Ségrégation raciale aux USA - années 30 et 40

Waco, Texas. 1939.

Front of a cinema theatre called The Gem Theatre, with the precision the house is reserved to Colored patrons only. The name theatre refers to the fact that old cinema houses were originally stages where plays or concerts with live actors or musicians were presented, before films movies were shown.

The name of the cinema alludes to a prestigious movie theatre The Gem opened in 1936 in Kannapolis, North Carolina (one of the oldest American cinemas still in use nowadays), where colored people were certainly not entertained as guests in the 1930s.

The gem (or jewel) is here obviously the precious black bottle shown here as a logo, the brand name of a soda company producing non alcoholic beverages is visible in part on the left, unchanged down to our time. This implies the Gem Theatre will have an exclusive contract with the Coca Cola company, or even be owned by the company as an exclusive outlet for its products. Coca Cola had already in the 1930s an aggressive commercial policy that did not stop at segregation, colored people were made to feel exclusive as long as they were customers.

Waco, Texas. 1939.

Les salles de cinémas sont parfois appelées Theatre, rappelant leur fonction première de scène pour les spectacles vivants, comédies ou concerts. The Gem (Le Bijou) fait allusion à un cinéma prestigieux encore aujourd’hui actif à Kannapolis, en Caroline du nord. Ici, il s’agit d’une salle réservée aux gens de couleur qui se pare d’un nom célèbre (The Gem Theatre exclusive colored theatre - Le Gem Theatre cinéma pour gens de couleur exclusivement ou pour des Gens de couleur sélectionnés).

La silhouette d’une bouteille de soda et la partie vivible de sa marque commerciale indiquent qu’il s’agit d’une franchise exclusive Coca Cola, boisson populaire auprès des ligues de tempérance car non alcoolique malgré son nom aux connotations sulfureuses. La compagnie Coca Cola vendait à tous les clients sans tenir compte de la ségrégation légale. Le petit compliment flatteur ambigu à l’égard des consommateurs ne fait pas illusion sur le fait que les Noirs étaient exclus eux-mêmes des cinémas blancs.