The Stock Market Crash of 1929 is known as one of the biggest National economic crisis' in American history. Of those affected the worst included primarily white shareholders who's financial well-being depended on the stock market. For southern African Americans, the Great Depression was merely a continuation of the hardships that defined their lives. Yurchenco estimates "...out of a half-million young hoboes (as the homeless and jobless were called), the majority were black, many of whom drifted into crime. Their plight in the face of southern injustice came to national attention during the 1930s when nine black youths, known as the Scottsboro Boys, were indicted for raping a white woman" (456).
Blues artist Lonnie Johnson’s “Hard Times Ain’t Gone Nowhere” speaks the truth about the depression: "not everyone suffered" (456):
People is raisin’ ‘bout hard times, tell me what it’s all about,
Hard times don’t worry me, I was broke when it first started out.
Friends, it could be worser, you don’t seem to understand,
Some is cryin’ with a sack of gold under each arm and a loaf of bread in each hand.
Autobiography:
Johnson's lyrics present another side of the Depression that is rarely considered in the social discourse of the Stock Market crash. The line "Hard times don't worry me, I was broke when it first started out" is a unique reflection on how the Depression was not as much as a national calamity it has been portrayed to be in the history books. Smith and Watson's concept of identities spell out how the self is portrayed in various contexts. They contend that Discursive Identities are based on social structures that define individuals : “They are constructed. They are in language. They are discursive. They are not essential – born, inherited, or natural though much in social organization leads us to regard identity as given and fixed…Since social groups have their languages, each member of the group becomes conscious in and through that language. Thus autobiographical narrators come to conciousness of who they are, and of what identifications and differences they are assigned, or what identities they might adopt through the discourses that surround them” (RA 39). By stating "Some is cryin’ with a sack of gold under each arm and a loaf of bread in each hand," Johnson reveals his place in social discourse that was not inherited or natural, but acts as a defining aspect of his identity.
Johnson's lyrics present another side of the Depression that is rarely considered in the social discourse of the Stock Market crash. The line "Hard times don't worry me, I was broke when it first started out" is a unique reflection on how the Depression was not as much as a national calamity it has been portrayed to be in the history books. Smith and Watson's concept of identities spell out how the self is portrayed in various contexts. They contend that Discursive Identities are based on social structures that define individuals : “They are constructed. They are in language. They are discursive. They are not essential – born, inherited, or natural though much in social organization leads us to regard identity as given and fixed…Since social groups have their languages, each member of the group becomes conscious in and through that language. Thus autobiographical narrators come to conciousness of who they are, and of what identifications and differences they are assigned, or what identities they might adopt through the discourses that surround them” (RA 39). By stating "Some is cryin’ with a sack of gold under each arm and a loaf of bread in each hand," Johnson reveals his place in social discourse that was not inherited or natural, but acts as a defining aspect of his identity.
"In those troubled times women supported not only their children but their unemployed and often shiftless men as well. Some women retaliated by throwing the men out" (456).
In “Worn Out Daddy Blues” Ida Cox expresses feelings about her unemployed husband:
You’re like an old horseshoe that’s had its day,
You’re like an old shoe I must throw away,
I’m through with you and I hope you don’t feel hurt.
You ain’t got no money, you’re down and broke,
You’re just an old has-been like a worn-out joke,
So I’m through with you and I hope you don’t feel hurt.
Autobiography:
Cox explores her emotional departure with her husband as a necessity for her well being. Autobiographically, her lyrics can be viewed as Poetic, which Smith and Watson describe as “A mode of the lyric distinguished…not by content but by the ‘formal device of recapitulation and recall’. It may appear that all lyric poetry is life writing in that the speaker of the lyric inscribes a subjective self as he or she explores emotions, vision, and intellectual states” (RA 277). Cox subjectifies her relationship as a coping mechanism to deal with her emotions while keeping her husband in mind. Her inability to deal with his unemployment hinders her state as an intellectual and stable African American woman, and thus must "throw him away."
Cox explores her emotional departure with her husband as a necessity for her well being. Autobiographically, her lyrics can be viewed as Poetic, which Smith and Watson describe as “A mode of the lyric distinguished…not by content but by the ‘formal device of recapitulation and recall’. It may appear that all lyric poetry is life writing in that the speaker of the lyric inscribes a subjective self as he or she explores emotions, vision, and intellectual states” (RA 277). Cox subjectifies her relationship as a coping mechanism to deal with her emotions while keeping her husband in mind. Her inability to deal with his unemployment hinders her state as an intellectual and stable African American woman, and thus must "throw him away."
Though southern African American's were not highly effected economically by the Great Depression, there was an increase in crime: “During the depression...approximately 44 percent of the crimes in the United States were committed by blacks. Most crimes took place in the southern cities, where poverty and disease ‘numb the senses, destroy values, and dull initiative to stunned, unthinking stupor – or they provoke unreasoning anger" (466). As a result, many blues lyrics contained reflections on the increased crime rate and the de-stablization of an entire community.
Walter Davis’ “High Jack Blues” explores the personal issues that hindered his emotional well being. Consequently, violence was a common conclusion to many problems:
I got a mind to ramble, I got a mind to rob and steal,
I got a mind to hijack people, you don’t know how I feel.
Autobiography:
Davis' lyrics detail his inability to cope with the hardships that plague his well-being thus, resorts to violence. His mind to rob, steal, ramble and hijack are directly related to his ethnic identity. Smith and Watson explore the idea of Ethnic Life narrative which is “A mode of autobiographical narrative, emergent in ethnic communities within or across nations, that negotiates ethnic identification around multiple pasts…” (RA 269). I feel Davis explores the idea of violence in context with the inevitabilities that came to define ethnic communities. The inability to progress socially and economically as an African American led to an increase in violence that few white Americans would understand - as illustrated in Davis' lyrics.
Davis' lyrics detail his inability to cope with the hardships that plague his well-being thus, resorts to violence. His mind to rob, steal, ramble and hijack are directly related to his ethnic identity. Smith and Watson explore the idea of Ethnic Life narrative which is “A mode of autobiographical narrative, emergent in ethnic communities within or across nations, that negotiates ethnic identification around multiple pasts…” (RA 269). I feel Davis explores the idea of violence in context with the inevitabilities that came to define ethnic communities. The inability to progress socially and economically as an African American led to an increase in violence that few white Americans would understand - as illustrated in Davis' lyrics.
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