Slappy On The Savoy

Ninety-one-year-old Harold Slappy remembers Saturday nights in Harlem dancing to Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. Here’s what he says about his evenings as a youth at the legendary Savoy Ballroom:

Click to hear Slappy's story [MP3, 1:18 minutes]

Slappy and his friend Monica recorded this story through StoryCorps, a national project that documents individuals’ personal histories and stories. The StoryCorps booth, located in New York's Grand Central Station, is a small studio where anyone can go to record their story and have it archived in the Library of Congress.

As Harlem residents question how the neighborhood will maintain its history in the midst of change, I thought Slappy's recording provides but one interesting answer.