Waltzing in the Dark: African American Vaudeville and Race Politics in the Swing Era

This unique study focuses on the social, racial, and artistic climate for African American performers working during the swing era-roughly the late 1920s through the 1940s. The career of Norton and Margot, a ballroom dance team whose work was thwarted by the racial tenets of the era, serves as a tour guide and barometer of the times on this excursion through the worlds of African American vaudeville, separate black and white Americas, the European touring circuit, and pre-Civil Rights era racial etiquette.