Tap dancer

Segregation's impact

There was also the "two-color rule," which made sure that black tap dancers were not able to perform solos onstage. This led to some tap dancers performing comedic tap duets. There were stereotypes placed on black Americans such as the "Uncle Tom" stereotype, and many tap dancers were forced to wear "black-face" onstage to perform. One of the first black tap dancers to be acknowledged by America was Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, who performed duets with Shirley Temple. However, Bill Robinson's career was reduced to "minstrelsy," which can be defined as white performers using makeup to mock black culture or using black stereotypes in a performance. Black Americans joined these minstrel performances, where they would be forced to act on black stereotypes in their performances. James "Buster" Brown, got his start in the segregated clubs of the 1930s, but eventually earned international mainstream recognition and mentored younger more modern tap dancers in the 1990s.