How Black culture made roller skating popular

[@KorinNicole]

No one said Black Americans created rollerskating. BUT the style of roller dancing that people are interested in now was created and kept alive by the Black community. I don't understand why some people have such a problem with that being a fact.

[@richardmontonio1486]

Can't you blacks rollerskate without bragging?

[@alexella9689]

@@richardmontonio1486its not bad to say you deserve credit.... otherwise what are diplomas for and why do authors put their names on books and scientists put their names on their research. its good to have self esteem. and its good to acknowledge people's contributions. also saying "blacks" is stigmatizing, so please say black people instead.

[@deborahbarnes8377]

Because some people are just..............

[@thehelm658]

@@richardmontonio1486 WHY CANT YOU JUST STF IN YUR LANE.

[@ryuman757]

​@@richardmontonio1486Unhinged ass reply

[@40ozofbri]

Thats crazy! I saw them practicing at mar vista park & I was so in awe I just bought my 1st pair of skates :)

[@kaylee4410]

How is it going?

[@MyAb111]

We couldn’t do water sports, golf, swim in pools, and many other activities because of racism, so we turned skating into a fun social activity.

[@allyxoxo8972]

it always has been a big thing with us its a outlet for us to express ourselves and have fun!

[@Melody-nt3ml]

I recently started and this is EXACTLY how I feel when I skate.

[@allyxoxo8972]

@@Melody-nt3ml same skating is one of my hobbies 2nd to art actually I miss it

[@Melody-nt3ml]

@@allyxoxo8972 you should pick it up again! I used to do graphic design...then makeup..now I’m just sweaty all the time from skating and working out. I like skating because I get creative and try to make up a routine. It’s one of the ways I get my creative out.

[@allyxoxo8972]

@@Melody-nt3ml def going to get back to skating when I get the time

[@MyAb111]

Black people make everything cool. We are the global trend setters.

[@1diggitech]

Skating never left,been skating for over 40 yrs along with my older 2 sisters and until today,we all still skate,through childhood, highschool,marriage,children and grandchildren,no plans to stop as long as we're mentally & physically capable.It's spiritual for us,keep "lifestyle skating" to all🙏🏿💪🏿

[@mariebro]

Beautiful piece! Beyond proud of Roxy and our skate community. She, our culture, and community deserve the recognition! Thank you!!! 🙏🏽♥️

[@ukfieldninja8730]

We created the skates, you created the vibe and we all enjoy it together, peace Skate Fam 👊👍

[@clarissawestbrook2203]

Roller skating is definitely apart of black culture. I love to rollerskate and I've been rollerskateing for the first time in 12-13 years. This was very insightful.

[@richardmontonio1486]

Roller skating was a white culture when I was a kid, I'm 64 years old and when I was a kid i roller skated and my ex girlfriend skated real good. I remember watching roller derby on TV all white people. It was big thing with white and Mexicans. I see you blacks are getting into it but it was a heavy white culture back then.

[@HardlineSoul]

Skates and skating have been around since the 1800's.....Black folks were skating in the early 1950s - 60s...I think we made it cooler....lol

[@mikehawk3489]

Yep glad ur enjoying the culture

[@richardmontonio1486]

Roller skating was a white thing when I was young, roller skating is a white culture please tell others whites created it and made it a white culture. Please don't brag it's your black culture because you would be lying. On TV they use to have roller derby teams of white women?

[@michellebarret2352]

Beautifully done. Thank you for capturing roller skating, which I loved in my youth, from a perspective that’s new to me. Wish I could have skated like that back in the day!

[@cosmiccrush22]

You still can get your groove on

[@SalvationinCHRISTalone888]

ABSOLUTELY, Black people been roller skating for decades. I remember black kids skating on dead end streets or in park areas ( music blasting from their radios or parked cars ). Luv watching ppl so the SLOW WALK. By the way, GREAT VIDEO. 🌺Aloha from Hawaii.

