Ted Joans, “Bird and the Beats,” Coda Magazine (1981). Michael Fabre Archives of African American Arts and Letters, Unprocessed Additions.

Ted Joans was a prominent black figure of the Beat Generation. Joans considered himself a former student of “Hip,” crediting his education to the likes of jazz musicians, such as Charles “Bird” Parker, and further highlighting the connection between jazz, the Beats, and the subsequent hipsters. In this direct address to the readers of Coda, Joans reflects on his experience as one of the original hipsters in New York, recalling, “There were black cats on the scene then that should have been given PhD’s in Hipsterism. These men (and women) knew more about the how/who/what/where/why/and when of the human condition than all the four square walled university professors on earth…” This retrospective on the entire movement pays homage to the Beat Generation, and educates readers about the foundations of the contemporary hipster.