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Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance vs. Wikipedia
I was source hunting today for Wikipedia, and came across a stunning omission from a printed reference work.
I was reading about the Harlem Renaissance and came across the story of the Afro-American Realty Company. This was set up in June 1904 to buy property in New York City, specifically Harlem, and to then rent it to black people and businesses. They got into a “race war” with another property development company called the Hudson Realty Company. Anyway, I was source hunting through the Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance, a 2004 publication by Routledge, and was reading their description of this.
Then I read Wikipedia.
Wikipedia says this:
It was not as successful as some stockholders had anticipated, though, and in October 1906, 35 of them brought a lawsuit, charging that the prospectus was fraudulent and overstated the company holdings when it was issued.
This sentence has a source pointing to a October 27, 1906 New York Times article which backs up the statement in the article. (Incidentally, by today’s standards, the language of the NYT story is incredibly racist with lines about how the Afro-American Realty Company was buying and leasing properties “in half a dozen different neighborhoods not previously invaded by colored tenants” etc.)
What does the Routledge encyclopedia entry say on page six?
Payton had trouble managing his own riches, and he dissolved Afro-American Realty in 1908, but opportunities for black migrants to Harlem continued after his company ceased operations.
No mention at all is made of the lawsuit brought against Payton by his shareholders.
That’s a fairly glaring omission.
