The cotton club

The Cotton Club was a famous night club in New York City that operated during Prohibition. While the club featured many of the greatest African American entertainers of the era, such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Bessie Smith, Cab Calloway, The Nicholas Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, and Ethel Waters, it generally denied admission to blacks. During its heyday, it served as a chic meeting spot in the heart of Harlem, featuring regular "Celebrity…

Cab Calloway at the Cotton Club!

Cotton club

During the summer of 1912, the man who at the height of the Jim Crow era had become less than four years previously the first black world heavyweight boxing champion, opened Cafe de Champion – a “Black and Tan” restaurant and nightclub in the Bronzeville district of Chicago. The club was decorated in an ostentatiously … Continue reading "The Life and Loves of Boxer Jack Johnson and the History of the Cotton Club"

Cab Calloway performs at Harlem's Cotton Club in 1935.

Cotton Club November 4, 1927 Duke Ellington’s big band opened at the famed Cotton Club in Harlem. It was the first appearance of the Duke’s new and larger group.

We ain't leaving 'til the sun comes up.

Ninety years ago, there were hundreds of illegal drinking spots in New York, and the speakeasies - which were often just a hidden room with barely drinkable booze - were mostly run by gangsters.