When Did Twerking Go Mainstream? A Look at the History of This Now-Iconic Dance Move

Throughout slavery, Black Americans managed to maintain aspects of their African culture, and this manifested through blues singers such as Bessie Smith finding movement in their hips as they performed on stage in the early- to mid-1990s. It emerged in Josephine Baker's notorious banana dance, jazz dance, and the jitterbug, too. These dances, similar to twerking today, were wildly deemed inappropriate or distasteful. Yet, the women performing them became symbols or freedom in expression and liberation through the movement.