Jookin': The Rise of Social Dance Formations in African-American Culture

241 Pages·1990·30.23 MB·English

by  Katrina Hazzard-Gordon

JOOKIN'
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JOOKIN'
THEmSEOF
SOCIAL DANCE FORMATIONS
IN AFmCAN·AMEmCAN
CULTURE
Katrina Hazzard-Gordon
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS • PHILADELPHIA
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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
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For the forgottenjook-house participants,
for my family-
Susie, Stonewall, Honey-baby, Jimmy and Jameka
and for Mricans everywhere
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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
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viii CONTENTS
POSTSCRIPT, 173
NOTES, 177
INDEX, 213
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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
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