[@foreverlaila4934]

Where I live one of the main places we always go to was an indoor skating rink(not many places to go) I never realized I could take what I love doing inside outside. I’m so excited to get outside doing what I love

[@acovenofmany333]

What? Roller skating is cool like it was in the late fifties to early eighties? Omfg…it never left! I went skating 2 yrs ago. I’m 52. You never forget.

[@bluzcompany2293]

Big thanks to the brothers and sisters for keeping skating cool and taking it to the next level...

[@freshcreation1]

Im confused was the African american Who created the roller skate . Because from what I know it was While the first reported use of roller skates was on a London stage in 1743, the first patented roller skate was introduced in 1760 by Belgian inventor John Joseph Merlin.[1] His roller skate wasn't much more than an ice skate with wheels where the blade goes, a style we would call inline today. They were hard to steer and hard to stop because they didn't have brakes and, as such, were not very popular. The initial "test piloting" of the first prototype of the skate was in the city of Huy, which had a party with Merlin playing the violin. In the 1840s, Meyerbeer's opera Le prophète featured a scene in which performers used roller-skates to simulate ice-skating on a frozen lake set on stage. The result was to popularize roller skating throughout the Continent. As ice skaters subsequently developed the art of figure skating, roller skaters wanted the ability to turn in their skates in a similar fashion.[2]

[@christianmicheal3062]

I was so confused when she said that. This is an example of why I can’t take others serious when it comes to their opinions and feelings on Cultural Appropriation.

[@whodis4422]

no one is saying that we invented it. we are saying we popularized it, it has always been something we’ve done.

[@KimmieJ1920_LNC]

For Black People skating never went anywhere. We’ve been doing and will keep right on doing it, anytime, anyplace.

[@DiscoMatty79]

Then how come none of the black people I live and work with don't skate? Why am I the only one?

[@mikevega1764]

I remember when I was a child, in the 1960s MY MOM WATCHED ON T V THE ROLLER DERBY, WITH DICK LANE,, HER FAVORITE TEAM WAS THE L.A. T- BIRDS, GOD REST HER.

[@kbtube8125]

from the olympic auditorium. i wish i could think of the thing dick lane used to say. . . .he had phrases he would use. . .oh well.

[@mikevega1764]

@ KBTUBE, " OL' NELLY'

[@kbtube8125]

@@mikevega1764 you jogged my memory! it was "whoa nellie!" yep, good memories.

[@siremet1009]

When she dropped that thang @ 2:09 i said good lawd. 👀

[@deborahbarnes8377]

Always black people setting the trends ❤❤❤❤

[@Ingeborg1111]

oke i am from europe and in the 80s in europe everyone had skates

[@Melody-nt3ml]

I’m glad I got curious about it and tried it because I love it.

[@thejen24]

Black people are everything 🙌🏾

[@soulcustodytojesus9296]

Happy Birthday, Roxy! Far out I happened to watch this on 7/11!

[@JGPlayball]

they have really amazing talents they are very creative as well tumbs up for them.

[@goldenbowl734]

I began skating in 1974, the height of the disco era, every Friday night at the local rink until I got my driver's license. When my children started going to birthday parties at the skating rink, I was like 'gimme them rentals and let me see if I can still do this' Amazingly, I could and I have. Now I'm 52 and I skate better than my kids. I love the culture and can't wait for Thurs & Sun night adult skate. Not that it matters, but I just so happen to be white.

[@iicii77]

Wow amazing story thank you for sharing! I used to skate when i was a kid now I'm 30 and I'd love to go back to rollerskating

[@goldenbowl734]

@@iicii77 You won't regret it.

[@_princeovpeace6512]

Y’all know damn well no one said black people invented the roller skate. But black people invented Jb, open house, the atl ride, jammin, and a whole host of popular skate styles. I know y’all can’t get on the floor without bustin your ass, and y’all couldn’t hold a rhythm if you made it up yourselves, but get out of this comment section with all that “Um aktshually” bs.

