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Sunday. October 20, 195 7
THE FOLK SONG:
. By ROSE PERLBERG
Daily Activities Editor
SWING LOW, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me
home .,..
You sit elbow to elbow in the
dim, smoky Fireside Room of Lane
Hall, with the melancholy strains
of the Negro Spiritual swelling
around you.
A fireplace at one end casts the
only light - a flickering, eerie
light-on you, your fellow sing-
ers and the half dozen guitarists
hunched over their instruments.
It's hot and stuffy, but you don't
feel it. People stumble over you
in an effort to find a square foot
of floor space, but it doesn't bother
you. Outside, ping pong players
shout, laugh, and shuffle noisly,
but you don't hear them. You're
caught up with the music and the
enthusiasm of those around you.
You sing and sway with them.
The refrain is over. A young music, Saxe has uncovered some
guitarist, who seems to be the interesting data. He's also decided
leader, breaks the sudden silence to make it a career, with graduate
with a cheery call for song re- work in folklore after he receives
quests. a B.A. in anthropology this June.
"Eating Goober Peas," cries an Although we may not be aware
attractive coed sitting next to of it, we've always had folk song
you. in one form or another, Saxe
points out.
AND THE somber mood instilled
by the Spiritual changes to BEFORE MASS communication
gay hilarity. You find yourself with the phonograph made
clapping, tapping and shouting widespread entertainment possible,
your way through the nonsense folk songs were the property of
verses of 'Goober Peas.' individual, culturally i s o 1 a t e d
The young man with the guitar, groups.
you learn, is Art Saxe. He's presi- Especially in I e s s accessible
dent of a fairly new campus or- places like the southern Appala-
ganization, the Folklore Society- chian and Smoky Mountains, or
started last spring-which spon- New York's Catskill Mountains,
sored the little gathering you're so weekly sings and dances were very
wrapped up in. common, Some of the country's
What was this gathering, a more rural spots, still unspoiled
friend asks you later in the eve- by radio and television, continue
ping? the tradition today.
You say it was a folk sing and Sings weren't planned, Saxe says.
that you had a good time. But They arose spontaneously out of a
can you tell him more specifically natural need - for entertainment
what folk singing really is? and self expression. Song gave
Club president Saxe doesn't people a chance to blow off steam
claim to be able to answer the on politics, hard times, anything
$64,000 Question on folk singing, that griped th-m at the moment,
but after almost decade of inten- or made them happy.
sive study on folklore and folk There were no words or music.
THE SINGERS ...
As an old-time banjo-player once Saxe runs a t a n n e d hand
said when asked what notes he through close-cropped curly black
played: "Hell, you don't play hair and laughs. "You could make
notes, you just pick at itt" the list as long as your motiva-
Folk songs passed from genera- tions, aspirations or feelings."
tion to generation by word of
mouth.-With changing eras the MORE SERIOUSLY, he lists six
singers fitted topical words to the of the "obvious reasons:"
lyrics, words that expressed the 1) Political. During the 1930's
way they felt at the time about when unions were struggling for
things around them. In most cases, recognition, their proponents put
however, the music remained the new words to old music. To famil-
same. iar Negro Spirituals they would
sing:
TODAY, MORE than ever, folk- Would you be free from Wage
lore student Saxe reports, peo- Slavery?
ple are taking up folk songs. Some Then join in the grand indus-
trial band.-.-. .
of it may be in commuercialized 2) Religious. Both church and
Tin Pan Alley guise, but it's still living room still ring with such
plucked out of folk idiom. More Negro Spirituals as "Old Black
of it is the same folk music that's Joe" and white counterparts like
been handed down for years - "Go Down Moses."
with one difference: it's often 3) For fun, or to make fun of
associated with a certain person- a prominent figure. When psy-
ality in the field, and formalized chology first came into popular
to follow his personal style. thinking, folksingers offered this
"True" folk song, Saxe explains, satire:
is never sung the same way twice. Then along came Jung and
It changes continually to fit the Adler
singer's mood and the occasion. And said. there's gold in them
Why do people sing folk songs thar ills...-.
today when there are so many 4) Back Room Ballads. These so-
other forms of entertainment? called off-color songs or bawdy
ballads were being passed down in
the old-time oral tradition until
recent recordings. As such, Saxe
remarks, they're noted for their
catchy s a y i n g s and rhythm.
Throughout their evolution, only
the "catchy" ones survived.
5) Children's'- songs. Handed
down in the same way as bawdy
ballads, these pieces like "The Fly
and the Bumble-Bee" are light
and entertaining for the younger
set:
Fiddle-de-dee, Fiddle-de-dee
The fly has married the bumble-
bee... .
6) To be different. With many
other media for amusement at
their fingertips, some people take
to folk singing because it's "so
quaint." They think it makes
them stand out from the ordinary
and gain some sort of recognition.
WHERE DOES the music for all
these songs originate? Actu-
ally, Saxe explains, "it's an infu-
sion of many, many different na-
tional traditions: English, Span-
ish, French, West African Negro,
Scandinavian-the list is endless."
