-
Black Africans brought their dances to North, Central, and South America, and the Caribbean Islands as slave labor starting in the 1500s.
-
-
-
-
Beginning in the 1880s and through the 1920s, vaudeville was home to more than 25,000 performers, and was the most popular form of entertainment in America. From the local small-town stage to New York's Palace Theater, vaudeville was an essential part of every community.
-
The “two-colored” vaudeville rule prevented Black performers from appearing alone onstage. Because of these restrictions, from 1902 until 1914, Robinson was required to have an onstage partner.
-
-
-
-
In short, the “Charleston” dance phenomenon was a product of various cultural forces originating in Africa and Europe that germinated in the crucible of Charleston and blossomed in Harlem in the early 1920s.
-
-
-
-
-
The dance that eventually became known as the Big Apple is speculated to have been created in the early 1930s by African-American youth dancing at the Big Apple Club, which was at the former House of Peace Synagogue on Park Street in Columbia, South Carolina.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-