DENVER — This Black History Month, Denver7 is taking a look back at a Denver social club as it celebrates 84 years of serving the community, while also being featured at the History Colorado museum.
The “Owl Club of Denver: Legacies of Excellence” exhibit looks back at the club and the all-Black debutante cotillion celebrated annually since 1951.
The glamorous celebration is an example of Black excellence while redefining beauty and charm.
The Owl Club was started in 1941 by eight railroad pullmen, waiters and businessmen who would gather in their free time to play cards late into the night.
“When you go back in time and understand segregation and understand some of the obstacles, some of the threats and the challenges that a lot of our men experienced, they were coming together to lift each other up, coming together to have a little Black joy,” Terri Gentry, with History Colorado, said.
The club became a safe space where members could talk about their achievements and socialize freely.
Early members were from the Five Points, Whittier and Park Hill neighborhoods. Some of the only places Black residents could live due to redlining.
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“Growing up in the Denver community, I knew a lot of the members of the Owl Club, and they were mentors, they were teachers, they were Cub Scout leaders, they were just everything,” Ronald Washington, a current member for the last 23 years, told Denver7 recently.
Notable members were Tuskegee airmen Captain Omar D. Blair, who was also the first Black Denver Board of Education president, as well as World War II veteran and lawmakers Elvin Caldwell.
“It's just an honor to be with these gentlemen and to carry on what our founders had begun in 1941, so trying to uphold that legacy and proudly do so,” Washington said.
The Owl Club's mission is to celebrate and support the academic achievements of young women in the community.
Unlike debutante culture in Europe, which debut young women for marriage, The Owl Club Debutante Ball is about professional development and scholarships.
“The criteria would be your grades and community service — you didn’t have to have a legacy or money,” Terri Gentry said.
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was a debutante in 1971.
Gentry’s grandmother, Ernestine Smith, introduced the choreography for the Waltz of the Bells in 1952, a traditional dance during the Cotillion that continues today.
The Owl Club will hold its 74th Debutant Cotillion in June.
“This tradition is so critical because there's so much that we're bombarded with about who we are. We are constantly berated, constantly denigrated, and this debutante presentation, for me, changes the narrative. It uplifts, it celebrates,” Gentry said.
The Owl Club Headquarters were recently listed on the National Registry of Historic Properties and a plaque presentation ceremony is planned for February 27.
You can visit the History Colorado exhibit which features dozens of photos and the original Waltz of the Bells music through May 10.
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