Voodoo in Harlem

Abstract Elsie Houston was inspired by the Harlem Renaissance. Alongside her, other performers, such as the African American dancer Katherine Dunham and the Trinidadian dancer Beryl McBurnie, drew on primitivism as a means through which to express the distinction and modernity of black cultures. African-derived folk cultures, as well as US-imagined ideas about Haitian Voudou, became metaphors for black life in art by both black and white creatives. Elsie was enmeshed in a network of bohemian transnationals in New York. She performed at clubs, where she amped up the mystical element of her act by performing in darkened rooms illuminated with candelabras. Newspapers framed Elsie as a freakish novelty, and titillated readers’ imaginations with gothic-esque articles about Elsie the “voodoo songstress” and a primitive, black Brazil.