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The Ballroom scene (also known as the Ballroom community, Ballroom culture, or just Ballroom) is an African-American and Latino underground LGBTQ+ subculture that originated in large cities in the United States in the mid-19th century. Beginning in the late 20th century, Black and Latino drag queens organized their own pageants in opposition to racism experienced in established drag queen pageant circuits. Though racially integrated for the participants, the judges of these circuits were mostly white people. While the initial establishment of Ballroom mimicked these drag queen pageants, the inclusion of gay men and trans women would transform the Ballroom scene into what it is today: a multitude of categories in which all LGBTQ+ people may participate. Attendees "walk" these categories for trophies and cash prizes. Most participants in Ballroom belong to groups known as "houses", where chosen families of friends form relationships and communities separate from their families of origin, from which they may be estranged.

Since the beginning of colonial settlement in the United States, there have been individuals contradicting gendered expectations. However, it wasn't until the mid-19th century, as urbanization allowed for increased independence and anonymity, that cities provided a space for LGBTQ+ communities to form. In the 1880s, drag balls became a popular gathering space for people living different gendered lives. William Dorsey Swann, the first person known to describe himself as a drag queen, hosted secret balls in Washington, D.C.. Many of the attendees were black men, and Swann himself was a formerly enslaved person. Swann and other attendees were arrested in police raids numerous times, but the balls continued. By the 1890s, drag events were also being organized in New York City, and by 1930, public drag balls in Chicago, New Orleans, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and other US cities were bringing hundreds of cross-dressing and gender-nonconforming individuals together and attracting large crowds.

In his essay "Spectacles of Colors", Langston Hughes describes his experience at a New York drag ball in the 1920s. "'Strangest and gaudiest of all Harlem spectacles in the '20s, and still the strangest and gaudiest, is the annual Hamilton Club Lodge Ball at Rockland Palace Casino. I once attended as a guest of A'Lelia Walker. It is the ball where men dress as women and women dress as men. During the height of the New Negro era and the tourist invasion of Harlem, it was fashionable for the intelligentsia and social leaders of both Harlem and the downtown area to occupy boxes at this ball and look down from above at the queerly assorted throng on the dancing floor, males in flowing gowns and feathered headdresses and females in tuxedoes and box-back suits.' —Langston Hughes"Many transgender

Family terms such as "mother" were

By the early 20th century, newspapers in the Baltimore and Washington area had documented the use of family terms to denote rank within groups of ball participants, with “mother” reserved for an older person serving as a mentor to younger ones

By the early 20th century, newspapers had documented family terms such as "mother" among ball participants, and (something about slang if its in that article) (cite the lady one). As the 20th century progressed, (thing about urban versus suburban from stryker).

if styjer mentions black and latino, include that, but if not, include thing from other one

Black and Latino drag queens formed their own balls, and modern ballroom culture began to develop out of Harlem in the late 1960s, and expanded rapidly to other major cities. In New Orleans in the 1950s, they appeared at Mardi Gras celebrations as krewes. The Sons of Tennessee Williams, a documentary by Tim Wolff released in 2010, follows their history.

Ball culture was first captured and shown to a mainstream audience in Jennie Livingston's documentary Paris is Burning (1990). With the rise of social media, ball culture has migrated to such countries as Canada, Japan, and the UK.

In 2006, director and producer Wolfgang Busch released How Do I Look, a sequel in content to Paris is Burning, featuring Pepper LaBeija, Willi Ninja, Octavia St. Laurent, Jose Xtravaganza  and Kevin Omni.

"[The balls] were phenomenal! It was like going to the Oscars show today. Everybody dressed up. Guys in tuxedos, queens in gowns that you would not believe—I mean, things that they would have been working on all year. There was a queen in the South Side who would do the South City Ball. There was one on the North Side who would do the Maypole Ball. There were different ones in different areas at different times. And the straight people who would come and watch, they were different than the ones who come today. They just appreciated what was going on. They would applaud the girls when they were getting out of one Cadillac after another. It was just that the money was there, and the timing was right, and the energy was there to do this thing with an intensity that people just don’t seem to have today. It seems to have dissipated. Then it was always a wonder—whether you participated, whether you watched, whether you just wore a little cocktail dress and a small fur coat —it was just a nice time." —Miss Major

Ball culture was first captured and shown to a mainstream audience in Jennie Livingston's documentary Paris is Burning (1990). With the rise of social media, ball culture has migrated to such countries as Canada, Japan, and the UK.

Edited history section. Fixed an incorrect citation, added a couple additional sources, and deleted/revised claims that weren't supported by sources. Examples of incorrect claims: The previous version of this section included the statement "There were no Black judges," but the source it referenced says "Clark did, however, indicate that the Harlem drag balls, unlike others he competed in during the year, included a racial diversity of judges." Genny Beemyn did not write Trans Bodies, Trans Selves, and the book does not state that drag balls were created "in direct defiance" of anti-cross dressing laws. Also, the claim that "racial discrimination prompted Black and Latino attendees to form their own balls" is not supported in its corresponding source. (As explained in most of these sources, drag balls have their roots in POC LGBTQ+ communities, i.e. they had already been forming their own balls.)