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Wilkie, Laurie. Creating Freedom: Material Culture and African American Identity at Oakley Plantation, Louisiana, 1840-1950. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000.
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Index
“304 Blues” (Wheatstraw), 166
“ ‘41 Blues” (Clayton), 193–94
AAB lyric structure, 9–10, 27, 39, 44, 100, 131, 159. See also call and response
Abbott, Lynn, 8
Abbott, Robert, 19, 104–5, 117. See also Chicago Defender
accommodation in blues music, 12–17, 26, 40, 43–44, 59–62, 79–80, 198–200. See also resistance in blues music
Adjusted Compensation Act (1924), 135, 150
advertisements, 19, 27, 67, 104, 107, 131, 178
Africa. See West Africa
African Americans: during Great Depression, 143–51
and the New Deal, 152–68
during World War I, 92, 102–4, 116–27, 167–68
during World War II, 180–95
Afro-American Symphony (Still), 93
Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), 143, 154–56, 162
Alabama: as birthplace of blues, 5
disfranchise-ment in, 48–49
racial discrimination of AAA in, 154–55
Scottsboro case in, 14, 41, 151, 178
Alabama Sam. See Roland, Walter
alcohol use. See under blues musicians
Alexander, Alger “Texas,” 59
American Ballads and Folksongs (Lomax), 13–14, 41
“American Defense” (House), 185
American Federation of Musicians (AFM), 169, 172
American Folksongs of Protest (Greenway), 15
American Recording Company (ARC), 108, 158
American Slavery (Kolchin), 11–12
Angola State Penitentiary, 30, 40–41, 161
Archer, Chalmers, Jr., 54
Archer, Chalmers, Sr., 119, 125
Aristocrat Records (Chess Records), 74, 172–73
Arkansas: and Broonzy, 85–86, 112–13
delta region of, 3, 106, 131
flooding in, 136–37
King’s performance in, 74–75
Wheatstraw’s origins in, 109, 131, 132
Armstrong, Louis, 93, 99, 127, 130
Army: racial violence in, 116, 120
and segregation, 117–21, 182–83. See also World War I; World War II
“Army Bound Blues” (Gaither), 180
Army Corps of Engineers, 135
Arnold, Kokomo, 108, 129, 132
Attali, Jacques, 63–64, 199
Baker, Houston, Jr., 37
Baraka, Amiri (LeRoi Jones), 10
on black middle class, 67
on blues and black history, 2–3, 22
on blues and Jim Crow, 15, 44, 45, 87
Barlow, William, 63
barn dances, 28–29, 34, 130
barrelhousing 5, 34, 85, 90, 158–59, 162. See also “Mr. Crump”
Beale Street (Beale Ave.), 7, 58, 61, 74, 79, 170
“Beale Street Blues” (Handy), 7
Been Here and Gone (Ramsey), 12
Bennighof, James, 52
Berlin, Edward, 64–65
Berry, Chuck, 57, 196–97
Bilbo, Theodore, 48, 124
Bindas, Kenneth, 152
Birmingham, Ala., 158
Birth of a Nation (Griffith), 116
“Black and Evil Blues” (Moore), 65
“Black, Brown and White” (Broonzy), 119, 157
Black Cabinet, 153
black music. See barrelhousing; blues; boogie-woogie; call and response; jazz; jook joints; race records
Black Pearls (Harrison), 9
“black snake” songs, 25
Black Swan Records, 21, 67
Blackwell, Willie “61,” 106, 190–91
