That black lives matter was well known in America in 1964. One July 59 years ago, a white police officer shot and killed a 15-year-old black boy, James Powell, in Harlem, New York. The neighbors of the neighborhood took to the streets to protest and serious disturbances occurred. Amid the chaos and looting on 125th Street, no one touched a single glass of the Apollo Theater. That place was sacred: it had been a temple for the African-American community, local and nationwide, for decades. And it remains so today.
The documentary The Apollo Theatre on HBO Max, by director Roger Ross Williams, is not a story of the most mythical place in Harlem, nor is it even a story of Harlem; It is the story of 85 years of struggle of black citizens for the recognition of their dignity through everything that happened in a room with 1,600 seats. From there, a vibrant cultural scene was projected throughout the United States and the entire world, and that began in the harshest years of racial segregation. The theater had been built in 1913, and functioned as a cabaret for whites until in 1934 it became one of the few non-segregated spaces in the city. Those were the years of what was called the Harlem Renaissance.
From this oasis of freedom and creativity emerged great figures of music (jazz, soul, blues, rock and roll, rap, hip-hop), comedy, vaudeville, dance or poetry. And through that art the conscience of a people whose grandparents came out of slavery and who continued to suffer discrimination was strengthened. In the talent contests of this place (the Amateur Nights are still held every Wednesday) Ella Fitzgerald appeared with 17 years in 1934; three decades later Jimi Hendrix would win his with 21. Here James Brown uttered the motto "I am black and I am proud", here he performed about 200 times and here his body was veiled after his death in 2006. Here Billie Holiday sang the disturbing song Strange Fruit, which denounced the lynchings of black men. Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles stayed here many nights. Motown artists stopped here whenever they could: Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, The Miracles... Here Michael Jackson had acted as a child; Here he was also veiled after his death in 2009. The glory days are behind us, but the shows of Jay-Z, Pharrell Williams, Alicia Keys or Bruno Mars are still recent.
Williams (the first African-American to win an Oscar as a director, in 2009 for the documentary Music by Prudence) insists on drawing that parallel between the awareness of the black population and the magic of the place where they best expressed their artistic ambition. He opens and closes the footage with testimonies from relatives of victims of police brutality, a problem entrenched until today, to make it clear that the struggle is not over. And he dedicates a good part of the footage to explaining what life was like in a country segregated by races according to laws in force until the mid-sixties: we see that even the stars of the show were banned from hotels, restaurants, elevators.
We follow the evolution of the neighborhood, its rise as a cultural focus and its decline in the last seventies, hard years in New York, when the place closes for the first time. Then, as the Big Apple's cultural scene developed, the Apollo became less profitable: it had few seats to compete with larger venues. But the neighborhood clung to its myth and continued to attract the best artists in the country (not only blacks: its lineup featured U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Guns N'Roses, George Michael or Bruce Springsteen). It ended up protected by the State of New York through a foundation and remains open today. More as a talent pool than as a magnet for the stars.
The film, from 2019, invites us to reflect on how what they call identity is constructed. It is not enough to share problems, or a skin color, or a tragic past. The Apollo Theater is a hymn to how much it matters to make community to have spaces of culture and leisure where one feels part of something bigger that includes, welcomes and embraces you. What has happened at Apollo for nearly 90 years not only defined African-rooted North America: it still defines an entire country. And, to a large extent, to universal culture.
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