African American Studies Commons^™

Rappin', Writin', & Breakin', Juan Flores

Trotter Review

The following article is reprinted with permission from the spring 1988 issue of CENTRO, the bulletin of the Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College, New York. It was previously published in the fall 1987 issue of Dissent.

Word has it that Machito, the father of Latin jazz who died in early 1984 at seventy-five, was learning how to breakdance. The great Cuban bandleader, who since the 1940s had performed with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker and stood at the juncture of Caribbean and Afro-American musical traditions, must surely have recognized an exciting new stage in …

Down On Hastings Street: A Study Of Social And Cultural Changes In A Detroit Community 1941-1955, John Fredrick Cohassey

Wayne State University Theses

The study of the Hastings Street jazz and blues scene affords a look into Detroit's African-American community when it faced the burden of segregation, and also shared in the city's economic prosperity. The study of the street contributes to the understanding of racial relations in Detroit, concentrating primarily on the years 1941 to 1955. The delineation of the distinct features separating the migrant Southern folk blues culture and the older established jazz community reveals the diverse social and cultural elements of Detroit's African-American population.