Rebels of Black History: The Life and Legend of Madam Stephanie St. Clair

Описание: There’s always been a sweet dichotomy in Harlem—a balance, if you will. Harlem has long had the underbelly and the Talented Tenth, afro picks and press-and-curls. Riotous Saturday night sweating giving way to Sunday morning’s mothers hollering the Lord’s praises. As much as it’s known for Adam Clayton Powell, Malcolm X, and Langston Hughes, Harlem was also the home of Alpo, AZ, and Rich Porter; Bumpy Johnson and Frank Lucas.

But among these American gangsters—street legends when “hood famous” in this most famous ‘hood made you viral before there was such a thing—there was a matriarch, one who laid the foundation and taught her sons to be brilliant in life’s chess game, paving a way for an underground economy that moved many into the even more difficult-to-crack middle class. Yes, there were doctors, dentists, pastors, and lawyers on Strivers’ Row and in Sugar Hill, but more than a few numbers runners, ne’er-do-wells, bluesman and gangstas—their neighbors—were able to move their families out of poverty, too. You know, the American Dream.

Stephanie St. Clair, she of many names—Queenie, Madam Queen, Madam St. Clair, and Queen of the Policy Rackets—used her nerves of steel, mathematical acumen, self-made story, and street smarts, to become a boss, a fashion icon, a civil rights advocate, and a Harlem legend. And like Nanny of the Maroons, who was a fierce warrior who never bowed to her enemies, neither did Sister St. Clair, who gave as good as she got—if not better.