Juneteenth Texas: Essays in African-American Folklore (Publications of the Texas Folklore Society)

703 Pages·1996·3.92 MB·English

by  Patrick Mullen

Juneteenth Texas : Essays in African-American
title: Folklore Publications of the Texas Folklore
Society ; No. 54
Abernethy, Francis Edward.; Satterwhite,
author: Carolyn Fiedler.; Mullen, Patrick B.; Govenar,
Alan B.
publisher: University of North Texas Press
isbn10 | asin: 1574410180
print isbn13: 9781574410181
ebook isbn13: 9780585269771
language: English
African Americans--Texas--Folklore, Folklore--
subject Texas, African Americans--Texas--Social life
and customs.
publication date: 1996
lcc: GR1.T4 1996eb
ddc: 390
African Americans--Texas--Folklore, Folklore--
subject: Texas, African Americans--Texas--Social life
and customs.
Page i
Juneteenth Texas
Essays in African-American Folklore
Publications of the Texas Folklore Society LIV
Page ii
Other Publications of the Texas Folklore Society
Analytical Index to Publications of the Texas Folklore Society, Volumes 136,
by James Bratcher
#1 Round the Levee, Thompson, ed.
#2 Coffee in the Gourd, Dobie, ed.
#6 Texas and Southwestern Lore, Dobie, ed.
#8 Man, Bird and Beast, Dobie, ed.
#9 Southwestern Lore, Dobie, ed.
#10 Tone the Bell Easy, Dobie, ed.
#11 Spur-of-the-Cock, Dobie, ed.
#12 Puro Mexicano, Dobie, ed.
#13 Straight Texas, Dobie, ed.
#15 In the Shadow of History, Dobie, ed.
#18 Backwoods to Border, Boatright, ed.
#20 Gib Morgan, Minstrel of the Oil Fields, by Mody Boatright
#22 The Sky Is My Tipi, Boatright, ed.
#23 Texas Folk Songs, by William Owens
#24 The Healer of Los Olmos and Other Mexican Lore, Hudson, ed.
#25 Folk Travelers, Ballads, Tales, and Talk, Boatright, Hudson, Maxwell,
eds.
#27 Mesquite and Willow, Boatright, Hudson, Maxwell, eds.
#28 Madstones and Twisters, Boatright, Hudson, Maxwell, eds.
#29 and horns on the toads, Boatright, Hudson, Maxwell, eds.
#30 Singers and Storytellers, Boatright, Hudson, Maxwell, eds.
#31 The Golden Log, Boatright, Hudson, Maxwell, eds.
#32 A Good Tale and a Bonnie Tune, Boatright, Hudson, Maxwell, eds.
#33 The Sunny Slopes of Long Ago, Hudson, Maxwell, eds.
#43 Legendary Ladies of Texas, Abernethy, ed.
#45 Folk Art in Texas, Abernethy, ed.
#46 Sonovagun Stew, Abernethy, ed.
#47 Hoein' the Short Rows, Abernethy, ed.
#48 Texas Toys and Games, Abernethy, ed.
#49 The Bounty of Texas, Abernethy, ed.
#51 The Texas Folklore Society 19091943, by F. E. Abernethy
#52 Corners of Texas, Abernethy, ed.
#53 The Texas Folklore Society 19431971, by F. E. Abernethy
Extra Books:
Singin' Texas, by F. E. Abernethy
Through Time and the Valley, by John Erickson
Page iii
Juneteenth Texas
Essays in African-American Folklore
Publications of the Texas Folklore Society LIV
Francis Edward Abernethy, Senior Editor
Carolyn Fiedler Satterwhite, Assistant Editor
COEDITORS
PATRICK B. MULLEN, Director ALAN B. GOVENAR, President
Center for Folklore Studies Documentary Arts, Inc.
Ohio State University Dallas, Texas
Columbus, Ohio
Page iv
© 1996 Texas Folklore Society
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
First Edition 1996
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Requests for permission to reproduce materials from this book should be directed to:
Permissions
University of North Texas Press
PO Box 13856
Denton TX 76203
The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
z39.48.1984. Binding materials have been chosen for durability.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Juneteenth Texas : essays in African-American folklore / Francis Edward Abernethy,
senior editor ; Carolyn Fiedler Satterwhite, assistant editor ; coeditors, Patrick B.
Mullen, Alan B. Govenar.
p. cm.(Publications of the Texas Folklore Society ; 54)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-57441-018-0
1. Afro-AmericansTexasFolklore. 2. FolkloreTexas. 3. Afro-AmericansTexas
Social life and customs. I. Abernethy, Francis Edward. II. Series: Publications of the
Texas Folklore Society ; no. 54.
