Whites in the Cotton Club

Whites in the Cotton Club

"So thousands of whites came to Harlem night after night, thinking the Negroes loved to have them there, and firmly believing that al Harlemites left their houses at sundown to sing and dance in cabarets, because most of the whites saw nothing but the cabarets, not the houses." (Hughes, 1635)

I believe that this image directly correlates with this quote because it shows a table of white men who look to be staring in awe in all different directions at things surrounding them. It also appears that the black man in this picture is the server. I found this image to be very interesting because the Cotton Club used to be a place where African Americans would go to sing and dance during the Harlem Renaissance. The Cotton Club quickly changed from hosting African Americans to whites because the whites of the time "enjoyed watching the shows that the blacks put on as if they were animals at a zoo", stated Hughes.

Lara Elmayan

Elmayan, Lara. "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. 01 Dec. 2015. <http://untappedcities.com/2013/08/04/vintage-photos-inside-the-cotton-club-one-of-nycs-leading-jazz-venues-of-the-1920s-and-30s/>.

Adam Monticollo

1920s

Photo