A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance

In a single long sentence, Abdurraqib describes being a Black Muslim kid trying to juggle prayer with an attraction to dancing and MTV. Unlike other families at the Islamic Center on Broad Street, his family had MTV because his grandma needed cable to watch game shows. After practicing in his basement, Abdurraqib attempts to use his dance moves to woo a girl at the Islamic center. He tries to moonwalk, but falls into a pile of shoes without having impressed her. When his mom dies, the family cuts off the cable.

Abdurraqib outlines the origins of dance marathons, attributing their origins to farm towns in the 1920s. Dance marathons are a feat of endurance, which Abdurraqib connects to an American interest in carnivals, fairs, and the idea of world records: For example, Alma Cummings’s initial dance record was 27 hours, and she had multiple subsequent record-breaking attempts. During the Great Depression, promoters often offered prizes for dance marathons. As a result, poor rural pairs often entered multiple contests to try and support their families.

Abdurraqib describes researching this topic: When he “typed ‘dance marathons, black dancers’ into a Google search bar” (9), the results return with the word “Black” missing. This reflects the reality of the whiteness of marathons, and also establishes a key theme of the collection—the invisibility of Black Americans.