Programs A Tour of Harlem with Dr. Boukary Sawadogo

Tours will be available on Fridays and Saturdays from 11:30AM – 1:00PM  

May 27th thru September 2, 2023

Adults $35 + fees | Youth (0-14) $25 + fees | IDNYC Card Holders $20+fees

Please join us for a guided walking tour conducted and narrated by Professor Boukary Sawadogo on the historical and contemporary African presence. These are in-person encounters and exchanges between Africa and the Black diasporas which are taking place after centuries of separation, as the mostly French-speaking West African immigrants started moving en-masse to the neighborhood in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As a result, African immigrant communities grew in Harlem, contributing to a change of the economic and cultural landscape of the historically Black neighborhood. The guided tour begins at The Africa Center and takes visitors to Central Harlem’s residential and commercial areas with historically and culturally significant African presence landmarks or venues.

Dr. Boukary Sawadogo is an Associate Professor of Cinema Studies and Black Studies at the City University of New York’s City College and CUNY Graduate Center. As a specialist in African cinemas, he has published extensively through film reviews, articles, book chapters, and three books. Since 2020, he is the founding director of Harlem African Animation Festival. In addition to African film and media industries, Sawadogo’s work has been widening in scope and depth to include a study of the African diaspora and immigration. A particular focus is placed on African immigrant communities in the United States, as evidenced by his most recent book Africans in Harlem: An Untold New York Story (2022) and documentary film Salut Y’all: African Teachers on the Bayou (2013).