Program / Menu from the Cotton Club

The Cotton Club opened as a whites-only club in Harlem in 1923. It was one of the most notorious establishments to reinforce Jim Crow segregation, prohibiting non-white attendees. Yet its initial location in Harlem was a locus for Black performers of the Jazz Age. The club marketed the performances as "jungle jive" and used stereotypical and offensive imagery of Black Americans.

Following the race riots of 1935, the Harlem location closed. It reopened on Broadway and permitted non-white patrons. However, this 1938 program for the club, illustrated by Julian Harrison, still presents racist iconography. Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and other Black performers sing, dance, and play instruments. These images contrast with jungle scenes depicting naked Black men and women. The stark difference in representation reflects the conflicting attitudes of many of the club's white patrons. Performers were simultaneously praised and subjected to exoticization and discrimination.