So the dance takes its name from the city of origin.........South Carolina.......the 1st state to leave the union in the 1860s.......................Charleston..........where the Citadel military institute is..........the Prince of Tides..........a lawyer into basketball...........and about racism......this dance came from blacks...........


Although the origins of the dance are obscure, the dance has been traced back to blacks who lived on an island off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina (which is why the dance is called "Charleston"). The Charleston dance had been performed in black communities since 1903, but did not become internationally popular until the musical debuted in 1923.