BALL
CULTURE
and were attended by an interracial, elite crowd. Drag balls were happening elsewhere in the city, too, like Webster Hall downtown. The Harlem events, which were organized by white gay men, often excluded or undervalued Black performers. So, by the 1960s, Black ball participants had branched out and formed their own circuit, which is what we see in Pose.
Harlem’s
ball
culture
began 1920s, during a period called the Harlem Renaissance (though generally, drag competitions have existed since the mid-1800s). in the Early Harlem balls were different in format to the structured competitions seen in Pose. The extravagant pageants were held on Halloween and New Year’s Eve in places like Rockland Palace on 155th Street or the Elks Lodge on 138th,
We often associate ball culture with “houses,” but those didn’t take shape until the 1970s and ‘80s. Back then, houses like the House of Labeija, the House of Corey, and the House of Xtravaganza dominated the scene. The houses walk (or participate) in balls
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