In the mid-to-late 19th century, minstrel shows were full of white performers who smeared burnt cork on their faces and parodied us on stage. Sometimes Black performers also wore blackface to make money. And to subvert their white counterparts, they danced the "Virginia essence," a slow shuffle that was the precursor to the moonwalk.
On the plantation, enslaved people invented the cakewalk, an exaggerated march and glide, to make fun of their enslavers. In the 1900s, the dance was banned as "undignified romping." During the vaudeville era, Black performers became famous for what detractors called "eccentric dancing." It was all just too Black.
Vaudevillian Billy Bailey tap-danced his way onto mainstream stages with his signature backslide, often considered the earliest version of the moonwalk on film. Dance had become a sign of Black social progress exhibited by grand showmanship and full bodily autonomy. During the early Harlem Renaissance, critics like W.E.B. Du Bois played respectability politics against eccentric dancing, believing that Black art should combat racist stereotypes. Others sidelined it in favor of more "serious" art.
In the 1970s, the Soul Train era brought the pop and boogie to funk, disco, and soul. The Electric Boogaloos popularized a backward glide with popping move. James Brown adopted it. Michael Jackson immortalized it.
Black people spent generations without the right to control our bodies. Now that we can, we deserve to move and express ourselves as we please.