04/04/2024, 02:49 TransGriot: There's No Place Like Home: A History of House Ball Culture

mais breislima@gmail.com Painel Sair

A proud unapologetic Black trans woman speaking truth to power and discussing the world around her since 2006

TransGriot Tip Jar Monday, February 18, 2008 Member of NABJ and
NAHJ 2020

There's No Place Like Home: A History of House

Ball Culture
Thank you for
TransGriot Note: I was going to
supporting
write something on TransGriot
TransGriot!
about the drag balls for Black
History Month, but who would know
WINNER 2018 GLAAD
Saying it loud, I'm better than someone who Media Awards
unapologetically
Black, trans and participates in the ballroom Outstanding Blog
proud! community? Doctoral candidate, GLAAD Media
writer and scholar Frank Leon Awards Outstanding
Roberts definitely would. (not sure Blog Finalist 2014,
if we're related, in case you're 2017, 2018, 2019,
wondering) Check out his site at 2020
canwebefrank.com
NLGJA Member since
By Frank Leon Roberts, June 6, 2007 2015
WireTap Magazine

Even 16 years after the documentary Paris Is Burning shed light on New York
City's gay underground house ball scene, misconceptions linger about the
scene's past, present and future.

Jennifer Livingston's misleading 1991 documentary Paris Is Burning brought the TransGriot
underground world of black queer "houses" and "balls" to the attention of the Speaking/Education
About The TransGriot Efforts Info
mainstream public, yet the film left much to be desired in terms of understanding
how these social networks have transformed the culture of black gay New York in
innumerable ways.

Almost 20 years after Livingston began shooting footage for Paris, and perhaps as
a result of the stereotypes the film presented, the house ball community continues
Monica Roberts to be grossly misunderstood and stigmatized by the masses of black people, both
Monica Roberts, AKA gay and straight. In a moment when being unapologetically black and gay has
the TransGriot (Gree- dangerous consequences, house ball culture continues to provide a viable space The TransGriot is
oh) is a native for a new generation of "ball kids," which has created a subculture that has available for speaking
Houstonian, GLAAD redefined notions of family, masculinity, friendship and, of course, what it is means engagements, college
award winning to be a diva. lectures, panel
blogger, writer, and discussions, media
award winning trans interviews, conferences
human rights or Trans 101 education
Where did it all begin?
advocate. She's the efforts for your school,
founding editor of business or professional
The history and legacy of the Harlem organizations.
TransGriot, and her
writing has appeared drag balls Numerous historians and
at the Bilerico Project, cultural commentators have traced the For local Houston area,
Ebony.com, The origins of today's house ball scene to Texas or national events,
Huffington Post and the notorious culture of Harlem drag you can e-mail me at
the Advocate. She balls in 1920s and 1930s New York. transgriot@yahoo.
works to foster Between roughly 1919 and 1935, an com
understanding and artistic movement that would come to
acceptance of trans For events outside the
be known as the "Harlem
people inside and Houston metro area, I
Renaissance" transformed the culture
outside communities ask that my travel and
of color. Among her
of uptown Manhattan not only as a lodging expenses be
many honors are the result of its establishing new trends in covered.
Virginia Prince black literature, music and politics but
Transgender Pioneer also for its scandalous night life and This is separate from
Award, the Robert party culture. my speaking fee.
Coles Call of Service
Award. the Barbara The Harlem drag balls -- usually held If you are interested in
Jordan Breaking having me appear as a
at venues such as the Rockland
Barriers Award, and speaker or panelist, you
Palace on 155th street or later the Elks
the 2020 Susan J can e-mail me with the
Lodge on 139th -- were initially organized by white gay men but featured multiracial
Hyde Award for
audiences and participants. The annual pageants became a sort of who's who of

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04/04/2024, 02:49 TransGriot: There's No Place Like Home: A History of House Ball Culture
Longevity In The Harlem's black literary elite: Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen date and details of your
Movement and Richard Bruce Nugent were all frequent attendees. Moreover, white proposed event.
View my complete photographers and socialites, such as the infamous Carl Van Vechten (author of the
profile scandalous 1926 novel Nigger Heaven), were also in attendance.

