The Black and White of it.
A history that should never be forgotten or forgiven.
Opened in 1923, the Cotton Club on 142nd St & Lenox Ave in the heart of Harlem, New York was operated by white New York gangster Owney Madden. Madden used the Cotton Club as an outlet to sell his “#1 Beer” to the prohibition crowd. Although the club was briefly closed several times in the 1920s for selling alcohol, the owners’ political connections allowed them to always reopen quickly
The Club was decorated with the idea of creating a “stylish plantation environment” for its entirely white clientele. As with many New York City clubs of the time period, that meant the upper class of the city. The Cotton Club at first excluded all but white patrons although the entertainers and most of staff were African American. Exceptions to this restriction were made in the case of prominent white entertainment guest stars and the dancers. Dancers at the Cotton Club were held to strict standards; they had to be at least 5’6” tall, light skinned with only a slight tan, and under twenty-one years of age.
The practice has 19th Century antecedants with the Blue Blood Society and has not totally died out.
Many churches, fraternities, and nightclubs used the "brown paper bag" principle as a test for entrance. People at these organizations would take a brown paper bag and hold it against a person's skin. If a person was lighter or the same color as the bag, he or she was admitted.Discrimination based on skin color, also known as colorism or shadism, is a form of prejudice or discrimination in which people are treated differently based on the social meanings attached to skin color
Part of the reason Jazz became popular was from places like the Cotton Club and “Black and Tan” clubs. These nightclubs and bars became places where black musicians could showcase their work to a mixed raced audience, though not always without discrimination. Blacks and whites were still separated from each other at many venues, and in some places still dehumanized and portrayed in terrible and derogatory ways, like dressing the black servers like plantation workers or savages(Cotton).
During this period, African American women were apart of the 1st wave of the Women’s Movement in defining their “respectability”. The views on respectability ranged from the Club Women to Blues Women. Club Women were out to establish equal rights and change the perception of black women as being prostitutes and thieves. However, Blues Women wanted to establish economic independence from men and take part in leisure, such as gambling, sex and drinking. The idea of “respectability” was important to the African American women’s new identity as opposed to the constructed identity placed on them by white society.
The oppressive segregation of the Cotton Club was reinforced by its depiction of the African American employees as exotic savages or plantation residents. The music was often orchestrated to bring to mind a jungle atmosphere. By transforming the club into this plantation atmosphere and bringing in celebrities, Owney Madden created a demand for the Cotton Club and its exclusionary policies and also helped perpetuate widely held stereotypes about African Americans. Shows at the Cotton Club were musical revues that featured dancers, singers, comedians, and variety acts, as well as a house band. Duke Ellington led that band from 1927 to 1930, and sporadically throughout the next eight years. The Cotton Club and Ellington’s Orchestra gained national notoriety through weekly broadcasts on radio station WHN some of which were recorded and released on albums. The entertainers who played at the Cotton Club were some of the most widely known blues and jazz performers of their time including Ethel Waters, Cab Calloway, Ellington and many others. The race riots of Harlem in 1935 forced the Cotton Club to close until late 1936 when it reopened at Broadway and 48th St.
Excerpt from a Blues Woman’s Diary: Ada Smith
March 15, 1922
I figured I would write a little record of my journey, since I plan on leaving Columbus, Georgia. My name is Ruth Smith but I want my stage name to be Ada Smith. I always liked that name better. I wanna see the world and sing for people. I wanna be a great Blues Singer. I know I got the voice and the talent. All I need is a chance to show people. Because I have a lot to show. I told Momma today that I’m tired of cleaning and fixing up white folks houses. We work from early in the morning to late at night and I’m tired of it. I wanna be the one they pay to see on a big stage with a live band behind me. But she don’t pay me no mind. We have to sneak food out those white folks houses, just to put food on the table. Even though we are “raiding the pantries” (Jones, 2010, p. 128), Momma calls it “early pay.” But for fun, I go to the Green Shack to perform, hoping someone will find me and take me out of here.
I told my momma I gotta go
I told my sista I gotta go
I told my friends I gotta go
I gotta get outta here
They say hush up now
Hush up, Sally
You aint goin nowhere
Mamie Smith - The First Black Woman to record a vocal Blues (1920)
Mamie Smith - My Sportin' Man
This was a few of the flyers utilized to bring white patrons to the Cotton Club.
Filmed May 23, 1933, Bessie Dudley and Florence Hill show how to move to Duke Ellington's Bugle Call Rag. Both Dudley and Hill were Cotton Club dancers, though this was not filmed at the Cotton Club. Bessie Dudley died January 16, 1999 at the age of 88. I've not yet been able to find information about Florence
Describe your image here
Describe your image here
famous beautiful cotton club dancers and singers harlem's cotton club showcased as many beauties and talents And the Cotton Club Orchestra, Harlem,
When you think of the blues, you think about misfortune, betrayal and regret. You lose your job, you get the blues. Your mate falls out of love with you, you get the blues. Your dog dies, you get the blues.
Blues and jazz have always influenced each other, and they still interact in countless ways today.
Many of the earliest blues musicians incorporated the blues into a wider repertoire that included traditional folk songs, vaudeville music, and minstrel tunes.
And the white man who made them famous That's the Black and White of it.. ej