[@richardmontonio1486]

You are under arrest for culture stealing get off them skates I'm taking you to jail.

[@Steven-ro6os]

Nobody asked, don't try to flex originality when it was always OUR sport first and foremost. We hope you enjoy it though.

[@clarissawestbrook2203]

I agree rollerskateing is fun, great exercise, teaches you balance and coordination and therapeutic!

[@raundimoore-kondo4493]

Great video!

[@Adroyo]

Roller skating and blading didn’t originate with black people. First roller skate was by a white Belgian man in 1760 and first four-wheel configured skate was by a white US man in 1863.

[@KorinNicole]

I completely didn't get that from watching this. Maybe I missed where this was said? I pretty sure the message here is that the style of skate dancing that is driving the rollerskating "come back" was created by Black people.

[@richardmontonio1486]

​@@KorinNicolestop trying to steal white culture, even saying you do it better it is still white culture? I'm Mexican American and would never try to take white culture away from them, saying you blacks can do it better is as sayng it is a black culture?

[@hanwkie]

My skates broke a few years ago and my mom never has enough money to buy any do you have some brand suggestions on good rollerskates (besides Chicago skates) that are less than $100-$110?

[@alissa.489]

Hope that was helpful 😊

[@skatebarbie]

i suggest the brand new moxi rainbow rider skates! they're less than 100 and a better quality brand than impala

[@MsBkboom]

Moxi rainbow riders!! They just brought out a $99 pair, (If I would of known) I just got Derby Cruze xr because they had an aluminum plate for around $60. Plus I didn’t want to drop a lot of money. I now have nerve and back issues so I wanted to see if I could even skate anymore.

[@hanwkie]

@@MsBkboom the moxi raindow ones are already sold out 😞

[@skatebarbie]

@@hanwkie the youtuber queer girl straight skates is doing a giveaway for 10 pairs of the rainbow riders right now !

[@cedricwebb5576]

Awesome video!!!!

[@ClareesyPeasy]

This makes me miss empire in BK, NYC

[@godofthisshit]

Yea

[@SLFKimosabae]

"(Skating)It originated with Black People.". Anyone want to give me some details here?

[@aerofart]

Yes, details please. All I could find for the origin of skating was that it was invented by a white Belgian man named John Joseph Merlin in 1735 and has been mostly a sport/hobby pursued and enjoyed by white people ever since. Funny how history only serves a purpose when bringing up slavery but is completely disregarded when otherwise inconvenient or attempting to revise history.

[@abby4115]

What I believe she's specifically referring to is the culture of roller skating in the US. Black people created this culture and made it popular there.

[@SLFKimosabae]

@@abby4115 yeah, I get that. I’m looking for something more specific. This is the first I’ve ever heard of Blacks originating roller skating culture. As a black person that was raised in American ghettos - I saw zero vestiges of this growing up

[@mikehawk3489]

@@abby4115 it was actually white people culture cause we made it .

[@KorinNicole]

They STYLE OF SKATE DANCING that is driving the rollerskating come back was created by Black people. Are yall trying to misundertand on purpose?

[@edaccura]

I applaud your endeavours. This is very informative and a great resource for our channel. Keep up the good work and let’s support each other.👍🏾

[@aminafayza1673]

What have we NOT made popular?! We are the trend setters of the world

[@Dee-mw9tk]

yes sir, speak truth!!! 💜💜💜💜

[@Sammagoose]

So when I first saw this I noted immediately when it was said that Black people invented skating. Yes that is incorrect and I said it out loud when I heard it because I knew that it was going to cause a stink in the comments and it did. Black Americans came up with their own style of skating which seems to be what everyone is here to check out and learn and how it should've been worded. I do however think that in today's world just about everybody clicking is doing so to learn the soul children style and this was also true when I started skating as a child (late 70's & 80's). BTW I really do enjoy the skating documentaries with white people skating in circles and doing their steps from the 50's as well, it just has a soul children twist today and it seems that this is now the style that folks want to learn outside of figure skating, which is lovely and also crosses over into the soul children way of skating as well but naturally no one is going to just skate in cute circles with stiff line dancing, the style has evolved. I mean Black Americans got to it so it's now more like watching Soul Train lol.