The mixed racial dynamics of these early drag balls reflected the interracial nature
Copyrighted Blog-
Reprint Rights of the Harlem Renaissance in general: African-American artists looked to wealthy
white investors for patronage, while white spectators flocked to "hip" Harlem spaces
as sources of trend-setting and exotic "negro" spectacle. The drag balls thus
became a space where newly migrated African-Americans from the south and
Please book as early
This work by Monica "liberal" Northern whites could imagine themselves as mavericks, as radicals
pushing the norms of a then highly racially segregated U.S. culture. The lavish, as possible because
Roberts is licensed
my speaking and
under all applicable carnivalesque drag balls became spaces where racial taboos were broken through
event calendar slots
US Copyright Laws sexual and gender nonconformity. The events soon evolved from grand costume
during the year rapidly
and a Creative parties to outright gay beauty pageants with participants competing in a variety of fill up.
Commons Attribution- categories, many of which still bear resemblance to the categories of today's house
Noncommercial- ball scene (such as "Face").
NoDerivs 3.0 CMBA Disclaimer
Unported United
States License.
However, not surprisingly, the early drag balls were plagued by an imbalance of
I'd deeply appreciate
a link back to racial power. Black performers, though allowed to participate in and attend the
TransGriot if you wish events, were rarely winners at the balls and often felt restricted in their ability to fully
to feature my posts on participate in the scene. Soon the black queens looked for opportunities to create a
your blog. If you wish sociocultural world that was truly all their own.
to quote, no remix or
altering of text and no An exclusively black drag ball circuit in New York City began to form around the This personal blog
more than 300 words. allows me to express
1960s; almost three decades after the first "girls" started to compete at the earlier
For permissions my constitutionally
drag events. However the cultural and political landscape of Harlem, specifically the
beyond the scope of guaranteed First
neighborhoods' earlier carefree "acceptance" of drag culture, had changed Amendment free
this Creative
drastically. speech rights and kick
Commons license
please contact the knowledge to y'all at
author at Due to the growing popularity of 1960s black nationalist rhetoric (with its rigid the same time on
transgriot@yahoo.co restrictions on how "real" black men should express themselves), the balls became various issues.
m a more dangerous pastime pleasure. The balls began to be held as early as 3, 4 or
5 a.m. -- a tradition that continues to this day -- in order to make it safer for Nothing in it shall be
participants to travel the streets of Harlem safely with high heels and feathers when construed, spun,
TransGriot Blog remixed, altered or
Mission Statement "trade" had gone to sleep. The early morning start times also made renting out halls
interpreted to mean it
cheaper, and ensured that "the working girls" (i.e., transsexuals who made their
The TransGriot blog's represents the views
mission is to become
money as late-night sex workers) would also be able to make the function.
of my employers or
the griot of our the boards of the
community. I will As the drag ball circuit continued to grow even in spite of a growing hostility towards organizations that I sit
introduce you to and queer black cultural practices in New York City, the time had come to create specific on.
talk about your African infrastructures that could help organize the balls as well as mobilize the friendships
descended trans and familial alliances that were being formed between and among participants. The Photos and videos
brothers and trans world of Harlem drag balls was about to transform itself once again. posted to this blog are
sisters across the used for illustrative
Diaspora, reclaim and purposes only and
document our unless noted in the
From ballroom scene to house ball: moving from drag circuits to house
chocolate flavored post or linked article,
trans history, speak
networks photos/videos don't
truth to power, indicate or are not
comment on the There has been a tendency among intended to imply the
things that impact our academics -- especially in the work of person depicted in
trans community from gay historians such as George said photo/video is
an Afrocentric Chauncey and Eric Garber -- to transgender
perspective and conflate the history of the drag balls
enlighten you about with the history of the gay houses.
the general things that TransGriot Archived
While the "balls" can be traced back to Blog Post Search
go on around me and
the elaborate drag pageants of 1930s
in the communities
that I am a member
Harlem, it is important to keep in mind
Search
of. that the "houses" themselves were a
new phenomenon that emerged in the
--Mission Statement specific socioeconomic and political TransGriot Archived
compiled January 2, contexts of 1970s and 1980s post- Posts
2011 industrial New York. These contexts ►
► 2020 (131)
included a spiraling decline of the city's
►
► 2019 (299)
The TransGriot Loves
welfare and social services net, early
Comments gentrification of urban neighborhoods ►
► 2018 (472)

