Prologue: this strange dance -- Finding the pocket -- Caught in the act of appropriation -- Put a little color on that! -- Steppin' out of whiteness -- Conclusion: toward a new racial politics -- References -- Notes
Summary
"Perhaps," wrote Ralph Ellison more than seventy years ago, "the zoot suit contains profound political meaning; perhaps the symmetrical frenzy of the Lindy-hop conceals clues to great potential power." As Ellison noted then, many of our most mundane cultural forms are larger and more important than they appear, taking on great significance and an unexpected depth of meaning. What he saw in the power of the Lindy Hop-the dance that Life magazine once billed as "America's True National Folk Dance"--Would spread from black America to make a lasting impression on white America and offer
