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The Horns of the Dilemma

Race Mixing and the Enforcement of Jim Crow in New York City

Virginia Commonwealth University

In early twentieth-century New York City, newly opened black-owned cabarets and hotels became important sites of cultural production for African American musicians and artists. White New Yorkers also began to frequent these establishments—to dance, drink, and socialize with African Americans. New York City’s most influential antivice organization, the Committee of Fourteen, sent its undercover investigators out to gather information on "race mixing." City officials had delegated remarkable powers to the Committee of Fourteen, and the Committee used its power to push New York City’s black bourgeoisie into making a precarious bargain. The controversy over black-owned drinking establishments trapped black leaders in an untenable position, as they were forced to engage in trade-offs in the quest for both social equality and economic self-sufficiency. Ultimately, this debate demonstrates the way race was used as a marker of morality and how segregation was imposed in a state with strong antidiscrimination laws.

Key Words: segregation • leisure • undercover investigation • racism • W. E. B. Du Bois • Committee of Fourteen

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