Feel free to leave through private redevelopment, ►

► 2017 (620)
comments on the decreases in funding for group homes ►
► 2016 (857)
posts. But bear in and other social services targeting homeless youth, a sharp rise in unemployment
►
► 2015 (940)
mind that you are rates among black and Latino men, and a virtual absence of funding during the
guests in my Reagan era for persons newly displaced and/or homeless as result of HIV/AIDS. All ►
► 2014 (982)
cyberhome. As soon of these conditions forced blacks and gays (and especially black gays) onto the ►
► 2013 (1188)
as I get to them, your streets in unprecedented numbers.
comments are posted ►
► 2012 (1183)
at my pleasure. ►
► 2011 (1561)
Houses became alternative kinship networks that selected a "mother" and "father"
as their leaders ("parents" could be of any gender) and "children" as their general ►
► 2010 (1258)
They will post as soon
as I approve them, so membership body. The "houses" were a literal re-creation of "homes," in the sense ►
► 2009 (982)
no need to repeat that these groups became real-life families for individuals that might have been
▼
▼ 2008 (641)
sending them. exiled from their birth homes. However, contrary to popular belief, many early
►
► December (58)
"house" kids were still deeply connected to their biological families but still sought
I strive to make it a the unique protection, care and love the street houses provided. ►
► November (55)
safe zone for people ►
► October (55)
to respectfully express

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04/04/2024, 02:49 TransGriot: There's No Place Like Home: A History of House Ball Culture
themselves, but I Between 1970 and 1980 at least eight major houses formed in Harlem: the House ►
► September (61)
have zero tolerance of Labeija (an African-American vernacular redeployment of the Spanish word for ►
► August (77)
for hate speech, "beauty"), the House of Corey, the House of Wong, the House of Dupree, the
transphobic or ►
► July (60)
House of Christian, the House of Princess and the House of Pendavis.
blatantly disrespectful ►
► June (40)
comments or ad
Just as hip hop -- with its emphasis on street crews and other forms of black male ►
► May (56)
spam.
fraternal bonding -- emerged in roughly the same era as an artistic response to
►
► April (54)
I reserve the right to some of the political and economic conditions plaguing black men in New York, the
►
► March (32)
edit your comments houses became underground social networks by and for urban black gay people.
for clarity or not post By 1980 three houses emerged straight out of Brooklyn: the House of Omni, the ▼
▼ February (32)
them at all if I deem House of Ebony, and the House of Chanel. Hillary Losing
them disrespectful, Black
transphobic or racist. Superdelegat
These houses were composed of mostly men, many of whom preferred masculine es
aesthetics over drag. The creation of houses transformed the drag circuit forever as
February 29
newer populations, some of which would have never been attracted to drag balls,
entered into the community. A rich taxonomy of gender personas and identities I'm Pissed Off
TransGriot Twitter flooded in: thugged-out hustlers who were "new" to gay culture, butch lesbians with Gabrielle's Gone
Updates
erotic attachments to gay men, bootleg black designers and fashionistas eager to
GenderTalk
follow me on Twitter put their garments "to test" in a new, urban scene. Interview with
Gabrielle
Pickett
Favorite Blogs
The term "drag" now meant something much richer than only men who cross- Michelle, I Feel
Acts Of Faith In dressed as women. Drag was now a metaphor for everyday life -- everyone was in Ya
Love And Life some way or another performing a specific identity, regardless of whether or not "These
AfroSpear cross-dressing was involved. In attempt to make sense of this growing array of Republicans
Blabbeando Will Self-
gender performance, ball kids adopted a complicated language system that
Destruct in 10
Deep Thought accounted for the different types of identities they noticed in the community: "Butch Second...
Electronic Village Queens" was a term used to describe any biologically born male that presented
Many Blacks
ELIXHER himself of as male, "Butch Queens Up in Drag" on the other hand came to signify Worry About
ENDABlog gay men who dressed in drag specifically for the balls, but still lived his everyday Obama's
life as a man. Safety
Feministe
Hate Crimes
Jack and Jill
"Femme Queens" were preoperative male to female transsexuals, often known for Laws-Needed
Politics
and
their alluring beauty and uncanny "realness." "Butches" was a term used to
Jasmyne Cannick Necessary
describe either aggressive lesbian women or female-to-male transsexuals. The
Jump Off The There's No
Bridge term "woman" was only reserved for either heterosexual, biologically born women
Place Like
or feminine lesbians that did not identify with the "butch" title. Finally "trade" was Home: A
Keith Boykin
meant to describe men whose sexuality might have been in question even if their History of
Maybe It's Just Me House Bal...
masculinity was not. This language system for describing gender in the house ball
Mes Deux Cents
scene exists to this day. Fallen Sisters
My Private Casbah
Sick-Ohh
New Black Woman By the end of the 1980s, the balls were no longer the single most important element
Pam's House Blend Black
of the culture, as the houses provided a new life outside of the balls. The drag ball Superdelegat
RaceWire scene had now become the "house ball scene," with hundreds of individuals es
Racialicious belonging to "houses" even if they did not participate in the drag events. Reconsider
Backing
Republic of T Clinton
Rod 2.0 beta
How hip-hop changed house ball culture Letter To The
Sisters Talk Ladies Who
Soujourner's Place Loved My
By the mid-'90s, long after Paris Is Burning had come and gone, house ball culture 'Twin'
soulbrother v2
continued to evolve, while still remaining true to its history as a form of cultural Obama Sweep!
The Angry Black
expression by and for working-class African-American and Latina/o queer people
Woman The Old Girl In
from urban inner cities. Though the scene started in New York City, by 1996 there
The Bilerico Project The Club
were sizable house ball communities in the roughest sections of Washington, D.C.,
The Chronicle Seeking Unity,
Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Miami, and Los Angeles as well as in parts of North
Obama Feels
The Cruel Carolina and South Carolina. In each of the cities, balls kids adopted and Pull of Racial
Secretary
incorporated other, more local forms to make the culture regionally specific and Divide
The Polar Bear
relevant. This was the case with Atlanta's house ball scene, which borrowed from Super Tuesday
Speaks
local black styles like "J-Setting," and Los Angeles, which even incorporated For Rutgers
THINGS According Women
To Me "krumpin" into the culture.
Ballers
What Tami Said
Across all the regions one thing was clear, though: whereas house music and Obama Musings
Wimminwise
dance culture served as the soundtrack and political landscape of the '80s scene, On Issues That
Womanist Musings Really Matter,
by the mid-'90s the influence of hip-hop on house ball culture was transformative.
Women's Sports There’s More
Blog That Un...
Hip-hop was much more than a musical style -- it was a movement. As a
HRC3 ≠ Bright
renaissance of sorts (albeit highly manufactured), hip-hop influenced and
Future For
Interesting Links popularized certain notions of black masculinity and gender relations that found Transgenders
their way into the house ball scene.
African-American TransGriot Black
Registry History Posts
Categories at the balls such as "Thug Realness," "Urban Streetwear," "Bangee
Black History Jahna Steele
Canada Realness" and "Foot and Eyewear" were all indebted to hip-hop culture's emphasis
Passes Away
BlackAmericaWeb. on bling bling aesthetics, aggressive black masculinities, in your face black style,
Mardi Gras 2008
com baby mama drama and other racialized forms of expression. Many "voguers" in the
Buzzflash community started looking for gigs as choreographers for hip-hop artists, as was Super Tuesday

