Today In Black History...

On this date in 1940 the famous Cotton Club in Harlem closed their doors for the final time. The Cotton Club was a famous night club in New York City that operated during Prohibition. While the club featured many of the greatest black entertainers of the era, such as Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Bessie Smith, Cab Calloway, The Nicholas Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, and Ethel Waters, it generally denied admission to blacks.