The Origins of Soul Food in Black Urban Identity

1. The Origins of Soul Food in Black Urban Identity

2. Great Migration • Period in American history when African-Americans from the South moved North • New York and Chicago were top two destinations for migrants • In Chicago, migrants predominately settled on the South Side • In 1920, 4.1% of Chicago’s population was African American • By 1944, it would be 9.3%

3. Clash Between The Cultures • Most Black migrants to Chicago came from the rural South • Their culture directly clashed with the Black bourgeois establishment • Black native Chicagoans took pride in their “clean” ways and manners, and were upset when migrants wouldn’t conform

4. Clash Between The Cultures, cont’d. • These conflicts were clearly demonstrated in the pages of the Chicago Defender • The Defender constantly railed against the “unsightly, unsanitary eating places and wagons • Raved about one restaurant which catered to white clientele by hiring Chinese cooks, who were considered “exotic”

5. Clash Between The Cultures, cont’d. • The Defender also gave condescending advice to Black households • One column urged Black people to eat and prepare European-style foods • Hot cross buns • Cucumber finger sandwiches • Another column warned of the health perils of eating condiments • All contributed to the stereotype of Black migrants as unclean

6. History of the Southern foods • Slave cooks prepared meals from ingredients indigenous to North America that resembled African plants • Sweet potatoes • Peanuts • Watermelon • Okra • Through this fusion, the lexicon for Southern Black meals was created • Fried chicken • Chitlins • BBQ • Pot likker

7. Food as a Pride of the People • Post-Civil War, Southern landowners focused on profitable crops such as tobacco, and grew less food • Diseases such as boll weevil and soil exhausted by the nutrient draining tobacco and cotton plants meant that many sharecroppers were barely feeding their families • Landowners wouldn’t let sharecroppers portion off land for food, forcing them to buyfood from stores owned by the landowners, further raising their debt

8. Food as a Pride of the People, cont’d. • Sharecroppers continued to grow small amounts of food and rely heavily on fishing, foraging, and small game hunting for sustenance • Communal eating once again rose to the forefront in Black culture as small items were gathered together for large feasts • Food came to represent the resilience of Southern Black culture

9. Small changes in the diet • When Black people changed location, they changed diets • But did so slowly and without impact on the diet • Meals became lighter and meals were eaten in order to work around an urban work schedule

10. Consistency • Black meals remained consistent with their Southern history • Accessibility to Southern foods was a factor in moving North • Black cooks used only fresh ingredients, not processed foods

11. Contribution to mass culture in Chicago • Stores began to cater to the hours and tastes of Southern migrants • The cash wage provided a spending power to Black migrants that they hadn’t previously had • Also, migrant entrepreneurs began to open their own restaurants and establishments • In 1928, restaurant and grocery store owners comprised of 30% of all Black entrepreneurs • In 1930, 235 Black women were restaurant owners, making it the #1 “clean” profession

12. Prejudice and Diverging Attitudes • The Defender promoted Black entrepreneurship on the South Side… • …but only for those bourgeois establishments like the Elite and the DeLuxe • Middle class Black folk thought it distasteful to be seen around “lazy, jitterbugging” migrants • As the Depression neared, a different mindset came to the community • The Chicago Whip initiated the “Don’t Spend Your Money Where You Can’t Work” campaign • Capitalism ensured that this campaign wouldn’t work, as most businesses on the South Side were owned by non-Blacks

13. The Decline • Chicago was the site of two prosperous Black banks • However, ties between the banks and small businesses were not established • Black banks had limited capital; suffered badly after 1929 crash • Because of that, small businesses were forced to close, limit credit, or turn to white banks

14. The Decline, cont’d. • As overcrowding set in from the migration, commercial space became more valuable • Land became more expensive • Landlords, both Black and white, wouldn’t rent to people who they didn’t consider “respectable”

15. The Decline, cont’d • Competition with white businesses became more difficult • Thinking was that lower-class Black people had been brainwashed with the mentality that they had to shop in a white store • Offering credit was also a problem • Businesses owned by whites were more likely to offer credit, as they had more resources than Black business owners

16. The Decline, cont’d. • Although Black people owned half the businesses on the South Side, Black people only spent 10% of their dollars there • 60-95% of the stores that opened there closed within seven years, resulting in high turnover

17. Conclusion • Post-World War II, Black businesses began to rise again • Fewer division between establishment and migrants as racial solidarity sets in • Showed the rise in power of the migrant business owners • The Defender eventually started running ads for migrant businesses