[@alexatoussaint8951]

Love this !

[@kimberlyorozco1313]

I live by there! 😁

[@sarafritsch123]

So much black excellence in skating

[@yardh]

I see videos of 80's people of all creeds and colors dancing and being cool to each other on skates. Depending on where the rinks were and the demographics it changes. Now after watching so many videos, I feel like there is a certain gatekeeper aspect to this and it always mentions what color the people were, like that's the important thing. Not the class of the people or the wealth or education they had. I suppose that's the legacy of segregation within American communities and its a fire thats still burning.

[@richardmontonio1486]

When i was a kid at 9 years old we use to roller skate back in the 60s rollerskating was a heavy white culture. I use to see roller derby on TV. Women roller derby there was alot of fighting and shoving. Mexicans use to roller skate on the streets all over the neighborhood. We didnt have knee or elbow pads. I quess that is why it died off.

[@nenadaigle8734]

Skating rinks. lol. Nervous. Didn’t even catch it. I don’t usually talk about things like this. It does make me nervous. I don’t want to say something wrong. ♥️

[@victoriagoode1247]

It’s not cultural, a white man created roller skates. People of all colors have been skating since day 1.

[@omega3602]

But black people made the most popular style of Danceskating you see today.

[@rikeyjam1125]

@@omega3602 Who tf gives a sh*t, how does that help humanity advance.

[@richardmontonio1486]

​@@omega3602 remember to set other blacks straight that roller skating is a white culture, they invented it? Please stop bragging of how you do it better, just skate and be happy.

[@Steven-ro6os]

​​@@omega3602aww, thats cute. Glad you're enjoying our beautiful sport 🎉

[@amazingashleyase4996]

She got nice legs

[@jessgirr1728]

My white Granny was a down ass roller skater in the 50's and 60's. This narrative just feels weird and performative. Yes there are some skate styles black people created but some white people created. They're mad some white girls are doing artistic skating on instagram 😂 That's not the skating popular in black culture. At all.

[@mic_donalds274]

I don't really care about what race you are. Things come back and die back.

[@shannasansom]

No one is asking you to care. Just asking you to recognize where trends originate from. There are those who hate the ppl but love the culture. Skating NEVER died in the hood. It's a part of BEING black.

[@DiscoMatty79]

​@shannasansom I was the only roller skater in my neighborhood that is predominantly black. As well as my place of employment. It ain't popular with Black people in ct.

[@VioletRecipe]

Roxy is so beautiful, her radiant energy. Love seeing LAs skate leaders. 😻💞✨

[@TafariTheArtist]

I’m making a roller skating flim

[@junglemayne4057]

😝 Eeww

[@TafariTheArtist]

@@junglemayne4057 ? 💀

[@aerofart]

Fact Check: Rollerskating has been around since 1735 and did not “originate with black people.”

[@Wizthehitmaker]

Black people made it bigger and funky baby we make everything good our way of life baby

[@aerofart]

@@Wizthehitmaker maybe, but that doesn’t give anybody the right to revise facts or history.

[@omega3602]

@@aerofart say that to the years of revised history of African Americans by the government

[@aerofart]

@@omega3602 I do. Nobody has the right to revise history . . . and the ones who get away with it are enabled to do so only by those who don't have the capacity to reach their own conclusions based on carefully sourced facts and evidence.

[@omega3602]

@@aerofart You say that but thats how most 90% of American history was rewritten🤨. Also, No one said Black people invented skating itself, but they did invent the DanceSkating style and made it popular.

[@laycool6007]

i love this

[@annr.5125]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@justinwilliams1117]

Dope shit

[@RobertTakata]

LOVE on 8 wheels

[@verdaylove]

What didn't we start and make cool!? Lol

[@AddiARDBLJ]

It's amazing

[@pencylolayahbless7480]

We created Everything 🙄🤛🏽🤛🏽❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@annr.5125]

LOL 😂😂😂

[@Foxxnioxx]

The printing press? The internet? Airplanes? The language you're speaking?

