In 1986 the Annals of the Association of American Geographers journal article entitled “The Gentrification of Harlem?” writers Richard Schaffer and Neil Smith, discuss the reasons for Harlem gentrifying and explain the issues and effects of gentrifying a poor neighborhood. The Harlem gentrification “process usually occurs in working class areas where the housing stock has been devalued through disinvestment.” Developers find an advantage of buying property in the poor working-class areas since the residents lack money to be able to fight for their homes. They target families who live in poor neighborhoods because it will be a cheap investment that results in big profit. Harlem’s location is another reason for its gentrification; “the location of the neighborhood has become increasingly prized and therefore more highly priced, making gentrification a profitable option.” Gentrification in Harlem started because of its location, surrounded by main large train stations and bus routes, Harlem was just the right place to make popular. Investing in property in Harlem was good for developers because they knew all of Harlem is gentrifying, so they will make a lot of profit from the incoming new demographic and social status. Despite gaining property and money from redevelopment, many residents of Harlem are being affected negatively as a result of gentrification. “as many as 23 percent of departing residents in gentrifying neighborhoods are displaced… 500,000 families are displaced annually from their homes…” This has become a big problem since many families are left homeless, unemployed, unable to provide for their children. Families start to worry how they will fit into the new standards of Harlem; they worry if they even have a place there at all. 

While the last article explains the reasons for Harlem being the hot spot for gentrification and the effects of gentrifying a poor neighborhood, the Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development, journal article “Changing Places: Race, Class, And Belonging in The “New” Harlem” focusses on the impact of gentrification in Central and West Harlem. The author Sabiyha Robin Prince identifies significant people who play a key role in gentrification, examining social relations among black residents and discusses how they cope with social and racial inequalities of the new gentrified Harlem. As Prince showed in their study of the gentrified neighborhood, the new residents are not taking part in community matters. “Some PMW were dissatisfied with the community relations status quo and encouraged newcomers to attend local meeting and support grassroots events.” As the demographic of Harlem was changing and there was an incoming of many new tenants in Harlem, the residents outline that these newcomers are not aware of the community traditions and customs, as a result there ends up being broken traditions and a new community. Although the remaining old residents of Harlem still cared for their home and scheduled meetings to talk about benefits and improvements for the people living in the community, the new residents of Harlem are not alert on the things going on in their community. The incoming residents are focused on their social life and their work. This changes the social dynamic of Harlem because not many people are interested in getting to know each other, they are just strangers living in the same area. “There is also a plethora of new businesses that have emerged, including commercial chains more readily associated with upscale addresses and suburban strip malls more so than with predominately black, urban communities.” There is an increase of whites in Harlem who create a chain reaction which has a big effect on the residents of Harlem because it brings in the more wealthier class people. This ends up changing the prices and cost of Harlem. Harlem transforms from being low class to being middle to high income class. 

The previous article gave insight on how residents are personally being affected by the changes of the social status in their communities and how the incoming new demographic changes the cost in their neighborhood. The University of California Press published a book, “The Tenants of East Harlem,” by Russell Leigh Sharman, on seven residents who live in the many parts of Harlem, what they think of gentrification in their neighborhood and their take on gentrification. One such individual, Lucille, is an African American who lives on 125^th Street. Lucielle talks about the incoming immigrants that are changing the social status and overall demographic of East Harlem. Immigrants play a crucial factor on gentrifying Harlem because new immigrants mean the need for new residential buildings, more employment, and an increase of people who are their friends or families. This changes the social status of Harlem and causes big developers and businesses to increase rent and prices due to the influx of new people. “Walking down the wide thoroughfare of 116^th Street past Park, Lexington, Third, Second Avenues, Lucielle could see the storefronts and skin tones change with each passing intersection.” Lucielle describes that even though she had lived in Harlem for many years before gentrification, Harlem was changing, it was becoming a place where African Americans needed to work and fight for their home, if not they were displaced. Lucielle makes it prominent that previous residents were not welcomed to stay in Harlem, they were either bought out or forced out if they did not fit into the new status quo of Harlem.  

As the last article gives Lucielle’s insight of gentrification and the difference she saw as Harlem changed, the Social Science & Medicine, “A Tale of Two Harlems: Gentrification, Social Capital, and Implications for Aging in Place” journal article by Versey, H. Shellae, gives a specific field research done which explores social capital in a gentrifying community to better understand the effects of rapid neighborhood change on older, African American adults. “Research shows that ethnic-minority neighborhoods with strong social capital provide a sense of belonging, solidarity and trust, creating a more nuanced assessment of how social capital, race, and sense of community intersect”. As gentrification becomes more prominent in Harlem, there are social divides among the younger generation and the older generations that lived there before-gentrification. In interviews with African American senior residents who have witnessed firsthand the changes of population and race in Harlem, residents that are ‘staying put’ in a gentrifying neighborhood are concerned about shifting racial dynamics of the neighborhood, disruption of social ties, lack of intergenerational social cohesion and lack of social spaces for older adults, revealing a complex narrative of the network consequences of neighborhood change. 

The articles chosen for this study shows multiple perspectives of the changes due to the gentrification of Harlem. The articles give insight on specific residents who believe that the gentrification of Harlem has affected the community negatively. These articles allow further information to my research as it gives first person point of view interviews from tenants living in Harlem who witnessed gentrification in their neighborhood from start to finish. These articles go on to talk about how gentrification has affected a resident’s neighborhood and how residents are displaced due to high demands of housing and businesses in Harlem. Residents say that new businesses and residential areas create a chain reaction where once one store rises their prices due to incoming wealthier class, many other stores and property owners follow. The influx of rent prices and food prices drives out older poorer residents since they are not able to keep up with the new standards of Harlem. Along with inflation, the social status and demographic of the community changes, the new businesses and houses brings in wealthier whites who can afford living in this area, the new residents shake up the old social status of the neighborhood. All these articles used together help gather an appropriate amount of information that is not one sided or biased. Although these articles provide a lot of information, research is being done on what exactly gentrification does to tenants and how government officials are working to help the residents that are being displaced.