The Cotton Club: Music In The 1930's
Tia Culbreth
10/30/12
English II
Period #2 The Cotton Club No matter what happens, music is going to be popular around the world. Its beats are drilled into us like a file is programmed into a computer. In the 1930’s, Jazz and blues were in the prime of its fame, and the growth of the black society in music was increasing rapidly. People like Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, and many more were starting off legendary careers. On the other hand, the 20’s and 30’s were in a period of Prohibition, the national ban of alcohol. The majority of people opposed this law, therefore did what they can to find any beer or wine they could. Many of them went to nightclubs that secretly sold alcohol, called speakeasies, Not only did The …show more content…
In his former gang, he had been shot eleven times at a close range, and by the time he had recovered, he had killed most of the members of the opposing gang (Boland, 5 & 6). So when he bought the “Club Deluxe” from former boxing world champion Jack Johnson, he knew how to make the club one of the finest speakeasies in New York. He started a legend, naming it “The Cotton Club.” By 1923, the club had opened on 142nd Street & Lenox Avenue in Harlem, New York. Owen or Owney Madden used the club to sell his “#1 Beer” to the Prohibition crowd. The club was closed down many times for short periods in the beginning due to the illegal sale of alcohol, but the fact that Owney was a mobster was to his advantage. He had many political connections, and his revenge tactics, along with paying off city hall, always triumphed, therefore the club was saved and running (Winter, …show more content…
A Puerto Rican boy named Lino Rivera was caught shoplifting a 10 cent knife. Lino Rivera in defense bit the hand of the policeman, and afterwards an ambulance had arrived for him. Unfortunately, a mistaken women misunderstood the situation, and yelled out that the boy was being beaten. Everyone around her heard her yelling and the riot commenced. Not only did the crowd think the ambulance was for the boy, but the boy had also mysteriously disappeared from the crowd, therefore everyone thought he was dead. This had produced a giant uproar which caused 75 blacks to be arrested, and $200 million dollars worth of property damage. Even though this was called a race riot, there was no actual clash between two races. Still it went down in history as the first modern race riot of it’s time (creoleindc.typepad.com, 1, 2, 3, &
10/30/12
English II
Period #2 The Cotton Club No matter what happens, music is going to be popular around the world. Its beats are drilled into us like a file is programmed into a computer. In the 1930’s, Jazz and blues were in the prime of its fame, and the growth of the black society in music was increasing rapidly. People like Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, and many more were starting off legendary careers. On the other hand, the 20’s and 30’s were in a period of Prohibition, the national ban of alcohol. The majority of people opposed this law, therefore did what they can to find any beer or wine they could. Many of them went to nightclubs that secretly sold alcohol, called speakeasies, Not only did The …show more content…
In his former gang, he had been shot eleven times at a close range, and by the time he had recovered, he had killed most of the members of the opposing gang (Boland, 5 & 6). So when he bought the “Club Deluxe” from former boxing world champion Jack Johnson, he knew how to make the club one of the finest speakeasies in New York. He started a legend, naming it “The Cotton Club.” By 1923, the club had opened on 142nd Street & Lenox Avenue in Harlem, New York. Owen or Owney Madden used the club to sell his “#1 Beer” to the Prohibition crowd. The club was closed down many times for short periods in the beginning due to the illegal sale of alcohol, but the fact that Owney was a mobster was to his advantage. He had many political connections, and his revenge tactics, along with paying off city hall, always triumphed, therefore the club was saved and running (Winter, …show more content…
A Puerto Rican boy named Lino Rivera was caught shoplifting a 10 cent knife. Lino Rivera in defense bit the hand of the policeman, and afterwards an ambulance had arrived for him. Unfortunately, a mistaken women misunderstood the situation, and yelled out that the boy was being beaten. Everyone around her heard her yelling and the riot commenced. Not only did the crowd think the ambulance was for the boy, but the boy had also mysteriously disappeared from the crowd, therefore everyone thought he was dead. This had produced a giant uproar which caused 75 blacks to be arrested, and $200 million dollars worth of property damage. Even though this was called a race riot, there was no actual clash between two races. Still it went down in history as the first modern race riot of it’s time (creoleindc.typepad.com, 1, 2, 3, &