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The original period caption identifies Lawrence as host of the festival, which was presented at Mount Morris Park in Harlem with the cooperation of the City of New York Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Administration and sponsorship from Maxwell House, a division of General Foods Corporation.
Official New York City records confirm that the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival was held over six Sundays from June 29 through August 24, 1969, with Tony Lawrence serving as producer and director. Maxwell House sponsored the festival and helped bring two one-hour television specials to viewers in New York and major cities across the country.
The festival featured an extraordinary lineup of Black musical talent, including Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, B.B. King, Gladys Knight & the Pips, David Ruffin, Mahalia Jackson, the Staple Singers, Hugh Masekela and others.
Decades later, surviving footage from the festival became the basis of the acclaimed documentary Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), bringing renewed attention to the event and Tony Lawrence\'s role in creating it.
This photograph is an excellent original piece of African American music history, Black cultural history, Harlem history, Civil Rights-era entertainment, and 1960s New York history.
The original caption remains attached to the reverse and directly identifies the subject and event.
