Frankie Manning
Wed, Apr. 29th, 2009 08:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterFrankie 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.
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.
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(no subject)
Thu, Apr. 30th, 2009 07:16 am (UTC)(His was one of the pictures we had put up for the Black History month thing.)
You're so lucky to have seen him!
(no subject)
Wed, May. 6th, 2009 02:00 pm (UTC)I saw! That made me so happy ^_^.
I'm really glad I went... it was one of those days I had trouble dragging myself out of the house, but I eventually did, thank goodness.