Sex Workers, Psychics, and Numbers Runners: Black Women in New York City’s Underground Economy

281 Pages·2016·3.177 MB·English

by  LaShawn Harris

Sex Workers, Psychics,
and Numbers Runners
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The NeW Black STudieS SeRieS
Edited by Darlene Clark Hine and Dwight A. McBride
A list of books in the series appears at the end of this book.
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Sex Workers, Psychics,
and Numbers Runners
Black Women in New York City’s
Underground Economy
laShaWN haRRiS
uNiveRSiTy of illiNoiS PReSS
Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield
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Publication of this book was supported by funding from the Morrill
Fund, Department of History, Michigan State University.
© 2016 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
1 2 3 4 5 c p 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Harris, LaShawn, 1974– author.
Title: Sex workers, psychics, and numbers runners : black women in
New York City’s underground economy / LaShawn Harris.
Description: Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2016.
Series: The new Black studies series
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015041914
isbn 9780252040207 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 9780252081668 (pbk. : alk. paper)
isbn 9780252098420 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: African American women—Employment—New
York (State)—New York—History—20th century. | Under-the-
table employment—New York (State)—New York—History—
20th century. | Informal sector—New York (State)—New York—
History—20th century.
Classification: LCC HD6057.5.U52 N4843 2016 | DDC
331.4089/9607307471—dc23 LC record available
at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015041914
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contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
1 Black Women, Urban Labor, and New York’s Informal Economy 23
2 Madame Queen of Policy: Stephanie St. Clair, Harlem’s
Numbers Racket, and Community Advocacy 54
3 Black Women Supernatural Consultants, Numbers Gambling,
and Public Outcries against Supernaturalism 94
4 “I Have My Own Room on 139th Street”: Black Women
and the Urban Sex Economy 123
5 “‘Decent and God-Fearing Men and Women’ Are Restricted
to These Districts”: Community Activism against Urban Vice
and Informal Labor 167
Conclusion 201
Notes 209
Index 245
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acknowledgments
The process of researching, writing, and completing a book is no doubt a long and
arduous endeavor. Fortunately, I had the guidance, wisdom, and encouragement
of many individuals while finishing this book.
To my family, I extend profound feelings of appreciation and love. To the Cooper-
Fleming family (Estella Cooper, Sherema Fleming, Ambrose Fleming, and Leola
Cooper), thank you for your constant and unwavering love and encouragement.
Thank you for being patient and for not chastising me when I often, and usually
without hesitation, chose spending hours at the New York Public Library instead
of spending that time with you. Thank you to the Dagbovie and Mullins families.
Thank you Frances and Prospero Dagbovie, Chris and Sika Dagbovie-Mullins and
Asilah, and Perovi, Kokou, and Be’ Dagbovie for your continuous support over the
years and for graciously accepting me into your wonderful family. To Pero Dag-
bovie, one of the hardest working and smartest scholars in the field of African
American history, thanks for reading every word of this manuscript, for being my
personal copyeditor, for pushing me to embark on unknown territory with this
book. While you were working on one of your many monographs, being graduate
director, and taking care of three boys, you miraculously always made time to read
and comment on my work. You’re an inspiration, and I love you.
My love for history was sparked as an undergraduate at Virginia Union Uni-
versity. Thank you Dr. Raymond Hylton for being one of my biggest cheerleaders
and for introducing me to the historical profession. Your passion for history was
and is infectious and continues to inspire other students. I owe much gratitude to
my fellow Virginia Unionites and other close Richmond, Virginia, friends: Nicole
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viii • Acknowledgments
and Orlando Douglas, Kim Jefferson, and Yuri and Luretia Stewart, and to Sharon
Baptist Church members. Thank you for sustaining me over the years and always
sharing your home with me during my research trips to Virginia. Sharon Braith-
waite deserves a special thank you for inviting me to be part of TV-One’s Celebrity
Crime Files and allowing me to talk about all things Stephanie St. Clair. Ronald
Shelton, thank you for always believing in and encouraging me and for challeng-
ing me intellectually. You left this world before the completion of this book; but I
know your spirit gently guided me through the final stages of this project—telling
me “just get it done.”
A host of close academic friends encouraged me and pushed me to complete my