Coco And Creme the case with legends such as Andre Mizrahi of Atlanta and Pony Blahnik of New Candace Parker
York City. "Voguing" transformed from the Willi Ninja-esque, "pose" heavy style Dunks Again
Conversations With
Frank Leon (mis)appropriated by Madonna, to more a fluid, acrobatic dance which now looked African-
Roberts like a sort of new black gay break dance. American
Covenant With IFGE Trinity
Black America Winners
Moreover, because of the scene's deeply underground nature, and also because of
Electronic Frontier the creation of categories like "best dressed man," "masculine face" and "realness," Super Upset!
Foundation
the house ball community provided a new space for discrete working-class men of Super Sunday-
Global Comment Quest For

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04/04/2024, 02:49 TransGriot: There's No Place Like Home: A History of House Ball Culture
IFGE color (men on "the D.L.") to feel comfortable participating in an openly SGL culture Perfection
Media Bloggers without necessarily outright identifying as gay. The incorporation of hip-hop into the Welcome Dr.
Association scene broadened the full spectrum of gender performances that ball society Kaila Story
NAACP became home to. TransGriot
National GLBT History
Association of Links
Black Journalists
House ball culture today Happy Black
National Black History
Justice Coalition Month!
Today's house ball scene features over 100 active "houses" in more than 13 cities
Online Journalism across the country. In New York City alone there are at least 30 houses with ►
Review ► January (61)
memberships of a dozen or more: Aphrodite, Allure, Milan, Blahnik, Balenciaga,
Pambazuka ►
► 2007 (456)
Mizrahi, Miyake-Mugler, Chanel, Infiniti, Revlon, Evisu, Prodigy, Latex,
(African Social
Justice Forum) Xtravaganza, Ninja, Prada, St. Clair, Jourdan, Khan, La Perla, Labeija, Escada, ►
► 2006 (124)
The Democratic Pendavis, Cavalli, Karan, Ebony, Omni, Tsnumani, Angel and Icon. While every
Strategist individual ball can often have dozens, sometimes even hundreds, of specific
African-American
Trans FM criteria, all of the categories are still organized around six major concepts: realness, Trans Blogs

Transgender face, sex and body, runway, performance and fashion.