[@Elitejtgoldreforce]

You make me not want to be black

[@_april5780]

Not everything but something's

[@DLinton]

@@_april5780 _somethings_

[@24james]

Sorry El Segundo Times, we have reached levels of black fatigue never thought possible🤮

[@annr.5125]

😂😂😂

[@stephanielampert5022]

You guys had a 500 year head start. Now it’s our time. Don’t like it go back to the rock you crawl from under.

[@pigjubby1]

More pandering.

[@annr.5125]

Yes 😂😂😂

[@americangoddess1939]

Everything old is new again. Trump 2020 for all people

[@izzybluebell8399]

Trump didn't win, so his old wrinkly ass ideas aren't reincarnating :)

[@miked9112]

I never knew “the black people” invented roller skating - you learn something new every day.

[@richardmontonio1486]

A black man must of told you that? You blacks when you hear some black man tell you something that blacks created you must do research before you say these things because non black people will look at you that you don't know why you say ? Roller skating was invented by a white man when blacks were slaves in 1792. When I was a kid in the 60s white people were roller skating on TV and had roller skaters all over the city, it was a big thing with whites and Mexicans. No rolling skating was not black culture but white culture please don't try and steal their culture saying it's black culture you will look foolish. Please also don't say you do it better because there were some good roller derby events back then and I didn't see one black doing it? Maybe in black neighborhoods but it was rare seeing a black roller skater.

[@missanamarie]

This video was not informative at all. 😂

[@MO-sh6gn]

Sure it did 🌚

[@amazingashleyase4996]

I didn’t know our people started skating

[@ThatOneGuy-oi4rm]

You probably didn't know that because it's factually not true. John Joseph Merlin created roller skates in London in the mid 1800's and it was a completely white dominated hobby for nearly 2 centuries. Black culture took to it and started refining it in their own image in the 1950's. This video title is cringe and there's a lot of false information in it. It literally took me 5 seconds on google to figure all of this out. It's just pushing a false narrative.

[@samira9893]

@@ThatOneGuy-oi4rm it says how black people made it POPULAR, not that we made it. I think you didn’t read it properly

[@ThatOneGuy-oi4rm]

@@samira9893 I'm referring to the female in the video who claims skating originated from black people. 2:45 in the video she says "Skating has been around for decades. It originated from the black people." That statement is just wildly inaccurate. Saying that skating is a black cultural hobby or a white cultural hobby is just annoying. Race shouldn't play any part in this video. Skating is for people of all colors and it has been adapted by many communities and cultures. I just find it to be toxic when we separate hobbies by race.

[@samira9893]

@@ThatOneGuy-oi4rm no one said that other races couldn't skate? of course skating is for all colours, but I'm just saying that its ironic that there are people that are racist to black people in this community when black people had popularised and brought roller skating to light.

[@AFrolicsomeMind]

@@ThatOneGuy-oi4rm Finally someone says it. Thank you. I’m very new to the rollerskating community and have gotten wind of the racial tension that seems to be emerging from other races embracing it. It’s wildly confusing to me, even as a half-black human. Just for kicks I looked up who invented the roller skate since that narrative you and this video mentioned seems to have gained lots of steam. So happy someone has looked for the facts and doesn’t eat up a misleading and fire-starting narrative put out there. Live and let live. Skate. Don’t skate. What recognition is needed? Does every non-black person need to recognize black people somehow in their videos or skate sessions? I just don’t understand why people can’t just skate to have fun without race being brought into it. ☮️❤️

[@DiscoMatty79]

I work at a company where the majority of the employees are Black. Yet, im the only one that roller skates. Hmm, weird.

[@DiscoMatty79]

As well as a predominantly black neighborhood

[@priaa.1010]

Love this!