Harlem Cultural Festival
harlem cultural festival series event mainly music concert held annually harlem manhattan new york city celebrated soul jazz gospel black music culture promoted black pride successful series concert became known informally black woodstock presented documentary film summer soul although event filmed hal tulchin festival difficulty gaining publicity partially due lack interest television network felt would little benefit broadcasting filmed stored basement hidden history decade event took place around time woodstock festival may drawn medium attention away harlem harlem cultural festival first proposed bring life harlem neighborhood time mids nightclub singer tony lawrence began working community initiative harlem initially local church working new york city mayor john lindsay park commissioner august heckscher lawrence helped set first harlem cultural festival series free event held across harlem included harlem hollywood night boxing demonstration fashion show gokart grand prix first miss harlem contest concert featuring soul gospel calypso puerto rican music second annual festival included series music concert featuring high profile figure including count basie bobby blue bland tito puente mahalia jackson filmed documentary maker hal tulchin excerpt broadcast wnewtv new york lawrence also hosted directed festival held mount morris park sunday pm june august sponsor included maxwell house coffee park recreation cultural affair division city new york later separated park recreation cultural affair lawrence secured wide range performer including nina simone bb king sly family stone chuck jackson abbey lincoln max roach th dimension david ruffin hugh masakela gladys knight pip stevie wonder mahalia jackson mongo santamaria ray barretto mom mabley among many others woodstock rock festival also took place august harlem festival became known informally black woodstock festival also involved participation community activist civic leader including jesse jackson series six free concert combined attendance nearly concert featuring sly family stone june new york city police department nypd refused provide security instead provided member black panther party film maker hal tulchin used five portable video camera record hour footage festival although majority video remains commercially unreleased cbs broadcast onehour special july featuring th dimension chamber brother max roach abbey lincoln second hourlong special followed september abc featuring mahalia jackson staple singer reverend jesse jackson five tv special announced time appear broadcast several attempt made turn hal tulchins video television special film including one tulchin another ended funding ran period tulchin named project black woodstock hope gaining interest announced numerous outlet ahmir questlove thompson would make directorial debut summer soul revolution could televised feature documentary harlem cultural festival questloves film released july theater hulu critical acclaim according metacritic assigned weighted average score based critic film received universal acclaim march summer soul best documentary award th academy award th year anniversary celebration harlem cultural festival took place august – harlem hosted future x sound city park foundation summerstage event featured musical performance talib kweli cory henry alice smith georgia anne muldrow keyon harrold braxton cook freddie stone performed original event george spanky mccurdy nate jones bass curated coproduced neal ludevig musically directed igmar thomas event also featured conversation jamal joseph felipe luciano gale brewer toni blackman juma sultan voza river among many others harlem stage schomburg tony lawrence made plan festival aiming turn harlem festival international touring enterprise made recording aimed promoting festival however shortage funding meant plan failed materialize lawrence made series allegation amsterdam news two former legal business partner claiming financial irregularity took legal action fraud also claimed attempt made life remained threat mafia amsterdam news noted lawrence claim unsubstantiated urging shirley chisholm charles rangel legal action dropped lawrence also made claim tulchin ownership recording attempted set film company uganda production lawrence attempted organize smaller version harlem cultural festival set international harlem cultural festival plan proceed list historic rock festival list festival united state list blue festival park recreation harlem crossroad summer poverty race poverty race research action council june black woodstock imdb summer soul revolution could televised imdb image festival poster select video footage