From the Buzzard's Roost: Black Movie-going in Durham and Other North Carolina Cities during the Early Period of American Cinema

Abstract

elegated to the margins within the hegemony of American culture, African Americans were treated as 'Other'.The beginning of the twentieth century was a period in which racial discrimination was pervasive, extending far beyond the political spectrum.Although entertainment might have been expected to be one arena in which African Americans could escape such marginalization, African Americans felt the constraints under which all public facilities operated, even in movie theatres and vaudeville houses.Far too often, theatres catering specifically to African-American audiences were not readily available or easily accessible.In the vast majority of theatres, those that catered to the public at large, owners or managers reserved only certain sections of their facilities for occupancy by African American audiences.Designated sections confined blacks to the galleries or balconies and were often referred to as the 'Buzzard's Roost', deliberately designed to segregate blacks from whites.In some instances, African Americans were even required to enter through a separate 'black' entrance. 1African Americans were also sometimes allowed to attend only late night showings, referred to as 'midnight rambles'. 2Such showings, however, could be problematic, as film historian Douglas Gomery reported:In High Point, North Carolina, a manager of a white theatre arranged for a black midnight show.Two thousand blacks showed up, but so did fourteen whites.The law stated that the fourteen whites were able to claim the several hundred seats in the auditorium, while the manager scrambled to rent other theatres to accommodate the overflow of the balcony.By bicycling reels, the manager was able to present the show to all, but not in the original, single theatre that could have held everyone but for 'Jim Crow' laws. 3