Is watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade a tradition in your family? It is in mine. As a child, on Thanksgiving morning, we’d drive across town to visit my maternal grandmother. After being greeted by her big hug and the wonderful smells of dinner cooking, I’d be drawn to the TV. The parade would be on. I’d plop down with my cousins watching the balloons and all the magic of the parade.
This year’s Thanksgiving wasn’t a lot different. Now, it’s me in the kitchen making my one obligatory dish, apple-sausage stuffing. The parade is usually on mostly for background noise and nostalgia, but this year something caught my eye. I stopped to really watch. There were two brown-skinned women in the lineup for the Rockettes. They weren’t so light skinned that I barely noticed them as people of color. These were brown-skinned women who stood out in the mostly white precision line. I called my best friend, my Black best friend. She had noticed them too.
Founded in 1925, it’s not surprising that the Rockettes was an all-white dance troupe. Segregation was the law and the custom. What is a bit surprising, and disturbing, is the organization’s depth of commitment to being all-white and the length of time that it remained so. At one point, the founder, Russell Markert, forbade the dancers from even getting a tan because “they might look like a colored girl.” Violet Holmes, a former director and choreographer said when asked about integrating the troupe, “Blacks would distract from ‘the look of precision,’ the Rockettes’ trademark.”
The first 
woman of color, Jennifer Jones, wasn’t added to the troupe until 1987 for a special Super Bowl performance. 1987. This was after the pinnacle of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, after Beverly Johnson became the first Black model to be on the cover of a fashion magazine, Vogue, in 1974 and after a Black woman, Vanessa Williams, had been named Miss America in 1984, and, most importantly, after the passage of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act which prohibited employment discrimination. This dance group remained committed to being all-white for as long as possible. So, even when the Rockettes finally integrated, it was not surprising that the lighter skinned candidates had a greater chance of acceptance, regardless of the dancing skills of browner girls, because the lighter ones would blend in with the look the organization was seeking and the Rockettes could check the “integrated” box.
So, in 2022, is it heartwarming or saddening that I found a moment of joy in seeing two brown-skinned girls proudly on the Rockettes’ line in front of Macy’s this Thanksgiving Day?
There are so many components in defining American culture. The Rockettes and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade are a part of Americana. When my cousins and I were watching the parade decades ago, we didn’t see many, if anyone, who looked like us. Subliminally, that lack of Black people sent us messages about where we could/should be and what we could do. Representation matters in every aspect of American life and not just to children, to adults, too. While two brown-skinned girls dancing on the Rockettes’ line is not a deeply meaningful testament to the lessening of racism in America, it is another building block in creating a more racially just country … and it made me smile.
Funny how we all look for the African American dancers. I remember watching the June Taylor dancers on the Jackie Gleason show when I was a child. In 1963 Mercedes Ellington(yes, Mercer’s daughter/Duke’s granddaughter), joined the troupe. It was the talk of the black community. You could sometimes pick her out – she had just enough melanin in her skin. She was a groundbreaker and we were so proud! She danced with them for 7 years.
Jackie, I remember looking for Mercedes Ellington, too. We are always so proud of whomever is first. Thanks for following my blog.
Tamara ~ I really appreciate your articles (and your book!). We both lived at Ludwell our freshman year, but didn’t get to know one another then. Not sure why, since 3 of my roommates were other ‘brown girls’, including Renee. But I’m looking forward to a second chance at our 50th. See you then!
Best from a distant fan in Seattle,
K Robinson
Thanks so much for reading the blog and for sharing your thoughts. If something new was revealed to you or you think it might provoke new thinking in others, please feel free to share the blog and encourage others to follow. See you in April.
Beautiful articulates as always. Thanks for sharing the moment.
Touché, my friend. Thank you for lifting up the many faces of racism.
Another enlightening read for my white eyesight. I had no idea of the history of the Rockettes. Thank you, Tamara, for expanding my vision, deepening my understanding, increasing my knowledge, and strengthening my resolve. Your words are powerful.
Thanks, Holly. I hope you will share with others. There is so much to be revealed, especially the normative reality of being white in America. You never have to look for yourself.
It’s true. So much reality still to be seen. Thank you for helping me to take down the scales from my eyes.
I have shared your blog and will continue.
And it makes me smile also!!!
Excellent article, it is amazing that racism can be displayed before us and we only see the glamor that covers it up.
Way to go, Tamara! Keep kicking those legs high!!
The “browning” of America in positions traditionally held by whites because they were white does indicate some forward movement and heightened awareness towards being a more inclusive America. I am giving much of the credit to the rising generations of young, open-minded and welcoming citizens. These go-getters are shown they are ready to embrace, support and vote for the freedoms and equitable treatment all citizens were promised by this country’s founding founders and the documents they crafted. I am pleased to see generations breaking the behavioral patterns of obligatory rule following — just because. I am excited for the outspoken champions of individual expression and who welcome more than one diversity dimension to come out of the closet. I love the brown, black, yellow, and red legs of the Rockets. I marvel at the protestors who march to protect their bodies as temples. I cheer those who love the way they wish and who they want. I’ll defend those who wish to worship in ways that bring them closer to their higher selves. I hope I see the day, when we don’t notice two brown legs as progress (although on this day it is a feat considering from where my journey began.) But I pray, my children will live in a future where decisions and actions based on race are truly outlawed, condemned and eliminated from normative and accepted behavior.