Frankie Manning

[oyceter]

Frankie Manning died today, at 94. He was one of the original Lindy hoppers in Harlem, and he was a major figure in its revival in the 1980s.

Racialicious has a post on Frankie Manning, Lindy hop, and cultural appropriation that I found interesting and on the mark, and I very much wish the Lindy communities I've been in were more aware of these issues, even as they preserve the dance. More than that, I wish the wider world were more aware of Lindy's origins in Black culture and music, since most of the images of Lindy these days are of middle-class white kids in the 1940s (Swing Kids, the Gap ads, etc.), not the Black dancers in the 1930s.

Still, I'm glad I got the chance to see Frankie a few months back, and I'm very glad to hear the big bash planned for his 95th birthday will continue.

Comments

[daedala]

Thank you for linking to the Racialicious post.

I have been wondering about that, in swing class, but it's not something I've felt able to ask about.

[oyceter]

Yeah, me neither. I mean, I am glad that at least Lindy hoppers are fairly aware of the dance's history, but the community here is very white and Asian. Manning also mentions racism and Jim Crow in his biography, but he kind of glosses over it and focuses on the dancing instead, or just shrugs and says something like, "Those days were different."