“Black Was White”: Urbanity, Passing and the Spectacle of Harlem

Abstract

Gillis set down his tan cardboard extension case and wiped his black, shining brow. Then slowly, spreadingly, he grinned at what he saw: Negroes at every turn ; up and down Lenox Avenue, up and down 13 5 th Street ; big lanky Negroes, short, squat Negroes ; black ones, brown ones, yellow ones ; men standing idle on the curb, women, bundle-laden, trudging reluctantly homeward, children rattle trapping about the sidewalks; here and there a white face drifting along, but Negroes predominantly, overwhelmingly everywhere. There was assuredly no doubt of his whereabouts. This was Negro Harlem.1