Historical Ttimeline

1912

  • A jazz orchestra organized by James Reese Europe plays at Carnegie Hall

    • 1913

  • Darktown Follies at Lafayette Theater ("Beginning" of Harlem nightlife)

    • 1919

  • 369th Regiment parades up Fifth Avenue to Harlem after WWI

    • 1920

  • National Prohibition Act goes into effect
  • Jack Johnson (the first black heavyweight champion) opens Club Deluxe (changed name to the Cotton Club in 1923)
  • Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association holds a national convention in Harlem

    • 1921

  • Shuffle Along (an all black musical) sets a new starndard on Broadway

    • 1922

  • The Harmon Foundation is established

    • 1923

  • Running Wild, an all black Broadway musical, introduces the Charleston

    • 1924

  • Louis Armstrong plays at the Roseland Ballroom with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra

    • 1925

  • Small's Paradise opens

    • 1926

  • The Savoy Ballroom opens

    • 1927

  • The "400" Club starts at the Savoy
  • The Cotton Club starts a live radio broadcast of the Duke Ellington Orchestra
  • Charles Lindbergh's trans-Atlantic flight

    • 1929

  • Chick Webb's orchestra and "Shorty George" Snowden featured in After Seben
  • The Stock Market crashes (Beginning of the Great Depression, which effectively ends Harlem Renaissance)

    • 1930

    • 1931

  • Chick Webb's band starts its long residency at the Savoy

    • 1932

  • Duke Ellington releases It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got the Swing, which heralds the Swing Era
  • The Apollo Theatre becomes a black vaudeville house

    • 1933

  • Weekly floor shows introduced at the Savoy
  • National Prohibition Act repealed

    • 1934

  • Chick Webb records Stompin' at the Savoy

    • 1935

  • Harlem Race Riots
  • The first Harvest Moon Ball dance contest

    • 1936

  • A business peak is reached at the Savoy Ballroom
  • The Lindy Hop is introduced to Europe by Harvest Moon Ball contestants
  • The Cotton Club relocates downtown
  • Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton join Benny Goodman
  • Jesse Owens makes heroic achievements at Berlin Olympics in Nazi Germany

    • 1937

  • The battle of bands at the Savoy features Chick Webb vs. Benny Goodman
  • Whitey's Lindy Hoppers featured in Marx Brothers' A Day at the Races
  • "Cotton Club Revue" featuring Whitey's Lindy Hoppers tours Europe
  • All female swing band "Sweethearts of Rhythm" formed in Mississippi

    • 1938

  • The battle of bands at the Savoy features Chick Webb (with vocalist Ella Fitzgerald) vs. Count Basie (with vocalist Billie Holiday)

    • 1939

  • Chick Webb dies and Ella Fitzgerald assumes the leadership of the band
  • New York World's Fair (features swing; television is introduced)

    • 1940

  • The Cotton Club (downtown) closes

    • 1941

  • Whitey's Lindy Hoppers featured in Hellzapoppin
  • Teddy Hill hires Thelonious Monk and Kenny Clarke at Minton's Playhouse
  • U.S. enters WWII - the Lindy Hop is introduced around the world by the U.S. soldiers.

    • 1943

  • The staff of hostesses at the Savoy is discontinued

    • 1944

  • Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., elected the first black congressman from the East

    • 1945

  • WWII ends

    • 1949

  • Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson dies

    • ca1950

  • Mura Dehn documents dancers from the Savoy Ballroom on film

    • 1958

  • The Savoy Ballroom closes

    • 1959

  • The Savoy Ballroom building is replaced by Delano Village

    • Mark the Savoy Home

    About the Savoy Ballroom