Tappin’ at the Apollo: A Career History of the African American Female Tap Dance Duo Salt and Pepper

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In the 1920s and 1930s, Edwyna
Salt
Evelyn and Jewel
Pepper
Welch learned to tap dance on street corners in New York and Philadelphia. By the 1940s, they were black show business headliners, playing Harlem’s Apollo Theater with the likes of Count Basie, Fats Waller and Earl
Fatha
Hines. Their exuberant men’s-style tap performed in men’s attire earned the respect of their male peers and the acclaim of audiences, though they were paid less than black male dancers. Based on extensive interviews with Salt and Pepper, this book chronicles for the first time the lives and careers of two overlooked performers who succeeded despite the racism, sexism and homophobia of the Big Band era.