Why a Booktrail?
1920s: A journey back to a time still remembered as a peak of American glamour.
A Death in Harlem
What you need to know before your trail
Taking as her point of departure the tantalizingly ambiguous “death by misadventure” at the climax of Nella Larsen’s 1929 best-selling novel Passing, Holloway takes readers back to the sunlit boulevards and shaded side streets of Jazz Age New York. A murder there will test the mettle, resourcefulness, and intuition of Harlem’s first “colored” policeman, Weldon Haynie Thomas.Clear glass towers rising in Manhattan belie a city where people are often not what they seem. For some here, identity is a performance of passing–passing for another race, for another class, for someone safe to trust. Thomas’s investigation illuminates the societies and secret societies, the intricate code of manners, the world of letters, and the broad social currents of 1920s Harlem.
Travel Guide
Travel BookTrail style through 1920s Harlem
This is a real treat and guide for fans of wandering through neighbourhoods in days gone by. This is a fascinating insight into Harlem in the 1920s. The area was a not just an area of New York but a community of African American people. Black culture, society and problems are well described and the nuances and stratification of Harlem society are key themes of the novel.
Some landmarks:
The Theresa Hotel
This is a landmark in the city today and was a vibrant center of African American life back in the 1920s when the book is set. Important figures such as Fidel Castro and JFK came to the hotel for shelter and support amongst the African community. The hotel suffered from the continued deterioration of Harlem through the 1950s and 1960s, and, ironically, from the end of segregation elsewhere in the city. It finally closed in 1967.
The National Jazz Museum in Harlem
All the themes of the book in the iconic museum! Tiny Harlem museum illustrating the history of jazz via photographs, recordings & listening parties. Much of the novel is infused with jazz so this is a good place to start booktrailing!
There are renowned figures here such as Zora Neale Hudson and the novel by Nella Larsen ‘ Passing’ was a major inspiration. Characters from this novel have been reimagined and the story made more complex. The result is a step back in time to a fascinating period of American history.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: A Death in Harlem
Destination: NYC, Harlem Author/guide: Karla Holloway Departure Time: 1920s
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