Secular Spaces

In the South,

provided space for conversation among African Americans at leisure. Here, in these places, African Americans could express themselves with relative freedom from whites. The juke joints in particular illustrated the spirit of freedom and sanctuary that African Americans found in these spaces. Musicians played all night, singing lyrics which expressed everything from the injustices suffered in the South to their troubles in love. These spaces also provided African Americans an opportunity to interact strictly with other African Americans. Opportunities like this enabled African Americans of the Delta to formulate a consciousness which they sustained in the mass migration to the North. As intermittant blues revivals (particularly since the early 1960s) have recently made certain parts of the Mississippi Delta an incongrous tourist attraction, curious blues enthusiasts have often sought out the landmarks of southern (blues) heritage. Many leave the South disappointed because, instead of making contact with visible relics and unmistakable landmarks, these sightseekers have little to show for their trip but rolls and rolls of film revealing empty plantation land where Robert Johnson or Charlie Patton may have played in some outdoor concert for plantation cotton pickers. It is rare to find agreement among scholars about the final resting place for many blues musicians, nevermind their whereabouts during largely unrecorded lives. Sights more often consist of memorial markers standing where someone may have once been.

In Chicago, Delta migrants reestablished many of these secular spaces, and their importance, number and impact increased. In the South, juke joints operated primarily on weekends. In the North, however, juke joints and dance halls opened most evenings of the week. Some perceived these secular places to have taken on more importance than the church, which was only open on Sundays. Migrants often spent time on street corners, or in dance halls, pool halls, cheap theaters and saloons. Many in the North worried about the leisure habits the migrants, especially the amount of time young people spent in bars and juke joints. Southern migrants, however, refused too change their leisure habits, despite pressure from reformers and church groups.

By 1919, two-thirds of all Chicago's African American-owned businesses were owned by migrants. These businesses, in addition to those mentioned above, included everything from barbershops to candy stores and restaurants. Juke joints and dance halls flourished. These establishments served as a core to a neighborhood of residents from particular areas of the South, and allowed newcomers to the North to maintain their southern roots. Thus, these environments acted as a space, sanctuary outside of the church, where African Americans could meet and talk.

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