Willa Mae Ricker

Willa Mae Ricker (née Briggs; 7 April 1910 - June 1978) was a prominent American Lindy Hop and jazz dancer and a performer during the 1930s and 1940s with the Harlem-based Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. Ricker was known for her fashion sense, dependability and business acumen.

Willa Mae Ricker
Born
Willa Mae Briggs

(1910-04-07)April 7, 1910
DiedJune 1, 1978(1978-06-01) (aged 68)
OccupationDancer

She and partner Leon James were featured in a photo essay in the August 23, 1943 issue of Life, demonstrating aerials.[1]

During World War II, Ricker managed the Harlem Congaroos, a sub-group of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers formed from the premiere dancers. According to Norma Miller, Ricker was the first dancer to stand up to Herbert "Whitey" White, demanding fair pay.

Filmography

gollark: I did GCSE German so I vaguely remember a bunch of the grammar and words.
gollark: It seems like this is being approached from the perspective of "you need to show very well that there's a good reason to make this legal" and not the other way round, because apparently people are just used to "of course things which *might* be bad are banned".
gollark: I don't know. Do you know? Does *anyone* actually have high-quality information on this?
gollark: I think it mostly got lost to the various C4 incidents.
gollark: Sorry, imminent*ly*.

References

  1. Swing Dancing. ABC-CLIO. April 7, 2011.
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