Ruby Dee in 1972
New York City Trivia
New York Metro Area has 21 million residents and 3.3 million people of African descent.
New York City metro area has one of the world’s largest combined Metro Railand Commuter Rail systems in terms of mileage and passengers.
New York City has America’s busiest intercity train station and two of its busiest airports.
New York City is the #1 destination for international travelers to America.
Harlem is the most popular stop for European and Japanese tourists in New York.
Manhattan has 2 million residents in only 125 square miles. It swells to a workday population of 4 million. As a result, New York City is the “world’s largest, densest, and busiest city” in these categories:
• Largest live theatre district
• Largest concentration of office and residential skyscrapers
• Most award-winning architecture
• Largest and densest collection of retail stores
• Largest and densest collection of performing arts centers and art galleries
• Largest and densest collection of restaurants
• Most award-winning newspaper, magazine, and book publishers
Lower Manhattan, also called Downtown, is the largest financial center in the world. Including Wall Street, it contains headquarters for more than 70 companies on the Fortune 500.
Famous Residents
Persons born in New York Metro Area or made their mark here:
Malcolm X – Black intellectual and human rights leader
A. Philip Randolph – organizer of the 1963 March on Washington
W.E.B. Du Bois – Black intellectual
Marcus Garvey – Black nationalist and activist
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr – minister, U.S. Representative and Civil Rights activist
Duke Ellington – composer and bandleader
David Dinkins – 1st black mayor of New York
Sidney Poitier – Broadway and Hollywood actor and movie director
Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis – Broadway and Hollywood actors
Sylvia Porter – Harlem restauranteur
Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) – rapper, record producer & entrepreneur
Rev. Al Sharpton – political activist and presidential candidate
Rev. Calvin Butts – minister and community activist
Rev. Wyatt T. Walker – minister and Civil Rights activist
Billy Strayhorn – composer and jazz musician
Billie Holiday – First Lady of Jazz
Alicia Keyes – vocalist and pianist
Arturo Schomburg – librarian of Black History
Luther Vandross – R&B singer
Charles Rangel – U.S. Representative
James Van Der Zee – photographer
James Weldon Johnson – composer of the Negro National Anthem
Percy Sutton – radio magnate
Millie Jackson – singer
Walt Frazier – basketball player
Susan Taylor – magazine editor
Earl Graves – Black Enterprise magazine founder
Arthur Mitchell – dance troupe founder
Alvin Ailey – dance troupe founder
Althea Gibson – the first black tennis champion in the world
Frank Silvera – founder of the writer’s workshop
Augusta Savage – sculptor
Romare Beardon – visual artist
Amiri Baraka – writer and social critic
Paul Robeson – human rights activist, athlete, vocalist, lawyer, Broadway & Hollywood actor, spoke 7 languages
Kenneth Gibson – 1st black mayor of Newark
Whitney Houston – vocalist
Sarah Vaughn – vocalist
Savion Glover – Tap dance king and Broadway performer
Queen Latifah – actor, Hip-Hop performer and entrepreneur
Isley Brothers – vocalists active from the 1950s-2010s
Count Basie – jazz band leader
