A Dancer in the Revolution : Stretch Johnson, Harlem Communist at the Cotton Club / Howard Eugene Johnson.
Johnson, Howard Eugene, author.; Johnson, Wendy, contributor.; Naison, Mark D., contributor.
2014
HX84.J65 .J646 2014eb
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Title A Dancer in the Revolution : Stretch Johnson, Harlem Communist at the Cotton Club / Howard Eugene Johnson.
Author Johnson, Howard Eugene, author.
ISBN 9780823256563
DOI https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823256563
Published New York, NY : Fordham University Press, [2014]
Copyright ©2014
Language English
Language Note In English.
Description 1 online resource (216 p.)
Other Standard Identifiers 10.1515/9780823256563 doi
Call Number HX84.J65 .J646 2014eb
Dewey Decimal Classification 324.273/75092
Summary The life of Howard Johnson, nicknamed "Stretch" because of his height (6'5"), epitomizes the cultural and political odyssey of a generation of African Americans who transformed the United States from a closed society to a multiracial democracy. Johnson's long-awaited memoir traces his path from firstborn of a multiclass/multiethnic" family in New Jersey to dancer in Harlem's Cotton Club to communist youth leader and, later, professor of Black studies. A Dancer in the Revolution is a powerful statement about Black resilience and triumph amid subtle and explicit racism in the United States.Johnson's engaging, beautifully written memoir provides a window into everyday life in Harlem-neighborhood life, arts and culture, and politics-from the 1930s to the 1970s, when the contemporary Black community was being formed. A Dancer in the Revolution explores Johnson's twenty-plus years in the Communist Party andilluminates in compelling detail how the Harlem branch functioned and flourished in the 1930s and '40s. Johnson thrived as a charismatic leader, using the connections he built up as an athlete and dancer to create alliances between communist organizations and a cross-section of the Black community. In his memoir, Johnson also exposes the homoerotic tourism that was a feature of Harlem's nightlife in the 1930s. Some of America's leading white literary, musical, and artistic figures were attracted to Harlem not only for the community's artistic creativity but to engage in illicit sex-gay and straight-with their Black counterparts.A Dancer in the Revolution is an invaluable contribution to the literature on Black political thought and pragmatism. It reveals the unique place that Black dancers and artists hold in civil rights pursuits and anti-racism campaigns in the United States and beyond. Moreover, the life of "Stretch" Johnson illustrates how political activism engenders not only social change but also personal fulfillment, a realization of dreams not deferred but rather pursued and achieved. Johnson's journey bears witness to critical periods and events that shaped the Black condition and American society in the process.
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics text file PDF
Source of Description Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 03. Jan 2023)
Added Author Johnson, Wendy, contributor.
Naison, Mark D., contributor.
In Fordham University Press Complete eBook-Package 2014-2015
Fordham University Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2014
Linked Resources Online Access
Record Appears in Online Resources > Ebooks
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Frontmatter
Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Timeline
Part I
1 Early Days
2 Harlem and the Cotton Club
3 Moving Up
4 Show Biz
5 Joining the Party
Part II
6 The Young Communist League
7 The War Years
8 Back Home
9 La Lucha Continua
Part III
10 Starting Over
11 Malimwu
12 The Cotton Club Revisited
13 Martin Luther King Day in Hawaii
14 Paris to Texas and Home Again
Notes
Further Reading
Map of Harlem Nightclubs in the 1930s and '40s
Howard E. Johnson's Curriculum Vitae
Index

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