Blind Blake, 100–102, 109
Bluebird Records, 88, 95, 107, 159, 161, 188, 197
Blues: anti-Hitler songs, 185–86, 192–94
anti-Japanese songs, 187–91
and black Christians, 4, 19, 51, 65–68, 169–70, 198–99
and black consciousness, 54–55
coded language in, 27, 36, 59, 82, 123
as counterculture, 17–22, 32–33, 60–65, 78–79, 167–68, 195–98
and gender, 3, 31–32, 161–62
historiography of, 12–16
origins of, 4–11, 44–45, 50, 98–99
and segregation, 44–45, 50, 57, 167–68, 195–99
and social class, 3, 19–20, 50, 64, 65, 67–68, 79, 93–94, 198. See also accommodation in blues music; resistance in blues music
Blues All Around Me (King), 10
Blues Fell This Morning (Oliver), 12–13, 42
blues musicians: and alcohol use, 18, 20, 29, 70–74
ambivalence toward World War I, 121–23
and consumerism, 20, 69, 129–31, 199
and drug use, 18, 20, 29, 31, 71
and gambling, 29, 166, 169
and mobility, 20–21, 81–85, 88–91, 94–103, 105–9, 114, 147
patriotism during World War II, 180–82, 185–86, 187–94
professionalization of, 4, 9, 90–91, 170
relationship to audience, 26–27, 30–32, 52, 53–
55, 69–70, 86, 90–91
and sexuality, 18, 62–63, 66–67, 68–70, 132, 181
and violence, 29, 34, 36, 62–63, 73–79. See also individual blues musicians
Blues People (Baraka), 2–3
Blunt, Ernest (Florida Kid), 186
Bonus Bill. See Adjusted Compensation Act (1924)
Bonus Expeditionary Force (BEF), 150–51, 153
Boogie-woogie, 34, 85, 90, 161
Botkin, Benjamin, 14
“Bottle It Up and Go” (McClennan), 89–90
“Bourgeois Blues” (Ledbetter), 27, 42–43, 110
Boyd, Eddie, 55–56, 59
Bradford, Perry, 8, 60, 81. See also “Crazy Blues”
“Bring Me Li’l Water, Silvy” (Ledbetter), 31
“Broke Man Blues” (Palmer), 111
Broonzy, Big Bill, 16, 29, 59, 98–99, 110, 112–13, 180, 196, 198
in Arkansas, 85–86
in Chicago, 88, 89, 108, 172
during the Depression, 157, 160, 164
repertoire of, 27, 85–86
and World War I, 119–20, 125, 126–27, 133–34
Brown, Willie, 9, 84
Brownsville Raid, 116
Burnett, Chester. See Howlin’ Wolf
Bushell, Garvin, 72
Cabin Teele, La., 137
Caddo Parish, La., 33, 34
“Cake Alley” (Wheatstraw), 128, 133
call and response, 5, 53–54. See also AAB lyric structure; field hollers
Campbell, Bob, 109
Campbell, Little Milton, 3, 16
“Canned Heat Blues” (T. Johnson), 71
“Casey Bill’s New WPA” (Weldon), 166
Cash, Johnny, 38
Cash, W. J., 18, 46, 97
“CCC Blues” (Washboard Sam), 156–57
“Champion Joe Louis Blues” (Gaither), 177–78
Charles, Robert, 56, 60
Charters, Sam, 42, 148
on the archetypal bluesman, 27
on blues and accommodation to Jim Crow, 12, 14–15
Chatmon, Peter. See Memphis Slim Chatmon, Sam, 70
Chess, Leonard. See Aristocrat Records
Chicago, 111, 132, 133–34, 164, 176
blues scene in, 84, 108, 172–73
migration to, 84, 86, 88, 92–93, 100, 103, 104, 107, 162
recordings made in, 88–89, 103, 139, 159, 165, 172–73
songs about, 88, 103, 108–10, 178
Chicago Defender, 19, 67, 104–5, 107, 109, 143
“Chicago Mill Blues” (Wheatstraw), 109–10
chitlin’ circuit, 84
