Another white guy from Pittsburgh here. I’m a former high school history teacher, historical house docent, and now I give historical tours, so I love all kinds of history. I’m sure that Brendan encountered the Harlem Renaissance through his high school American history text book, since they all mention the subject, along with thousands of other things that he has forgotten. I know a fair bit about the subject myself because I’ve actually taken a tour of Harlem, but then again the history of NYC is an interest of mine. What does Brendan know about the Progressive Movement in the early 20th Century, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, the Battle of the Bulge, or the Beats in the 1950s? Probably just as much as he knows about the Harlem Renaissance. You can’t assume that anyone has the same level of knowledge that you do about any given subject unless they have a continuing interest in learning about it. Knowledge about history is just like any other thing that we are exposed to in school, if you don’t use it you lose it. I continuously run across people who have lived in Pittsburgh all of their lives who don’t know a thing about the history of the place, let alone the substantial black history of Smoketown. Who’s the city named after and why? Not a clue, as they wear a sports jersey with PITTSBURGH written on it in big black and yellow letters. The next time you’re in NYC, ask a random millenial who Robert Moses or David Dinkins or Jean-Michel Basquiat were, and be prepared for a blank expression.