The Selene Club: San Antonio's First Interracial Debutante Society

The Selene Club was the first interracial debutante society in San Antonio. The Selene Club annually presented Latina and Anglo debutantes for San Antonio’s International Black and White Ball, established by María Rodriguez Magnón and held every December at the San Antonio Municipal Building beginning in 1933. Magnón and her husband Antonio, once wealthy residents of Monterrey and allies of Bernardo Reyes, became refugees to Texas after fleeing the Mexican Revolution. Magnón, who had founded a business college for women, named after Reyes, became part of the transplanted Mexican elite class that came to call San Antonio home. Intended to foster business relations and cultural understanding across racial and national lines, the Selene Club reflected the ideals of the Good Neighbor Policy. The club was originally called El Club Femenil de Swástika (The Women’s Swastika Club)—the swastika was then a popular symbol of good fortune—but the name was later changed to avoid association with Nazism. Magnón modeled the debutante ball after the Black and White Ball of Mexico City.

The inaugural Black and White Ball took place on December 1933 at the San Antonio Municipal Auditorium. The use of the auditorium, a White-only event space in the heart of downtown San Antonio, was a testament to Magnón’s tenacity. She was able to convince San Antonio Mayor C. M. Chambers to allow her debutantes to be presented there (after mollifying him that the name of the ball was derived from its dress code and that Black San Antonians would not be allowed to participate). Attendance grew from around 300 people at the 1933 ball to 3,000 by 1956. Guests included members of the Mexican consulate. Nearly all of the debutantes at the original ball had been Latinas, but by the 1960s around half of the participants were Anglo. Magnón was actively involved with the ball until 1962, when illness prevented her from attending. She died shortly thereafter.

The Black and White Ball, as the culmination of the debutante season, was the most important social function for the queens, princesses, and duchesses. Young White and Latino women from across Texas and Latinas from Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras were regularly presented. The height of the night was the presentation ritual, in which the young women made their entrances (entradas) and executed their deep court bows for the full audience. Performed in heavy gowns, often beaded with lengthy trains, the low and graceful court bows required choreography, athleticism, and practice. Graceful execution could often be deeply nerve wracking, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s, when the event guest lists surpassed 3,000. Magnón remained proud into her elder years that none of her trained debutantes fell.

As a result of the Black and White Ball’s popularity, the event became highly competitive and a focus of great social interest. Along with the rising popularity of the club came the increasing opulence of gowns and accessories worn by debutantes, which reflected the growing affluence of the city following World War II. Former debutantes presented their daughters, nieces, and goddaughters decades after their own presentations, many of them biracial young women. While primarily a Latina and White club, by the 1960s the Selene Club was becoming a tri-racial organization, largely through the marriage of members to Chinese-American men. The evolution of the Selene Club reflected the changing racial and social landscape of San Antonio.