American Veterans
Assn. Many outsiders misinterpret the house ball scene's fascination with things like Diamond Stylz
Transgender Law HamsterWheel of
labels and fashion as a simplistic envying of white consumer culture. However, in
and Policy Institute Community Love
actuality, a closer look at the sociocultural context of the balls shows that this is 1 month ago
Transsistahs- really not the case. The categories themselves are not nearly as important as the
Transbrothas 2.0
competition, kinship and relationships that are formed by and through the
WNBA
preparation for the events and the effects of gaining "status" within the community. Dyssonance
Reprise/Return:
Protesting defense
Houston/Lone Star Also, house ball culture is rooted in a rich tradition of African-American cultural
tips
Blogs practices that privilege inversion, code switching and signifyin'. Thus, unlike hip-hop 1 year ago
Burnt Orange culture, the emphasis on bling bling and acting like a "white woman" is actually
Report more of an ironic mockery and critique of these values more so than a straight-
Dallas Progress forward embracing. Not your typical
girl
Houston Met Blogs Crossdressing
Houstonist In a moment when the culture of black gay life in New York has been reduced to an Mayors, part 1
endless parade of "hot boy" parties, "sup niggah" salutations and lukewarm political 14 years ago
Isiah Carey's Insite
"activism," the creation of spaces where new modes of black masculinity, kinship
Juanita Jean's
and love can thrive is particularly inventive. House ball culture, with its rich and
Legislative Queery Amanda Morgan
complicated history as an alternative site of black "community," moves us forward to
Roland S. Martin True.
time and place where black queer people can imagine new ways of making home --
15 years ago
The Diva Politica and identity itself -- from scratch.
The Feminist
Texican ------ TransMusePlanet
The Glamazon
Chronicles
Frank Leon Roberts is a 24-year-old public intellectual, cultural critic and doctoral
True Blue Texan candidate at NYU. Find his work at BrooklynBoyBlues. Trans Blogs
Whatever Comes
To Mind Brittany Novotny
Posted by Monica Roberts at 9:58 AM Cecilia Chung
and we've replaced
statements like "It's Labels: African-american/Black history, ballroom community, Black History Month, transgender
Questioning
all good" w/ Transphobia
revolutionary cries
Stillettos And
4 comments: Sneakers
T-Central
Mes Deux Cents said...
The Donna Blog-
Hi Monica, The View From The
Other Side-
Thanks for posting this. I loved the film Paris is burning but it left me wanting The View From
for more. I didn't know what the film was lacking but now I see it was lacking (Ab)Normal
context. Heights
Trans Media Watch
I hope someone else will do a sort of Paris is burning two.
Trans Political
12:42 PM Trans Universe
Transadvocate
Transgeder
Monica Roberts said... Workplace
They have. It's called How Do I Look? Diversity

1:09 PM
International Trans
Blogs
Mes Deux Cents said...
Thanks! Amazon.com here I come!
AKI NO YUKI | A
2:43 PM Malaysian
Transsexual
Female's
proudprogressive said... Comments, Life,
Opinions,
WOW that was on hell of a great read, just fantastic. I had seen the recent Understanding &
MSNBC segment in their series on TS stuff and new vaguely about houses but Thoughts.
this piece just rocks the house.PUN INTENDED. I also found it timely as i am
becoming a "new parental figure and mentor" soo i got really eeeny teeny
house..but that is ONE LESS statitic in our community and the end of YEARS Dented Blue
of solitude of me. As i have finally had to opportunity to share my living space Mercedes
with someone in desparate need..and the life plan is College First -part time The bad faith
job second..if that ain't parenting i don't know what is..and its a family..(i have “debate” about
no natural children and am glad to have gotten one already grown..no lie !) trans human rights
4 years ago

These houses in the context of black culture, black history are just extroidinary
and again this piece is FANTASTIC..fills in so many blanks..

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04/04/2024, 02:49 TransGriot: There's No Place Like Home: A History of House Ball Culture

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