More than 60 years ago a Black teen from Malvern C.I. was told to stop dancing with a white girl....

[dalton99a]

5. "Local media entirely ignored the story"

Except for the Buffalo Criterion, the only newspaper serving the city’s Black readers, local media entirely ignored the story.

The case was different elsewhere. All three Toronto dailies dispatched reporters to the City of Good Neighbours to cover the story. The New York Times noted the occurrence in their paper. CBC Radio had a panel discussion relating to the incident on the show Teen Tempo.

Author Victoria Wolcott, professor of history at the University of Buffalo, writes about the incident in her book, Race, Riots and Roller Coasters. Interracial couples dancing at public venues was controversial but not unheard of in Buffalo. However, Wolcott writes, “In this northern city interracial dancing might happen at one of the Hound Dog’s auditorium shows or in the Zanzibar Lounge, but it could not be broadcast on live television.”

Initially, host Pat Fagan told the Star, in Buffalo, “Negros dance with Negros and whites dance with whites.” He changed his tune when station manager Van Beuren DeVries claimed no policy existed that banned interracial couples dancing together on the show.

A week after the cross-border offence, DeVries send a letter of apology to young Clayton, “We indeed regret this matter and you have our apology for any embarrassment caused by this treatment.”