Jim Crow's Counterculture

by Lawson, R. A.

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  Williams, Daniel T., ed. Eight Negro Bibliographies. New York: Kraus Reprint, 1970.

  Williams, Lillian Serece. Strangers in the Land of Paradise: The Creation of an African American Community, Buffalo, New York, 1900-1940. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999.

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  Willis, John C. Forgotten Time: The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta after the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000.

  Wilson, August. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. New York: New American Library, 1985.

  –––. Three Plays. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991.

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  Wolfe, Patrick. “Land, Labor, and Difference: Elementary Structures of Race.” American Historical Review 106 (June 2001): 866-905.

  Wolters, Raymond. Negroes in the Great Depression: The Problem of Economic Recovery. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1970.

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  Woodson, Carter G. A Century of Negro Migration. Washington, D.C.: Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1918. Reprint, New York: Russell and Russell, 1969.

  Woodward, C. Vann. Origins of the New South, 1877-1913. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1951.

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  –––. The Strange Career of Jim Crow. 1955; 3rd ed., New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.

  Woofter, T. J. Negro Migration: Changes in Rural Organization and Population of the Cotton Belt. New York: W. D. Gray, 1920.

  ———. Negro Problems in the Cities. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1928.

  Work, John. American Negro Songs: A Comprehensive Collection of 230 Folk Songs, Religious and Secular. New York: Howell, Soskin and Co., 1940.

  Wright, Gavin. Old South, New South: Revolutions in the Southern Economy since the Civil War. New York: Basic Books, 1986.

  Wright, Richard R., Jr., 87 Years Behind the Black Curtain: An Autobiography. Philadelphia: Rare Book Co., 1965.

  Wynn, Neil. The Afro-American and the Second World War. London: Paul Elek, 1976.

  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