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“A Teenager in Love”: How Black Adolescents Became “Teenagers” in Rock and Roll Music, 1956-1960

ABSTRACT The image of teenagers in the 1950s has permeated popular culture for decades. Within public historical memory, these kids seem perpetually carefree, dancing to jukebox tunes, sharing sodas with dates, and driving shiny new cars. But these teenagers are almost always depicted as white, even though a burgeoning African-American middle class meant that black kids also helped to shape this new teenage identity. This article looks at how the new signifier of “teenager” in rock and roll music applied to both black and white youth during the late 1950s, even as racial segregation and discrimination produced different interpretations.