Bulldaggers, pansies, and chocolate babies : performance, race, and sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance / James F. Wilson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wilson, James F.

Series:

Triangulations: lesbian/gay/queer theater/drama/performance.

Triangulations: lesbian/gay/queer theater/drama/performance

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American drama--African American authors--History and criticism.

American drama.

American drama--20th century--History and criticism.

African Americans in the performing arts--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.

African Americans in the performing arts.

Theater--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.

Theater.

African Americans--New York (State)--New York--Intellectual life.

African Americans.

Harlem Renaissance.

African Americans in literature.

Race in literature.

Sex in the theater.

Harlem (New York, N.Y.)--Intellectual life--20th century.

Harlem (New York, N.Y.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 260 p. :) ill. ;

Place of Publication:

2023.

Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies shines the spotlight on historically neglected plays and performances that challenged early twentieth-century notions of the stratification of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. On Broadway stages, in Harlem nightclubs and dance halls, and within private homes sponsoring rent parties, African American performers of the 1920s and early 1930s teased the limits of white middle-class morality. Blues-singing lesbians, popularly known as "bulldaggers," performed bawdy songs; cross-dressing men vied for the top prizes in lavish drag balls; and black and white women flaunted their sexuality in scandalous melodramas and musical revues. Race leaders, preachers, and theater critics spoke out against these performances that threatened to undermine social and political progress, but to no avail: mainstream audiences could not get enough of the riotous entertainment.

James F. Wilson has based his rich cultural history on a wide range of documents from the period, including eyewitness accounts, newspaper reports, songs, and play scripts, combining archival research with an analysis grounded in a cultural studies framework that incorporates both queer theory and critical race theory. Throughout, he argues against the widely held belief that the stereotypical forms of black, lesbian, and gay show business of the 1920s prohibited the emergence of distinctive new voices. Figuring prominently in the book are African American performers including Gladys Bentley, Ethel Waters, and Florence Mills, among others, and prominent writers, artists, and leaders of the era, including Langston Hughes, Wallace Thurman, Zora Neale Hurston, and W. E. B. Du Bois. The study also engages with contemporary literary critics, including Henry Louis Gates and Houston Baker.

Contents:

Introduction: "It's getting dark on old Broadway"

"Gimme a pigfoot and a bottle of beer": parties, performances, and privacy in the "other" Harlem Renaissance(s)

"Harlem on my mind": New York's black belt on the Great White Way

"That's the kind of gal I am": drag balls, "sexual perversion," and David Belasco's Lulu Belle

"Hottentot potentates": the potent and hot performances of Florence Mills and Ethel Waters

"In my well of loneliness": Gladys Bentley's Bulldykin' blues

Conclusion: "you've seen Harlem at its best".

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9780472904044

0472904043

9780472026968

0472026968

OCLC:

794700528