The Cotton Club

The Cotton Club

Harlem Renaissance

Harlem cabarets became an important part of the Harlem Renaissance. They acted as a casual setting where people could break away from the social norms of race and sexuality. They started as establishments for primarily colored people but soon whites began to flood the buildings. The picture shown is a group of performers at The Cotton Club. The Cotton Club was one of Harlem's most notorious cabaret. The club highlighted some of America's best jazz musicians and attracted upper-class socialites and celebrities. Despite the fact that black performers would headline shows, the club was whites-only. The establishment was extremely racist, which is evident in its name, The Cotton Club. The name mocked the slavery-ridden cotton farms in the south. It would only higher black dancers who had light skin. In Langston Hughes poem, "Jazzonia," he describes the scene, "In a Harlem cabaret/ Six long-headed jazzers play./ A dancing girl whose eyes are bold/ Lifts high a dress of silken gold." (665) By calling the jazz musicians "long-headed" he is insinuating that they are colored, which was normal of harlem night clubs. In the picture, the musicians in the background are black. By describing a scene where a dancer lifts her dress, Hughes draws attention to the aspect of sexuality that encompasses harlem cabarets. The girls in the picture wear elaborate dresses that show off their legs and stomachs, highlighting the transformation of social norms from modest dress to more risky dress. Harlem night clubs were a petri dish for the development of a new type of American culture.

Unknown

"Vintage Photos: Inside the Cotton Club, One of NYC’s Leading Jazz Venues of the 1920s and ’30s." Untapped Cities RSS. N.p., 04 Aug. 2013. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

Unknown

1920s

Jessa Laspesa

Photograph