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In February 2021, Into America launched Harlem on My Mind, a series that followed four figures from the Harlem Renaissance who defined Blackness for themselves and what it means to be Black in America today.

The story began in December 2020, when host Trymaine Lee acquired something he coveted for years: a numbered print titled Schomburg Library by American icon Jacob Lawrence. The print came with a handwritten dedication to a man named Abram Hill. Who was Abram Hill? How did he know Jacob Lawrence? Did their paths cross at the famed Schomburg Library?

What followed was a journey of discovery, through conversations with friends, historians and experts, to understand the interconnected lives of Black creators in and around the Harlem Renaissance. And it started with Jacob Lawrence, a child of the Great Migration who was nurtured by the great artists and ideas of the period. Two women who knew Lawrence well, art historian Dr. Leslie King-Hammond and artist Barbara Earl Thomas, reflected on his life, death and contributions to Black culture.

As Into America gears up for our 2022 Black History series, Reconstructed – a look at the legacy of the Reconstruction era –we wanted to revisit Harlem on My Mind and share it with you again. 

Special thanks to the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. 

(Original release date: February 4, 2021)

Further Listening:

• Harlem on My Mind: Jacob Lawrence
• Harlem on My Mind: Arturo Schomburg
• Harlem on My Mind: Jessie Redmon Fauset
• Harlem on My Mind: Abram Hill

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