Introduction : history from the ground up
Two Harlems. Minstrel show ; Whites invade Harlem / Levi Hurbert
Lost manuscripts. Visible men : Eddie's bar ; Colonial Park ; Sweet the monkey ; The street / Ralph Ellison ; My people / Ralph Ellison and Clarence Weinstock ; Pluto / Dorothy West ; Rent parties ; Buffet flat ; Slick Reynolds / Frank Byrd ; Laundry workers ; Negro laundry workers / Vivian Morris.
Pushcarts, Thursday girls, and other workers. Afternoon in a pushcart peddlers' colony / Frank Byrd ; Street cries and criers / Frank Byrd and Terry Roth ; Homey the vegetable man / Frank Byrd ; Kingfish / Marion Charles Hatch ; Life in the Harlem markets ; The Harlem market ; Fatso the slickster, Pullman porters', and dining car folklore ; Fatso's mistake ; Chef Watkins's alibi ; Chef Sampson's icebox / Frank Byrd ; West Indies / Ellis Williams ; Worker's Alliance ; Laundry worker's choir ; Thursday girls ; Slave market ; Domestic Workers Union ; Domestic price wars / Vivian Morris ; Private life of Big Bess ; Betty / Frank Byrd ; Commercial enterprise ; Dancing girls ; Finger waves and Nu Life pomades / Vivian Morris.
Uptown gods, kings, and other spiritual entities. God was happy / Vivian Morris ; Peace in the kingdom / Frank Byrd ; Father Divine comes to Harlem / Levi Hurbert ; Emancipation / Frank Byrd ; Divine is Gawd / Herman Spector ; Temple of Grace / Dorothy West ; Deities and their Duesenbergs ; Holy and sanctified / Vivian Morris ; Obeah / Ellis Williams ; Conjure man / Vivian Morris ; Ghost story / Dorothy West.
People, places, and things. Amateur night at the Apollo / Dorothy West ; Almost made king / Vivian Morris ; Cocktail party / Dorothy West ; Cliff Webb and Billie Day / Frank Byrd ; Matt Henson retires / Theodore Poston ; Race Horse Row ; Harlem Hospital / Vivian Morris ; Angelo Herndon / Theodore Poston ; Swing clubs / Vivian Morris.
