Word: abyssinians
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...Louis stayed at the Hotel Theresa (today an office building). Nor is Harlem what it may become in a looming decade of gentrification and white encroachment. But it is, at its best, a community that radiates warmth to outsiders who dare to embrace it. During Sunday service at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, Pastor Samuel Proctor greets white visitors (including chicken mogul Frank Perdue) to his congregation and asks if there are any from foreign lands. The roll call is impressive: a dozen countries, including the Netherlands. "The Netherlands!" booms Dr. Proctor. "That's where old Haarlem is. Well, friends, welcome...
...Harlem events are sacred to born-again visitors: Amateur Nights on Wednesdays and church on Sundays. Book a table for Sunday brunch at Sylvia's, Harlem's friendliest eatery. But first, for God's sake, go to the Abyssinian Baptist Church. The pioneer architect Charles W. Bolton designed the church as an amphitheater, and for good reason: its pastor was the spell-weaving Adam Clayton Powell Sr. His son won even more fame, first as a preacher there, then as Harlem's first black Congressman. The bold spirits of both men inform the place...
...Abyssinian congregation makes every timid white sojourner feel serenely at home. At the service's end, one parishioner approached a visitor, extended his hand and said, "Thank you for joining us. Won't you come again?" It is an invitation no "foreigner" could refuse, after a trip uptown that he began in fear and skepticism and ended by believing the unbelievable. "Harlem," he says, invoking Duke Ellington, "I love you madly...
...place does have crack houses, and whole blocks look postnuclear, but black Harlem is still a great place to visit. Beautiful old homes stand spiffily on Strivers' Row, the Apollo Theater percolates with Amateur Night every Wednesday, and churches like Abyssinian Baptist can renew the spirit of even the most jaded tourist...
...Axelrod last week after approving a New York City plan to fight AIDS by providing drug addicts with sterile needles. The controversial program, which could begin as early as this spring, has sparked vehement protests from law-enforcement agents, clergymen and politicians. Says the Rev. Calvin Butts of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem: "To distribute needles is to cooperate with evil. It is a step to legitimatizing heroin...