In his review of Mark Whitaker’s “Smoketown” (Books, March 10), Gerald Early praises the extraordinary cultural achievements of both Pittsburgh’s “Smoketown” and New York’s Harlem. But did the emphasis on culture come at the expense of economic development within the black community? In 1992 the prominent black historian David Levering Lewis thought that Harlem’s African-American leaders neglected business in favor of the arts. In his comparison of the black and Jewish experience, he identified neglect: “Unlike their Jewish...

Source: Wall Street Journal March 25, 2018 19:18 UTC