Power Structures in the Harlem Nightclub

Paper Summary:

This paper compares the works of Claude McKay (specifically "Harlem Dancer," "Black Belt Slummers," and "Harlem") and Langston Hughes ("Death In Harlem" and "Harlem Jazz Club"). It views them next to the more concretely illustrated depiction of the "Club" in James Weldon Johnson's "The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man". By doing so, we understand the power structure of the Harlem Nightclub and the struggle of the African American residents within them, against members of the opposite sex and opposite race, which many used to gain power as a tool of survival.

I. Introduction
II. Portrayal of the Nightclub in James Weldon Johnson's "Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man"
III. Langston Hughes's "Death in Harlem" (Primarily Power Struggles between Gender)
IV. Claude McKay's "Harlem Dancer"
V. Claude McKay's "Black Belt Slummers" (Primarily Power Play Between Races)
VI. Langston Hughes's "Harlem Night Club"
VII. Claude McKay's "Harlem"
VIII. Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The next class of people the narrator describes are three sets of slummers-the sight-seerers, the black face actors, and the female patrons--or whites who come to the club to awe over the spectacle of African American culture and society. In terms of the power structure of the "Club" the female patrons are the most interesting as they pay for the clothes, diamonds, and drinks of their black companions a sight that unsettles the narrator. The narrator's inability to accept the prosperity of the black man in this situation is based on the fact that the money and social status emasculate the man and make him into an animal, a "social phenomena," rather than a person (Johnson, 79). "

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