The reading of Black Laughter and the Ritual of Insult Levine describes the common verbal contested used in the early 1900s. Known as Dozens this verbal dueling focused on insulting your opponent by targeting their relatives and using them to make a joke. The mother was a particular favorite to joke and very personal to the opponents. Usually performed in front of a group judging their wit to insult the others family the challenge was of both humor and verbal ingenuity of the players.
Levin quotes H. Rap Brown who explains that," If anybody needed to study poetry, she needed to study mine. We played the Dozens for recreation, like white folks play scrabble" (346)This shows the difference in importance black children had for forms of vocabulary.
Levin quotes H. Rap Brown who explains that," If anybody needed to study poetry, she needed to study mine. We played the Dozens for recreation, like white folks play scrabble" (346)This shows the difference in importance black children had for forms of vocabulary.