154 years ago, and 100 years before the Stonewall riots, LGBTQ culture was beginning to flourish across the United States, and it all started in Harlem, New York.
A tradition began within Hamilton Lodge called The Masquerade and Civil Balls, more commonly known as Drag Balls. These were organised by a black fraternal organisation in Harlem.
By the mid 1920s, these events were drawing in as many as 7000 people from the gay, lesbian, transgender and straight communities combined.
Most famously, in February of 1926, more than 1500 straight and cisgender people gathered at the Renaissance Casino, in the Harlem neighbourhood, for the 58th Masquerade and Civil Ball of Hamilton Lodge.
Nearly half of those attending were men that the locals called fairies. In their evening gowns, wigs and powdered faces, even reporters noted that they were hard to distinguish from many of the women.
This was the first time when we saw the acceptance of drag performers, and a slight acceptance of transgender individuals because it was under the disguise of a masquerade.
Throughout the rest of the early 1900s, a number of nightclubs and theatres were featuring stage performances by these female impersonators, Mascarades and Civic Balls.
Of the spots that featured these performances, the most were in Chicago's South Side, New York City, and they could be mainly found in largely working class areas.
Across America, their audiences included many straight men and women who wanted to experience the culture themselves, as well as LGBTQ people wanting to find friends or partners.
Comments