On Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Pamela Sieja)

I read “Tomorrow Never Comes”: Songs of Cultural Identity in August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone in order to enhance my understanding of the play’s content. The article analyzed the Juba scene in considerable detail, providing me with a greater understanding of this dance and Herald Loomis’ feelings against it. There are several meanings of the word Juba discussed in the article. One definition describes Juba as “a species of dance that often included the enactment of a mental breakdown” “performed by plantation slaves in the deep South” (Bogumil, 466). Another way Juba was described was “a word referring to both a mixture of leftovers consumed by the plantation slaves and a song they created to prepare them psychologically to eat” (Bogumil, 465). After discussing the origins of Juba, the article reflects upon Loomis’ rejection of the dance. In the play, Loomis stormed in on the Juba, cursed the Holy Spirit, unzipped his pants, and had a morbid vision of bones with black flesh coming up from the ground. The reason for Loomis’ rejection of the Juba may be that he relates the dance to his unwanted past, working on a plantation, and he longs to break free from his terrible past experience as Joe Turner’s slave. He does not want to have sense of community by dancing and singing with others; he wants independence. The desire to disconnect from his past leaves Loomis disjointed and incomplete in forming his identity; he is displaced. Only at the end of the play, when Loomis cleanses himself with ‘the song of self sufficiency’ is he able to break away from Joe Turner. Also, I found it interesting that the “Joe Turner” presented in the play was actually based on a Tennessee plantation owner who would lure black people to games or events, then chain them up and force them to work for him. Overall, it was interesting to learn information about the Juba, Joe Turner, and the time period in general. I found that the information I received from the article gave the scenes in the play a deeper meaning, and thus, the play had a greater impact on me.