Tony Jackson

Text by Tristan Cabello. Copyright (©) by Tristan Cabello, 2008. All rights reserved.

The Great Migration

During the Great Migration, a movement of approximately seven million African-Americans out of the Southern United States to the North, Midwest and West from 1916 to 1930, Bronzeville’s homosexual population grew rapidly. African Americans migrated to escape racism, seek employment opportunities in industrial cities, and get better education.

Like the millions of African-Americans who left behind the poverty and racism in the South for a more respectable, dignified and stable life in the North, Black homosexuals traveled to urban centers to find better-paying jobs, but also to take advantage of the opportunities for homosexual encounters, which they knew were often abundant in large cites. In an environment of relative sexual freedom, African-Americans in Bronzeville could establish relationships with members of the same sex, and these relationships were often accepted by the neighborhood authorities and by its residents.

City Anonymity

The anonymous nature of a large city allowed for discretion in regards to one’s sexual life. The American urban reformers at the turn of the century were very much aware of how such anonymity allowed for the growth of “illicit sexual outlets.” New York’s Committee of Fifteen, a committee of urban moralists, issued a vice report in 1902 which delineated this “problem of anonymity”:

The main external check upon a man’s conduct, the opinion of his neighbors, which has such a powerful influence in the country or small town, tends to disappear, in a great city where one has no neighbors, No man knows the doings of even his close friends, few men care what the secret life of their friends may be. Then with his moral sensibilities blunted, the young man is left to follow his own inclinations.

A similar statement of concern was made by the “Chicago Vice Commission” during the same period:

Although sexual behavior could be controlled in a small community, the situation is more difficult in a city the size of Chicago. Here an individual may, if he chooses, live any life he pleases, so far as his personal habits are concerned, and no one be the wiser

The anonymity of Bronzeville provided the necessary pre-condition for queer networks to take root and grow.

Tony Jackson, A Gay Blues Pianist from Chicago

Blues pianist Tony Jackson) was one of the many homosexual migrants who decided to leave their native South to take advantage of Chicago’s freedom. Born in New Orleans in 1884 , Jackson spent his youth in saloons, gambling halls, and brothels in the Black neighborhood of Storyville.

Tony Jackson at Piano, The Historic New Orleans Collection, Williams Research Center, 92-48-LMSS 508, F. 53, New Orleans, LA. Courtesy of The Historic New Orleans Collection, Williams Research Center

Despite his great popularity as a musician, Jackson often complained about the tough homosexual life in New Orleans. In search of a place of residence more receptive to his music and sexual orientation, the musician migrated to Chicago in 1912. But efore reaching Chicago, Jackson stopped in Louisville, KY where he met one of the leading pianists of the town, Glover Compton with whom he had a long-term friendship.

Tony Jackson and Friend (Probably Glover Compton), The Historic New Orleans Collection, Williams Research Center 92-48-LMSS 509, F. 48, New Orleans, LA. Courtesy of The Historic New Orleans Collection, Williams Research Center

Blues singer Jelly Roll Morton, a friend of the pianist, claimed that Jackson had migrated to Chicago because “he happened to be one of those gentlemen that a lot of people call […] lady or sissy.” According to Morton, Jackson “liked his freedom in Chicago,” a freedom that included the ability to work full time in Bronzeville’s most renowned cabarets, theaters, and cafés, as well as the possibility of encounters with men of similar sexual orientations. Jackson was one of the best and most popular musicians in the Southside, often performing at Elite No. 1, Elite No. 2, and the Pekin Café.

View of the Pekin Cafe from across the street. Tony Jackson was one of the most famous performers. (Courtesy of the Chicago Historical Society)

In moving to Chicago, Tony Jackson transformed the work of other blues musicians who surrounded him, and as many homosexuals before and after him, the culture and social life of the neighborhood.

Nonetheless, Jackson never discussed his own homosexuality publicly. He did not make any records, but published nine songs in the period from 1916 to 1920, including the very popular Pretty Baby [Watch Dean Martin performing Pretty Baby]. Some historians believe that the original lyrics of the song were written for his male partner, though the lyrics of the song released for sale, reworked by Gus Kahn and Egbert Van Alsine, clearly refer to a woman...

Tony Jackson's most famous song: "Pretty Baby" [1]

A heavy drinker, Jackson suffered from cirrhosis of the liver before he died in his apartment on 20th April 1921 at age 38. 

Historians Al Rose and Edmond Souchon obtained a copy of Jackson’s death certificate in July 1959, reproduced New Orleans Jazz: A Family Album.

Tony Jackson's draft card shows his birth date and his employer of the time "The Pekins Theater." Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration. As reproduced here.

Tony Jackson's draft card.Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration. As reproduced here.

NEXT: Bronzeville's Vice District

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