If you want to trace a broad
field of American folk music, Saxe
(Continued on Next Page)
s
Chicago and Its Race Problems
By JOHN WEICIJER
Daily Staff Writer he City
SHORTLY BEFORE the Supreme
Court's desegregation decision,Vow
an elderly Negro 'wrote a letter to' ~
one of the Chicago papers. In this
letter he recalled his family's mov-
ing into a predominantly white amhusements, but they generally
neighborhood when he was a boy, draw the line at "living with
around 1900. People were friendly them.",Their reason is chiefly
then, he said; when his mother economic. Property values de-
was sick, the neighbors, both white cline, white Chicagoans believe,
and colored, took turns keeping when Negroes move into a neigh-
house for the children. Without borhood. They refute statistics in-
drawing any parallels,, he asked dicating the reverse by their own
simply, what happened? experience; they know what they
Chicago, at the time he wrote, have seen.
already seethed with racial ten-
sions. A large part of the city's IT IS c to an te itizen
police force was engaged in keep- of the city that the neighbor-
ing order in the Trumbull Park hoods which were white and are
housing project, where six Negro colored have gone downhill} rap-
families lived in an otherwise all- idly. In some cases, these areas
white development, have simply changed from white
"Neighborhood commis s i o n s" slums to colored slums, but in
were beginning to appear, seeking others a real depreciation cannot
to preserve and maintain residen- be overlooked.
tial districts, particularly those The Kenwood area, for instance,
threatened with Negro occupancy. was regarded as one of the city's
The city's Negro population was "nice" districts, up until about ten
rapidly increasing, with new im- years ago. Since then Kenwood
migrants arriving daily, has changed from all-white to
mostly Negro. The results of this
r HE NEGROES - and the po- process have badly hurt the Ne-
lice - are still at Trumbull groes' claims to being able to
Park; the neighborhood commis- "keep up" a good neighborhood
sions are gathering momentum; when given the chance.
the i m migrant s continue to Kenwood was really the first
stream in. The ingredients for an negdbosrhood. ri eco mthatNe r
explosion are present; last sum- resbhd.ePande fro th ei
mer, a riot on the' Calumet Park groes had expanded from their
beach, near the steel mills, al-" te'aareachieinto second
most et tingsoff.fateand slum districta: they had
most set things off. . had no chance to prove them-
Housing is the crucial issue. selves. Kenwood was their chance,
Job competition between races is but with the whole white com-
almost negligible, since Negroes munity watching, the Negroes
are filling jobs in industries in missed their opportunity.
which whites do not seek employ-
asent in large numsbers. THE DISTRICT is a little on the
White people are willing to shop shabby side now; the homes
'Ith Negroes and share publichave become virtually apartment
Knows What Happened,
Wonders What To Do
buildings in many cases, housing borhoods actually started; rede-
two aod three families where one velopment projects. They operate
lived before. The buildings are on the ounce of prevention theory.
rundown, the lawns unkept in -"Let's keep the neighborhood up
many places. Perhaps there were to now, and not have to tear
just too many people moving in, things dowp later." What one of
trying to better themselves, for them would do if a Negro family
Kenwood to hold. Perhaps it moved into its area is problemati-
would have gone downhill any- cal. The best guess, and it is no
way; it was an aging neighbor- more than a guess, is that the
hood before. But whatever the commission would become a "pres-
reason, however legitimate it is, sure group" asking the family to
the deterioration is there; it is leave. What it would do if it
constantly pointed to as "what to failed is another question.
expect if they move in here." The racial problem in its pres-
"What happened in Kenwood" ent virulent form is compara-
was one of the worst things that tively new to Chicago. Before
could have happened to the Ne- World War II, Negroes formed a
groes. It has been' a major cause small minority of the population,
of the determination of other concentrated on the central part
neighborhoods to keep them out. of the South Side. However, dur-
That determination is expressed ing the war, high-paying jobs
in the formation of the neigh- were plentiful in northern war
borhood commissions. Officially, industries, and southern Negroes
these groups are concerned with flocked north to get them. Chi-
keeping housing and zoning stan- cago, unfortunately, drew most of
dards high; they are neutral con- its immigration from among the
cerning Negroes who might move poorer, less literate Negroes of
into the districts, and they wor- the central Deep South, and drew
ry only about "blight" in an 'area, them in larger numbers than oth-
But, to many of their members, er cities, due to its easy accessi-
"blight" and Negroes are synony- bility by rail. The more people
mous, and the commissions study who heard about the fine jobs, the
the "weak spots," the houses and more came north after them.
blocks where Negroes might move There were jobs enough and more
in. Some are organized down to during the war; afterwards, there
the block level. was always relief for the lazier
ones if they couldn't find a job.
PRECISELY WHAT they are or- But there was never enough hous-
ganized for is nebulous. Indi- ing.
eating zoning infractions and pro-
moting improvement campaigns AT FIRST the Negroes simply
have been their major accomplish- utilized the space in their old
ments in most cases. A few have neighborhood to the utmost, pack-
studied, and in one or two neigh- ing the families in by illegal con-
versions of houses and apart-
ments. When this was insuffi-
cient, they began to expand into
the adjacent districts. This was
acceptable; the white people liv-
ing in these areas were them-
selves making enough in war in-
dustries to move into other, bet-
ter neighborhoods.
The resistance came in these
better neighborhoods, such as
Kenwood. White property owners
signed agreements pledging them-
selves not to "sell colored." They
had noticed already the decline
in the original colored district
from overcrowding. But the City
Council declared the agreements
illegal; Negroes who could afford
to, could and did move into the
good districts.
Here prejudice combined with
economics, Once one colored fam-
ily was in an area, few white fami-
lies were interested in buying
property there; future sales al-
most always meant a change of
race. This selling and buying pro-
cess still continues; it shows no
signs of stopping or being stopped.
A SOLUTION to this racial
problem is one of Chicago's
most pressing needs. It is made
doubly necessary by the expected
expansion when the St. Lawrence
Seaway is completed, since new
docks and plants will be con-
structed in sections of the city
most afflicted with racial prob-
lems.
One answer, and the most com-
mon among whites at present, is
following what might be termed
a policy of containment; it is
generally called "holding the line,"
meaning separate white and col-
ored neighborhoods along the
same lines as now exist. The trou-
ble with this, from the white
point pf view, is that "the line"
See RACE, Page 19