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Girls Jumping Double Dutch
Date: Jun 2, 1976
Caption: Black girls jumping Double Dutch, likely at an annual tournament at Lincoln Center.
According to New York’s Black newspaper the Amsterdam News, Double Dutch is “a skip-rope activity in which two ropes are turned in eggbeater fashion by two rope turners while a third person jumps within the moving ropes.”1 Double Dutch was a joyful form of exercise and in some cases competition. This image likely came from a Double Dutch tournament at Lincoln Center in New York.
The exact origins of the game, and its name, are not known for sure. But it is clear that by World War II, many Black girls grew up jumping Double Dutch on sidewalks and open spaces in their city neighborhoods. The game required physical and verbal skill. Traditional rhymes sung from memory, and new ones that girls composed, were part of Double Dutch.
Double Dutch was a part of hip hop, as well. In the 1980s, Double Dutch was part of hip hop parties and performances. At an exposition in Paris in 1982, New York City Double Dutch champions the Fabulous Four performed alongside hip hop artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Fab 5 Freddy, and the Rock Steady Crew.2
By the mid-1980s, hip hop’s four disciplines – MCing, DJing, graffiti, and breakdancing – had moved forward without Double Dutch. But Double Dutch continued to be a source of fun and exercise for many Black girls growing up in New York.
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“History of Double Dutch.” Thanks to Rev. Malika Lee Whitney for conversations about the history and present of Double Dutch and her assistance in selecting this image. ↩︎
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Lauren Schwartzberg, “Double Dutch’s Forgotten Hip-Hop Origins,” VICE, March 31, 2015, https://www.vice.com/en/article/nn974m/double-dutchs-forgotten-hip-hop-origins-456. ↩︎
Categories: K-12 organizing, Manhattan, national, community activism
Tags: joy, Black people, autonomous educational spaces, newspapers and the media, athletics
This item is part of "Double Dutch" in "Joyful Struggle"
Item Details
Date: Jun 2, 1976
Creator: Photographer unknown
Source: New York Amsterdam News
Copyright: Under copyright. Used with permission.
How to cite: “Girls Jumping Double Dutch,” Photographer unknown, in New York City Civil Rights History Project, Accessed: [Month Day, Year], https://nyccivilrightshistory.org/gallery/double-dutch-tournament.
Questions to Consider
- What kind of activities make you feel joyful?
- Why do you think Double Dutch became associated with girls, rather than all children?
- Why do you think Double Dutch didn’t continue to be recognized as a hip-hop discipline?
References
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