GR1.T4 no. 54
[GR111.A47]
390 sdc20
[398'.089960764] 96-21854
CIP
Design by Amy Layton
Cover art: John Biggers, Shotguns, Fourth Ward, 1987
Hampton University Museum, Hampton, Virginia
Page v
Table of Contents
Preface vii
Patrick B. Mullen and Alan Govenar
African-American Folklore in Texas and in the Texas 1
Folklore Society
Francis Edward Abernethy
Black Sacred Harp Singing Remembered in East Texas 15
Donald R. Ross
Henry Truvillion of the Big Thicket: A Song Worth Singing 21
Jesse Truvillion
Once Upon a Time in Houston's Fourth Ward 41
James Thomas Jackson
Where the Cedars Grove 49
Clyde E. Daniels
Mance Lipscomb: Fight, Flight or the Blues 69
Glen Alyn
More than Just 'Possum'n Taters: Texas-African Foodways 95
in the WPA Slave Narratives
T. Lindsay Baker
Giving Honor to God, the Joy and Salvation in My Life: 131
The Appreciation Service in Song
Jan Rosenberg
From Gumbo to Grammys: The Development of Zydeco 139
Music in Houston
Lorenzo Thomas
From Bebop to Hard Bop and beyond: The Texas Jazz 153
Connection
Dave Oliphant
African-American Blacksmithing in East Texas 167
Richard Allen Burns
Musical Traditions of Twentieth Century African-American 195
Cowboys
Alan Govenar
Page vi
John BiggersArtist: Traditional Folkways of the Black 209
Community
Alvia J. Wardlaw
The African-American Folktale and J. Mason Brewer 223
Lorenzo Thomas
Juneteenth: A Red Spot Day on the Texas Calendar 237
William H. Wiggins, Jr.
Lightnin' Hopkins: Blues Bard of the Third Ward 255
John Wheat
"Bongo Joe": A Traditional Street Performer 273
Pat Mullen
West African Fiddles in Deep East Texas 291
John Minton
"The Yellow Rose of Texas": A Different Cultural View 315
Trudier Harris
The Texas Trailblazer Project 335
Patricia Smith Prather
Appendices
The Texas African-American Photography Collection 339
and Archive
Alan Govenar
The African-American Museum of Dallas 342
Alan Govenar
Selected Listing of Resources 344
Compiled by the Editors
Contributors 345
Index 353
Page vii
Preface
by Patrick B. Mullen and Alan Govenar
Juneteenth Texas represents a wide variety of viewpoints on African-
American folklore in Texas. The essays range from personal memoirs to
scholarly treatises and are written by both white and black writers. Given the
volatile nature of writing about race in the 1990s, it is important to state the
obvious at the outset: European-American and African-American perspectives
on black folklore will differ; any culture will be viewed differently from the
outside and from the inside. Black writers will bring certain assumptions to
presentations of their own cultures that white writers will not have in writing
about the same subject. It is a commonplace now in the sciences, social
sciences, and humanities that all viewpoints are subjective. This does not
mean that all viewpoints are equally valid but that different views are
constantly being negotiated. This negotiation process is going on right now in
publications about African-American culture in folklore and other fields.
We do not write about race and culture in a vacuum but within the context of
the larger American society in which race is a controversial issue. A large
group of scholars across disciplinary lines now considers race as a social
invention and not a biological fact. This idea has been around long enough to
be the subject of a cover story in Newsweek magazine in 1995, but there are
still some scholars who do not agree with this perspective. To state the case
for the "social construction" in a somewhat over-simplified way: genetic
evidence indicates that all humans are the same and that physical differences
are superficial and meaningless as demarcations of separate races. If race is to
be a scientific classification system, then there should be some point where
we can say one race ends and another begins, but if we look at the spectrum
of color in human skin, it becomes clear that there is no clear dividing point
as there is in such scientific categories as genus and