ABSTRACT
Virtual Harlem is a virtual reality cityscape of Harlem, New York, in the 1930s. It was designed by Bryan Carter at the University of Missouri to accompany his courses on the literary works produced during the Harlem Renaissance, an important period of African American cultural history.1 Carter’s idea was that students would more fully understand the literature of the Harlem Renaissance if they were able to experience the cultural setting in which its writers lived. In the 1920s and 30s Harlem was a cultural center that attracted musicians, painters, novelists, poets, and intellectuals who constituted the New Negro movement, more familiarly known as the Harlem Renaissance. The New York City neighborhood was bordered on the west by St. Nicholas Avenue and stretched east to the Harlem River. It was bordered on the south by 114th street and stretched north to 156th street. Within these two square miles, numerous cafes, theatres, clubs, bookstores, churches, stores, and bars were located amid residences. Virtual Harlem, on the other hand, has only ten blocks but features the more famous buildings, in many instances sometimes locating them out of their historical places (Figure 11.1).
