--- title: Harlem Street Life: Photos From the 1930s description: LIFE's Hansel Mieth captured the spirit of Harlem in the 1930s by training her lens on life in the street. canonical: https://time.com/4206723/photos-harlem-street-life-1930s/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-24T17:10:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:28.542Z og:title: See Striking Photos of Harlem Street Life in the 1930s og:description: LIFE's Hansel Mieth captured the spirit of Harlem in the 1930s by training her lens on life in the street. og:url: https://time.com/4206723/photos-harlem-street-life-1930s/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt771d0f3674f5bddd/69887bff428a9e4cf0cd13c7/160203-harlem-black-history-month-09.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: Harlem 1938 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Striking Photos of Harlem Street Life in the 1930s twitter:description: LIFE's Hansel Mieth captured the spirit of Harlem in the 1930s by training her lens on life in the street. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt771d0f3674f5bddd/69887bff428a9e4cf0cd13c7/160203-harlem-black-history-month-09.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Striking Photos of Harlem Street Life in the 1930s > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Twice a week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters.  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Feb 24, 2016 5:10 PM UTC  Children on a Harlem street, 1938. Children on a Harlem street, 1938. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Feb 24, 2016 5:10 PM UTC By the late 1930s, Harlem was a bustling cultural center, home to two thirds of New York City’s African-American population. The Harlem Renaissance, a robust period of literary and artistic expression, had helped put the neighborhood on the map, and a walk through its streets revealed stately houses of worship like the Abyssinian Baptist Church, a thriving music scene centered around the newly-minted Apollo Theater and esteemed institutions like the _Amsterdam News_. But as much as energy poured from behind those establishments’ doors, life was just as vibrant, if not more so, on the streets directly outside them—and that is exactly where LIFE’s Hansel Mieth took her camera while on assignment for the magazine in 1938\. Mieth, whose photos of the neighborhood mostly ended up on the cutting-room floor for a sweeping story called “[Negroes](https://books.google.com/books?id=hE0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA58&dq=langston+hughes&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirnJqhzs%5FKAhUMHD4KHYGoDSkQ6AEIKTAD#v=onepage&q=negroes&f=false),” photographed boys watching grown men play checkers while women watched from second-floor windows. She trained her lens on moments both quiet and kinetic—women examining a fruit seller’s wares on the sidewalk, children marching in stride in local parades—to capture the spirit of a place in time.  A young girl walks down the street in Harlem, 1938. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Two boys play-fight while other children look on, Harlem, 1938. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Young boys talk over the day's news, Harlem, 1938. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Boys play a makeshift game of pool on a Harlem street, 1938. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A citrus stand is set up on a Harlem street, 1938. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A musician takes a break between songs, Harlem, 1938. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Men face off in stiff competition as boys look on, Harlem, 1938. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Harlem residents look on at an event taking place just outside the frame, 1938. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Children on a Harlem street, 1938. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Children march in a local parade in Harlem, 1938. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Three young boys hold hands, Harlem, 1938. 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