Black History Month original snapshot photographs from the book The Birth of Rock and Roll by Jim Linderman

Untitled (anonymous) From a set of ten snapshots, c. 1950-1960 collection Jim Linderman (From the book The Birth of Rock and Roll) #blackhistorymonth #snapshot #dance #vernacularphotography.

Young Hoofers Show Business 1952

An 8 x 10 photograph of young buskers dressed for the show.  Dated (with names) on the reverse

Anonymous Photographer 1952 Collection Jim Linderman

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Folk Art Dancing Dan Limberjack Jig Doll Jiggerman Limberjim Dancin' Dan the Yankee Doodle Dancer Articulated Figure

A limberjack, AKA jig doll, slapjack, jiggerman, limberjim, dancin' dan, paddle puppet and yankee-doodle dancer (and articulated figure if it is mounted on a museum base) is actually a wooden musical instrument which consists of a doll with loose joints on the end of a long stick, the legs of which the human performer causes to tap rhythmically on a thin wooden board like a clog dancer. The one here happens to be tied to a ruler, thus giving a measure of the man while he dances. The photograph of a REAL limberjack is an original snapshot from the 1930s.


Clog Dances ARE like songs...trace them to Ireland or Africa, take your pick. Wiki says clogging may even be traced to the Cherokee. John Lee Hooker did it sitting down like a stationary tap-dancer. "Buck dancer" is probably the most common term, or flat-dancing, foot-stomping and like the whittled doll it is also known as jigging, hence the jig doll name. Whatever, it is the percussive sound made by clogging which is important and also why the dance itself looks ridiculous. Stay loose!

Original photograph and carved wooden figure, both circa 1930, both collection Jim Linderman

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