Dance and Race in America (Part One) (Patreon)

If there's one stereotype about black Americans that holds more weight than us being funny, it's that we can dance. While I sadly cannot dance, most of my community can. As it turns out, dance and race has an interesting history that I felt was relevant to discussions we're having (and will be having) in #LetsTalkAboutSexHistory. Dance within a racial framework is a broad buffet ripe with stories, so there will be a second part of this miniseries, and potentially a third. 

BONUS FACT: While most people in the early 20th century knew black people invented jazz, Henry Ford was convinced that jazz was a Jewish conspiracy meant to get everyone addicted to vice and immorality. He spent a pretty penny in the 20s to promote good ol fashioned values via square dancing. The irony? Square Dancing as known today, which is now the official dance of 31 states, was largely developed by slaves. You can read Square Dance Calling: The African-American Connection (pdf attached below) for more information.

References

Black Imagination and the Middle Passage (Maria Didrich, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Carl Penderson)

The White Reception of Jazz in America (Maureen Anderson)

Intimate Matters (John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman)

William Henry Lane, “Master Juba" (American Tap Dance Foundation)

The Cakewalk: A Study in Stereotype and Reality (PDF Attached Below)

Satan in The Dance Hall: Rev John Soach Straton, Social Dancing, and Morality in 1920s New York City

Slumming: Sexual and Racial Encounters in American Nightlife, 1885-1940 (Chad Heap)