Recently, I was connected to a wonderful burly historian in Columbus, Ohio named Silky the Body. Silky focuses on Black entertainment history in Ohio, and is a modern shake dancer as well! As soon as we met online, we discussed researching deeper into her state's local history with shake dancing and Black burlesque.
I had a blast reading about the shake dancers, stripteasers, comedians, jazz musicians, and other entertainers active in Ohio back in the day. I've gathered up a few of the newspaper articles I came across in my research.
Some of the newspaper ads I found are below -- I discuss them in a bit more detail on my Patreon, but you're free to give them a quick look below!
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