The White Negro
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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They would enshroud themselves in black clothing styles, black jive language, and black music. They would associate mainly with black people, distancing themselves from white society. One of the early characters of the white negro movement was Mezz Mezzrow, who was born Jewish-American in 1899 and had declared himself to be a "voluntary negro" by the 1920s. This movement gave rise to the hipster of the 1940s, the beats of the 1950s, the hippie of the 1960s and 70's, and the wigger of later decades.
The essay was originally published in Dissent in 1956, and then was reprinted in Advertisements for Myself in 1959.
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