Civil Works Administration (CWA). See Public Works Administration
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), 156–58
Clarksdale, Miss., 58, 169, 172, 185
Clayton, Doctor (Peter), 188, 193–94
Cleveland, Miss., 198
Coahoma Co., Miss., 170
Cobb, James, 185
cocaine. See blues musicians and drug use
Coley, Kid, 122
Colored Advisory Commission, 143
Cone, James, 15, 44
Coolidge, Calvin, 135
Copiah Co., Miss., 132
“Cotton Farm Blues” (Davis), 107–8
“Cotton Patch Blues” (McClennan), 89
counterculture. See under blues
Country Blues (Charters), 12, 42
“Country Blues” (Waters), 24, 170–71, 173
Cox, Ida, 6
Crawford, Ernest, 172–3
“Crazy Blues” (Bradford/Smith), 8, 60, 73, 79–80, 81
Crisis, 67, 104
Crump, E. H., 61–62, 72
“CWA Blues” (Roland), 165
Dallas. See Deep Ellum
Dansby, Baldwin, 126
Darby, Blind Teddy, 157–58
Davenport, Cow Cow, 103, 108
Davis, Angela, 13, 49, 114
Davis, Walter, 107–8, 159–60
Decca Records, 133, 145, 178, 197
Deep Ellum (Dallas), 29, 35, 58, 78, 133
“Deep Ellum Blues,” 78, 133
Defender. See Chicago Defender
Delta, the, 11, 58, 88, 132, 154, 155, 169–70
during Civil War, 3, 45, 98
flooding in, 26, 136–37, 140–42
geography of, 3, 98
Jim Crow in, 45, 47, 51, 98
and origin of blues, 6–8, 45, 98–99, 198. See also Mississippi
Delta and Pine Land Company, 154
Delta Blues (Gioia), 6
Democrats, 117–18, 134, 143, 151–52, 164, 174
“Depression Blues” (Tampa Red), 146–47
Desdoumes, Mamie, 5, 69
Detroit, 179–80, 184
black migration to, 100–101, 103, 109, 110, 175
devilment and devil’s music, 20, 29, 65–67, 131–32
“Devilment Blues” (Wheatstraw), 132
disfranchisement, 33, 47–49. See also Jim Crow Dixiecrat Party, 174
Dixon, Willie, 74, 77
on lynching, 14, 56–57
Dockery Farms, 130
Dolan, Mark, 19, 66, 107
Dollard, John, 50, 67
“Don’t Take Away My PWA” (Gordon), 165
Dorena, Mo., 136
Dorsey, Georgia Tom, 108
“Drinking Man Blues” (Wheatstraw), 73–74
drug use. See under blues musicians
“Dry Spell Blues” (House), 95, 100, 146
Du Bois, W. E. B., x, 19, 92, 116–18
and “double consciousness,” 17, 40
Dukes, Mr. Mooney, 121
Dupree, Champion Jack, 186–87
Dvorak, Antonin, 15–16
East St. Louis, Ill., 92, 111, 149
Edet, Edna, 59
Edwards, David “Honeyboy,” 5–6, 58, 167, 172
Edwards, Frank, 178
Effingham, Ill., 112
Ellington, Duke, 64, 175
Estes, Sleepy John, 32, 155
Evans, David, 106
Ezell, Buster “Buzz,” 185–86, 187
Fahey, John, 9
Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC), 184
Fannin Street (Shreveport), 29, 34, 58, 69, 89, 90
“Fannin Street” (Ledbetter), 34, 89
Fanon, Frantz, 63
Farm Securities Administration (FSA), 155
Father of the Blues (Handy), 61, 179
“FDR Blues” (Dupree), 186–87
Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), 157–58
“Feel Like Goin’ Home” (Waters), 173
field hollers, 27, 28, 53. See also call and response
Finn, Julio, 13, 65, 79
Fisk University, 68, 170
Flood of 1927, 26, 134–41, 159–60
refugee camps, 141–43
Ford, Henry, 44, 101–2
