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JOOK JOINTS: JUNETEENTH EDITION
Written By: Jewels Alexandria
(4 Minute Read)
People often ask where the name, “The Juke Joint,” came from. And for those of you who know the history of what a Juke Joint is, this may resonate with you in more ways than one. But for those of you who do not know the history and the power of it, allow me to take you on a small journey through blackness at its finest. During a time when happiness and freedom of expression had to be done in secret. But shaped a lot of the culture we experience today.
Zora Neal Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston is an American folklore anthologist, writer and activist. She is noted as being the first to describe the term ‘Juke (jook) joint.’ (Gorman). From her essay, The Characteristics of Negro Expression (1934), “Jook is a word for a Negro pleasure house. Where men and women dance, drink and gamble (89). She goes on to say, “…the Jook is the most important place in America… for… has been born the secular music known as blues, and on blues has been founded jazz.” Ms. Hurston is known for her studies on African American culture, especially in the south. She has worked with the likes of Langston Hughes, Jessie Fauset and Bruce Nugent, all writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Learn more about Zora Neale Hurston here.
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Other scholars believe the word, “juke” derived from “juice, often used to describe early electric guitars and music players (juice boxes). (Nardone)” Some say it derived from West Africa meaning wicked or disorderly (uDiscover Team).Whatever the origins, The Juke Joint was a place for freedom and expression during the harsh Jim Crow times. A place to cut loose, to feel open and just unload. Many of the music and dancing we hear today started right in a small shack in the back of the woods or small area of a house. Most times, Juke Joints were not built rather stumbled upon and turned in to a place of expression.
A group of freed slaves along a harbor c. 1863.Bettmann / Bettmann Archive
Resources: https://www2.oberlin.edu/library/papers/honorshistory/2001-Gorman/jookjoints/allaboutjooks/whatisjook.html https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/juke-joints/ https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/blues-juke-or-jook-joints/ https://americainclass.org/seminars11-12/artnewnegro/NegroExpression.pdf https://chdr.cah.ucf.edu/hurstonarchive/?p=hurstons-life https://www.parents.com/kindred/how-juneteenth-music-expresses-black-freedom/
Exterior of a juke joint in Belle Glade, Florida, photographed by Marion Post Wolcott in 1941
This is what The Juke Joint Magazine is trying to emulate. Primarily a safe place for those who just love music. In any form. In many ways. With a high focus on my black brothers and sisters.
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To celebrate Juneteenth (short for June Nineteenth), The Juke Joint would like to thank those before us. To educate the youth of juke joints and its importance today. Black people have always been the originators of almost everything American and I find it important to educate the youth of black music and its origins. Juneteenth and music go hand and hand. It represents freedom. Old Negro spirituals mapped out escape routes, sang of struggle, pride amongst other things. Similar to what we hear in the music today.
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So, Happy Juneteenth!
From The Juke Joint to you!
June 16, 2024