Jookin': The Rise of Social Dance Formations in African-American Culture PDF
Preview Jookin': The Rise of Social Dance Formations in African-American Culture
JOOKIN' Copyrighted Material Copyrighted Material JOOKIN' THEmSEOF SOCIAL DANCE FORMATIONS IN AFmCAN·AMEmCAN CULTURE Katrina Hazzard-Gordon TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS • PHILADELPHIA Copyrighted Material Temple University Press, Philadelphia 19122 Copyright © 1990 by Temple University. All rights reserved Published 1990 Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI 239.48-1984 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hazzard-Gordon, Katrina. Jookin' : the rise of social dance formations in African-American culture / Katrina Hazzard-Gordon. p. cm. Bibliography: p. Includes index. ISBN 0-87722-613-X (alk. paper) 1. Afro-Americans-Dancing-History. I. Title. GV1624.7.A34H39 1990 793.3089'96073-dc20 89-32004 CIP Copyrighted Material For the forgottenjook-house participants, for my family- Susie, Stonewall, Honey-baby, Jimmy and Jameka and for Mricans everywhere Copyrighted Material Copyrighted Material CONTENTS PREFACE, ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, xiii 1 Dancing Under the Lash, 3 The Middle Passage, 3 The Plantation Environment, 13 Bals du Cordon Bleu, 48 2 Shoddy Confines: The Jook Continuum, 63 The Great Transition, 63 Jook Houses, Honky-Tonks, After-Hours Joints, 76 Rent Parties, Chittlin' Struts, Blue Monday Affairs, 94 3 Upper Shadies and Urban Politics, 121 Monday Night at the Paradise Ballroom, 121 Bells, Buzzers, an Air of Legitimacy, 135 Night Clubs, Show Bars, Cabaret Parties, 142 Dancin' in the Streets, 154 Black Elite Affairs, 162 Copyrighted Material viii CONTENTS POSTSCRIPT, 173 NOTES, 177 INDEX, 213 Copyrighted Material PREFACE THIS work examines one facet of African-American core culture: the dance arena. (For our purposes, a dance arena is any institution of social interaction in African-American life in which secular social dancing plays an integral part. ) It investigates three questions: What are the primary institutions that allowed the development of dance among African-Americans? What sociohistorical circumstances influenced these institutions? What has been the significance of the dance? The notion that dance has a significant place in the African-American cultural psyche and collective mem ory is not new; it serves as one of our operating as sumptions. This study also assumes that blacks have used dance to articulate group experiences. All the dance institutions we examine, except for quadroon balls and formal elite balls, served the lower and work ing classes and developed in accordance with the work rhythms and social needs of their constituencies. The bulk of the study offers an exploratory look at the dance arenas themselves, focusing primarily on Cleveland, Ohio, as a model of the postmigration ur bfuJ. environment. Lack of scholarly information led me to rely on participants who sponsored, patrOnized, or entertained in these dance arenas. Because of this dearth of information, I used a wide variety of sources, including newspapers, magazines, journals, novels, Ix Copyrighted Material
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