book. I am truly grateful for all of the friendships I have fostered over the last two
decades. Thank you Sowande Mustakeem, Kennetta Hammond Perry, Talitha Le-
Flouria, Deidre Cooper Owens, Sasha Turner Owens, Daina Ramey Berry, Siobhan
David-Carter, Shannon King, Billie Dee Tate, and Keisha Blain. To my Howard Uni-
versity grad school bestie and sister, Sharita Jacobs Thompson, no words can express
my appreciation for your unwavering friendship and support over the past fifteen
years. Thank you for being my “ride or die” friend. Thank you Robert Thompson for
always being a gracious host during my frequent visits to Washington, D.C.
I am grateful to my Howard University graduate school professors and col-
leagues: Daryl Scott, Edna Medford, Emory Tolbert, David DeLeon, Elizabeth
Clark-Lewis, Louis Woods, Glenn Chambers, Abena Lewis-Mhoon, Christina
Jones, Abraham Smith, Jim Harper, Quito Swan, Gordon Gill, David Gosse, Abba
Baez, and Brittne Nelson. Since my leaving Howard University in 2007, a host of
colleagues and friends at Georgia Southern University, Michigan State University,
and within the Greater East Lansing community provided mentorship, friendship,
and intellectual engagement. In particular, I would like to thank Jonathan Bryant,
Michelle Haberland, Laura Shelton, Linda Collins, Saba Jallow, Renata Newbill
Jallow, Alain Lawo-Sukam, Michael Stamm, Mark Kornbluh, Nwando Achebe,
Walter Hawthrone, Edward Murphy, Kristina Kelly, Jessica Marie Johnson, Peter
Beattie, Jerry Garcia, Maureen Flanagan, Benjamin Smith, Dylan Miner, Estrella
Torrez, Brandt Peterson, Casey Williamson, Vanessa Holden, Terah Chambers,
David Wheat, Jeanna Whiting, Elyse Hansen, Deborah Greer, Amanda Jenkins,
Tama Hamilton-Wray, Jeff Wray, Helen Veit, Christine Root, Ronald Jackson, Jewel
Debnam, Bonita Curry, Jenifer Barclay, Rashida Harrison, Richard Mares, Mary
Philips, Bayyinah Jeffries, and Terrion Williamson.
This book was tremendously improved by the insightful comments of individu-
als who read and commented on various parts of the manuscript and by insightful
conversations with a host of scholars at conferences. Thank you Francille Rusan
Wilson, Ula Taylor, Martha Biondi, Rhonda Williams, Kidada Williams, Jennifer
Hamer, Jeffery Anderson, Yvonne Chireau, Jacqueline McLeod, Kali Gross, Sha-
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Acknowledgments • ix
ron Harley, Jeanne Theoharis, Clarence Lang, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, and Cheryl
Hicks for your words of encouragement and spot-on critiques and recommenda-
tions about the manuscript and the profession. I am forever thankful to my three
external reviewers. They carved out and devoted a significant amount of time to
carefully read a raw and unedited manuscript. Their comments, recommendations,
and honesty sharpened my analysis on black labor, urban America, and African
American women and guided me through the revisions process. Thank you for
supporting this project. Both Lisa Stallings and Barbara Bigelow were great co-
pyeditors and a pleasure to work with. They were indispensable to this project.
Much of my research was conducted in my home city of New York and in Wash-
ington, D.C. I would like to thank the many archivists, librarians, and staffs at the
New York Municipal Archives, New York Public Library, Columbia University, New
York State Archives, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the Li-
brary of Congress for helping me navigate archival collections and photographs.
Several New York Municipal Archives staff members, including Kenneth Cobb,
Lenora Gidlund, Barbara Hibbert, and Dwight Johnson, deserve special atten-
tion. Thank you for assisting me in the research process, and instructing me on
how to access some of New York City’s richest archival materials. CORBIS staff
members Tim Davis, Donna Daley, and Leslie Stauffer were tremendously help-
ful in researching and locating images for this project. I am beholden to Michigan
State University’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies
for awarding me the Humanities and Arts Research Program (HARP) production
grant. HARP funds defrayed the costs of photographs and permissions.
Staff at the University of Illinois Press saw this book go through various in-
carnations. Thank you Jennifer Clark, Nancy Albright, and Robert Engleman for
ushering the book through the production process. Thank you to acquisition edi-
tors Larin McLaughlin and Dawn Durante for seeing the potential in this project
and for making its publication a reality. Dawn Durante, you have been with this
project since the beginning and have shepherded it through the publication pro-
cess. Thank you for always picking up the phone when I called, for meeting with
me at conferences, and for responding to my emails. Thank you New Black Stud-
ies Series editor Darlene Clark Hine for bringing this project to the University of
Illinois Press, and for always taking the time to offer me professional advice and
words of encouragement.
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