecuted for violating the Smith Act and sentenced to five years in prison.) “What’s Happening in Harlem?“ is a hard-hitting political short that discusses the economic exploitation of and police violence against African American and Puerto Rican residents of Harlem. The film depicts the ongoing effects of the second wave of the Great Migration. This print is incomplete, and it’s unclear how much of the film is missing -- but it seems likely it was originally 11 minutes long. Harlem apartment tenement buildings (0:09). Residents go about their daily lives while surrounded by run-down conditions that some might characterize as a ghetto (0:16). Police lead horses down the street (0:21). Children playing in the alley way (0:47). African American mother caring for her children (0:57). Smiling black baby (1:12). Room displaying poor living standards with black triplet babies (1:17). Five black boys sleeping in the same small bed (1:50). Black girl enters a bathroom in poor condition (1:55). Man reads the paper while sitting outside of his window (2:02). White man, presumably a landlord, struts about the streets and collects money from black tenants (2:07). Tenement building that housed more than 100 people in late 1940s Harlem burns down (2:23). High-pressured water treats the fire (2:30). Luxurious new buildings in Manhattan with fountains in front (2:36). White children playing in the fountains (2:47). African American children playing in building scraps (2:55). Cop rides a horse down the street (3:00). Butcher storefront with ham displayed and black children reflected in the glass (3:04). Close up of meat and its price (3:11). Black woman carrying a paper bag out of the butcher (3:13). Empire restaurant / diner sign shown, along with a sign advertising a 95¢ special (3:16). Cops from the 28th Precinct patrol the streets in their Chrysler Corporation Plymouth radio cars (3:25). Men put their feet up and rest on a city street (3:33). Children / teenagers sit in shambles (3:36). Advertisement for Chevrolet, depicting white upper-class people sitting in a car’s back seat (3:41). African Americans lined up in front of a storefront called “Checks 290 Cash,” waiting for relief / welfare checks (3:50). Sign for Manufacturers Trust Company (4:09). Storefront of Corn Exchange Bank (4:12). Police officer walks alongside white woman (4:14). Chrysler Corporation Plymouth radio cars (4:20). Close up on Lexington Ave. E. 109 St sign that points out the direction to the police department (4:23). Puerto Rican Travel Agency (Agencia De Pasajes) storefront (4:24). La Placita Productos Tropicales sign (4:29). Nice car passing in front of people loitering on a street corner (4:34). Puerto Rican / Latin American women and children (4:37). Multi-racial protest calling for equal rights for all Americans (4:46). Sign featuring A&P grocery store (4:51). Woman carrying groceries in front of a protest (4:52). Series of signs protesting the A&P store: sign calling for the rights of Italian Americans (4:58), sign in Spanish (5:00), sign calling A&P a “Jim Crow store” (5:02), series of signs in Spanish (5:08). Cops standing and riding horses down the street (5:12). Black young men and boys playing checkers in front of a building entrance (5:22). Cop scolds the young men for loitering and points to a sign that says private property (5:33). Cop violently interrupts the checkers game and physically forces the young men to move (5:57). Man speaks about the cops’ murder of Mr. Bernice Barber, a black man, in the neighborhood of 122nd St and Lexington Ave. (6:00). Mr. Barber’s aunt speaks about the killing of her nephew (6:49). Photo of the widow and children of Richard T. Brown, another black man who was murdered by the police (7:10). Interview with Joseph Bogman as well as his friend, Joe Jackson, and wife about his encounter with police brutality (7:19). New York Amsterdam News newspaper (8:08). Series of cartoons featuring wealthy bankers and capitalists (8:32). White landlord writes a check (8:38). Photo of politician Earl Brown (9:18). Series of scenes with multi-racial working people (9:29). This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit