Swingin' the Color Line

At the end of nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth, New York African American musicians established themselves as professionals, organized associations, and ensured that the New York musicians' union would draw no color line. In the 1920s, African American musicians made popular vernacular music into formal, professional music. They gained long-standing jobs, joined Local 802 in greater numbers, and emerged as a substantial ethnic interest in a pluralistic union. In the 1930s, these same musicians faced the worst of the depression and took political action. They expanded their own organizations and joined a movement to reform Local 802's administration. Finally, aided by the success of their music, by the support of labor leaders and swing enthusiasts, by more sympathetic government and Local 802 officials, African American musicians made Local 802 accountable to their concerns. They, not the city they lived in nor the men they cooperated with, made Local 802 their political instrument.