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“The Weary Blues” takes place in Harlem, a historically Black neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. Although it isn’t entirely clear where the speaker is in the present moment, he’s recalling a significant experience he had the previous night at a nearby nightclub. The speaker doesn’t name the specific nightclub, but he does say it was located on Lenox Avenue (now also known as Malcolm X Avenue). What’s most significant about the unnamed nightclub is that it provides a haven for Harlem’s Black community. The establishment is probably Black-owned with a majority-Black clientele. Having access to such an establishment is tremendously valuable for the speaker. Indeed, he seems to have a profoundly transformative experience listening to the music being performed there. In addition to providing a public gathering space for the Harlem community, this nightclub represents one of many that helped foster emerging Black musical forms. Along with other forms of jazz music, the blues might not have developed in the way they did without nightclubs like the one the speaker visited. Therefore, as a center of the emerging Black musical tradition, the nightclub represents a key site of the Harlem Renaissance.

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