Juke joints gave Black people a respite from the white man in the time of Jim Crow. Since the white man was not present or within earshot, the Black community was emboldened to talk back to “the Man” — a pejorative term for the white man. For example, James Cone tells the story in his revealing book, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, about Alabamian bluesman Charles Edward “Cow Cow” Daven
This story is from Common Good issue 05.