The Harlem Charade

On a January evening in 1969, 10 paintings were vandalized at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the letter “H” (which presumably stood for Harlem) scratched onto the surface of each canvas. There was no permanent damage to the paintings. The vandalism was committed in protest of the Met’s new exhibition, Harlem on My Mind: Cultural Capital of Black America, 1900-1968, and occurred during its exclusive opening gala. The perpetrator was never caught.