White Screens, Black Dance - Race and Masculinity in the United States at Midcentury

White Screens, Black Dance shows how several types of American masculinity were built through Black dance on mid-twentieth century film and television. It does so by analyzing case studies of major period stars, both Black and white: the Nicholas Brothers, Gene Kelly, Elvis Presley, and Sammy Davis, Jr. In the process, it also reveals the white stars'' appropriation of Black culture through dance, which the author terms blackbodying. Both this practice and the midcentury models of masculinity that it describes are ultimately shown to remain with us today--on film, TV, and TikTok.