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.

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

I wish the wider world were more aware of Lindy's origins in Black culture and music,

CRAZY TALK!

[dhobikikutti]

I saw this on the Seeing is Believing blog feed yesterday, and I sent it to our dance list serve.

(His was one of the pictures we had put up for the Black History month thing.)

You're so lucky to have seen him!

[kate_nepveu]

Great post--thanks for the link. *adds blog to feed reader*

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Huh, I knew some of that but not all of it. Interesting--thanks.

Race and class issues in the lindy community

[(Anonymous)]

We actually do think about these issues a lot actually in the lindy community. You can see on our discussion boards at http://yehoodi.com that we often talk about issues of race and class in our scene.

And have done various things to address them, from connecting with African-american cultural institutions, to organizing free lindy hop programs in African american neighborhoods, to celebrating the lives of prominent african-americans like Frankie Manning, Norma Miller and Dawn Hampton who helped create this dance.

Thanks for raising the concern though, which we all share.

Best,

Rik Panganiban
administrator, http://yehoodi.com

[kore]

Aww, this is sad, but a great memory post -- and thank you for the link.