MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Between 1947 and 1954, the Richmond, Virginia, YWCA sponsored a hetereosocial organization known as the Gay Sombreros. The Gay Sombreros were white, mostly single 18-to-35 year-olds who met weekly for a social dance. The organization’s stated purpose was to provide “wholesome recreation and to promote good will and fellowship for young adults.”¹ More to the point, the group used social dancing as a venue for “bringing boys and girls together!”² The organization deliberately encouraged “appropriate” heterosocial contact, encouraging hundreds of young dancers to meet, mingle and, of course, dance with new partners. Gay Sombrero dances revolved around “mixers” such as “Progressives” and “Paul Reveres,” or dances that pushed strangers into each other’s arms. The Gay Sombrero Council, a rotating group of elected leaders responsible for planning and running the dances, pressured attendees to mingle. Given the YWCA mandate that the dances remain “wholesome,” there were constant tensions between the young adults and the leadership over the appropriate forms of dancing, music, alcohol, clothing, and sexual respectability. While the Gay Sombreros were a local institution, and the scope of this research does not extend beyond white Richmond youth, the records of their organization do offer a very detailed portrait of mid-twentieth-century courtship in a major Southern city. I propose to use the Gay Sombreros to describe one community’s approach to courtship and sexuality, and to compare the courtship experiences of Richmond young white adults to their peers in other communities.