Foreman, Clark, 153
Gaither, Little Bill, 108, 177–78, 180–81, 184, 186
“Gallis Pole” (Ledbetter), 50
Garon, Paul, 15, 18, 62
Garvey, Marcus, 92
Gary, Ind., 88
Gellert, Lawrence, 1, 14, 60
Gioia, Ted, 77
on early blues music, 6, 8
“Give Me Black or Brown” (Wheatstraw), 140
Glover, Lillie Mae. See Rainey, Memphis Ma
“Goin’ Back to Arkansas” (Broonzy), 27, 112–13
“Goin’ Down the Road” (Guthrie), 100–101
Gordon, Jimmie, 165
Gordon, Robert, 173
“Government Money” (Estes), 155
“Governor Pat Neff” (Ledbetter), 39, 43
Grafton, Wisc., 1, 84, 95, 98
Great Depression, 31, 144–53, 162–63
blues songs about, 145–49
Great Flood. See Flood of 1927
Great Migration, 72, 104–5, 106, 113–14, 117, 126, 179, 196
causes of, 84–85, 86–88, 92, 99–100, 102, 103–4
living conditions in the North, 110–12
numbers of
migrants, 86, 99–100, 102, 113
and return to South, 111–13
Great War. See World War I
“Green River Blues” (Patton), 98
Greenville, Miss., 26, 105, 136, 141–42
Greenway, John, 15
Greenwood, Miss., 62, 132
griots, 2, 4
Gussow, Adam, 13, 15, 53, 71
on blues violence, 77
on “Crazy Blues,” 60, 79–80
on Handy, 61, 179
on the “witnessing first person,” 52
Guthrie, Woody, 41, 100–102, 182
Hammond, John, 63, 127
Handy, W. C., 61–62, 74, 81, 179
creation of early popular blues, 7–8, 27
discouraged from playing music, 29, 66
first encounter with blues, 5, 7, 98, 198
use of AAB lyric structure, 9
“Hangman Blues” (Jefferson), 49–50
“Hard Time Blues” (Spand), 146–47
“Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues” (James), 146–47
“Hard Times Ain’t Gone Nowhere” (L. Johnson), 145
Harlem, 31, 72, 92, 184
Harlem Renaissance. See New Negro Harris, Corey, 4
Harris, Pete, 160–61
Harrison Co., Tex., 30, 36
Harrison, Daphne Duval, 9
“Harvest Moon Blues” (McFadden), 81, 88
Helena, Ark., 106
“Hellhound on My Trail” (R. Johnson), 94
Henderson, Fletcher, 98, 130, 175
Hicks, Barbecue Bob, 138, 148, 165
“High Water Everywhere” (Patton), 26, 140–42
“High Water Flood Blues” (Martin), 139
“Highway 49 Blues” (Williams), 106
Highway Fifty-One (51), 3, 106
“Highway 51 Blues” (Jones), 106. See also “New Highway 51 Blues”
Highway Sixty-One (61), 3, 106
“Hitler Blues” (Blunt), 186
Holiday, Billie, 49, 183
“Honey, I’m All Out and Down” (Ledbetter), 23, 35–36
Hooker, John Lee, 45
Hoover, Herbert, 150–51
and flood relief, 134, 142–43, 144
lampooned by blues singers, 148–49, 165
Hoovervilles, 149–51
Hopkins, Harry, 153, 157–58, 163–64
House, Son, 6, 9, 23, 66–67, 84, 185
influence on other delta musicians, 25, 132, 146, 170
Houston, Miss., 90
Houston Riot (1917), 36, 120
Howlin’ Wolf, 74, 106
Huggins, Nathan Irvin, 93–94
Humphrey, Mark, 85
Hurston, Zora Neale, 29, 128
“I Be’s Troubled” (Waters), 170–71, 173
“I Can’t Be Satisfied” (Waters), 173
“I.C. Moan” (Tampa Red), 106
Ickes, Harold, 153, 164
Illinois, 100, 109, 112, 133. See also Chicago; East St. Louis
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