Although the 1968 and 1969 events were filmed by Hal Tulchin, the festival had difficulty gaining publicity, partially due to lack of interest by television networks, which felt there would be little benefit in broadcasting it.

[6] Lawrence also hosted and directed the 1969 festival, held in Mount Morris Park on Sundays at 3 PM from June 29 to August 24, 1969.

[11] Although the majority of this video remains commercially unreleased, CBS broadcast a one-hour special on July 28, 1969, featuring the 5th Dimension, The Chambers Brothers, and Max Roach with Abbey Lincoln.

[3] In 2019, it was announced in numerous outlets that Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson would make his directorial debut with Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), a feature documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival.

[4][19] The event featured musical performances by Talib Kweli, Cory Henry, Alice Smith, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Keyon Harrold, Braxton Cook, Freddie Stone (who performed at the original event), George "Spanky" McCurdy, Nate Jones On Bass, was curated and co-produced by Neal Ludevig and was musically directed by Igmar Thomas.

[20] The event also featured conversations with Jamal Joseph, Felipe Luciano, Gale Brewer, Toni Blackman, Juma Sultan, and Voza Rivers, among many others, at Harlem Stage and the Schomburg.

The Amsterdam News noted that Lawrence's claims were unsubstantiated, and, at the urging of Shirley Chisholm and Charles Rangel, the legal action was dropped.