Ball culture

The Ballroom scene (also known as the Ballroom community, Ballroom culture, or just Ballroom) is an African-American and Latin underground LGBTQ+ subculture. The scene traces its origins to the drag balls of the mid-19th century United States, such as those hosted by William Dorsey Swann, a formerly enslaved Black man in Washington D.C.. By the early 20th century, integrated drag balls were popular in cities such as New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.

In the mid-20th century, as a response to racism in integrated drag spaces, the balls evolved into house ballroom, where Black and Latino attendees could "walk" in a variety of categories for trophies and cash prizes. Most participants in ballroom belong to groups known as "houses", where chosen families of friends form relationships and communities separate from their families of origin, from which they may be estranged. The influence of ballroom culture can be seen in dance, language, music, and popular culture, and the community continues to be prominent today.

Since the beginning of colonial settlement in the United States, there have been individuals contradicting gendered expectations. However, it was not until the mid-19th century, as urbanization allowed for increased independence and anonymity, that cities provided a space for LGBTQ+ communities to form. In the 1880s, drag balls became a popular gathering space for people living different gendered lives. William Dorsey Swann, the first person known to describe himself as a drag queen, hosted secret balls in Washington, D.C.. Many of the attendees were Black men, as was Swann, who was formerly enslaved. Swann and other attendees were arrested in police raids numerous times, but the balls continued. By the 1890s, drag events were also being organized in New York City.

Writer Langston Hughes described his experience at a New York drag ball in the 1920s as the "strangest and gaudiest of all Harlem spectacles" at the time, writing in The Big Sea that:

It is the ball where men dress as women and women dress as men. During the height of the New Negro era and the tourist invasion of Harlem, it was fashionable for the intelligentsia and social leaders of both Harlem and the downtown area to occupy boxes at this ball and look down from above at the queerly assorted throng on the dancing floor, males in flowing gowns and feathered headdresses and females in tuxedoes and box-back suits.

By 1930, racially integrated public drag balls in Chicago, New Orleans, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and other US cities were bringing hundreds of cross-dressing and gender-nonconforming individuals together and attracting large crowds. Use of family terms such as "mother" to denote rank among ball participants were recorded in the early 20th century, and phrases such as "strike a pose" and "vogue" can be traced back to the 1930s.

As the 20th century progressed, organizations advocating for transgender rights were established and community spaces for LGBTQ+ people grew in number, but many were white-dominated and exclusive. Though drag balls were often integrated, Black performers faced racism at balls, leading to a rise of Black balls in the 1960s. In 1972, Harlem drag queens Lottie and Crystal LaBeija founded the first house, the House of LaBeija, and drag balls evolved into house ballroom.

In the ballroom scene, Black and Latino drag performers could achieve glory, find surrogate families, and feel a sense of belonging. Miss Major, who came out as transgender in her teens in late 1950s Chicago and was part of African-American drag ball culture, describes the balls in a 1998 interview.