PUBLICATION DESIGN

Intro: Ballroom, ball, or house culture have long been a means for queer Blacks and Latinos to live their best lives—that is, to learn how to react to a society that devalued their existence and sought to obliterate their presence. Historically, the ball community has represented the American Dream and one's exclusion from it through elaborate performances including and commenting on race, class, and gender. “In ballroom, houses offer the primary infrastructure upon where the scene is built. It provides the basic kind of kinship structure, and also demonstrates alternative possibilities for what kinship can look like. Moving away from this reliance on one’s biological family, and complicating ideas of a family of choice.”

Insights: Early in the 1970s, a strong subculture of Black and Latinx gay, trans, and queer people emerged in house balls, a place where they could openly express themselves and find acceptance within a disenfranchised community. The world of drag pageantry, which frequently favored white competitors, developed into tournaments that included a range of categories, including "vogue" battles. Over the decades, these balls grew in both popularity and infamy. By the early 20th century, drag balls had become illegal and taboo in mainstream society, driving the competitions underground—a shift that only heightened their allure. What began with "a few courageous spectators" in the 1800s evolved into events drawing thousands of attendees by the 1930s. The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s further energized the drag ball scene, fueled by the flourishing freedom and creativity of Black culture. This period not only encouraged African American artists—painters, writers, dancers, and musicians alike—to push boundaries and reinvent their crafts, but also provided a space for them to explore and express ideas of gender, sex, and sexuality in ways previously unseen. 

Solution: A conceptual book that honors the first house, The Royal House of LaBeija, and the development of ball culture in the 1970s.