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86-408: Edward James " Son " House Jr. (March 21, 1902 – October 19, 1988) was an American Delta blues singer and guitarist, noted for his highly emotional style of singing and slide guitar playing. After years of hostility to secular music , as a preacher and for a few years also working as a church pastor, he turned to blues performance at the age of 25. He quickly developed a unique style by applying

172-644: A Silent Parade , carrying signs and protesting the East St. Louis riots. The march was organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), W. E. B. Du Bois, and groups in Harlem . Women and children were dressed in white; the men were dressed in black. East St. Louis continued to have an economy based on industry. Through and after World War II, many workers could make decent livings. It

258-423: A black man allegedly attacked a white man. After hearing of this, whites drove by black homes near 17th and Market and fired shots into several of them. When police came to investigate a gathering of a large group of local black residents, their car was mistaken for that of the attackers, and several in the crowd at 10th and Bond fired on the police, killing two detectives. The next morning, thousands of whites mobbed

344-612: A conversion experience ("getting religion") in his early twenties, he was accepted as a paid pastor , first in the Baptist Church and then in the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church . However, he fell into habits which conflicted with his calling, drinking like his father and probably also womanizing. This led him, after several years of conflict, to leave the church, ceasing his full-time commitment although he continued to preach sermons from time to time. In 1927, at

430-409: A formerly unidentified 900-year-old suburb of Cahokia in present-day East St. Louis. This site had not been mapped in the 19th century, and was unknown. The Mississippian culture site is in a present industrial wasteland. Researchers found evidence of more than 1,000 dwellings and the base of an earthen pyramidal mound. It would have been one of dozens of mounds when the community was active, based on

516-662: A large labor meeting of white workers held in City Hall on May 28, men also traded rumors of fraternizing between black men and white women. An inflammatory speaker said, "East St. Louis must remain a white man's town." Three thousand ethnic white men left the meeting and headed as a mob for downtown, where they randomly attacked black men on the street. The Illinois governor called in National Guard to prevent further rioting, but rumors circulated that blacks were planning an organized retaliation and tensions remained high. On July 1, 1917,

602-547: A larger city, influenced by the growing economy of St. Louis, which in 1870 was the fourth-largest city in the United States. A period of extensive industrial growth followed the American Civil War . Industries in East St. Louis made use of the local availability of Illinois coal as fuel. Another early industry was meatpacking and stockyards , concentrated in one area to limit their nuisance to other jurisdictions. In

688-513: A new city hall. Public-private partnerships have resulted in a variety of new retail developments, and housing initiatives. The St. Louis MetroLink light rail connects the city by transit to St. Louis, which has a stronger economy, and such efforts have sparked renewal. Because of depopulation, the city has many abandoned properties and extensive urban blight. Sections of " urban prairie " can be found where vacant buildings were demolished and whole blocks have become overgrown with vegetation. Much of

774-520: A pop-influenced city blues style. This was displaced by the new Chicago blues sound in the early 1950s, pioneered by Delta bluesmen Muddy Waters , Howlin' Wolf , and Little Walter , that was harking back to a Delta-influenced sound, but with amplified instruments. Delta blues was also an inspiration for the creation of British skiffle music, from which eventually came the British invasion bands, while simultaneously influencing British blues that led to

860-569: A professional standard a blues style based on his religious singing and simple bottleneck guitar style. Around 1927 or 1928, he had been playing in a juke joint when a man went on a shooting spree, wounding House in the leg, and he allegedly shot the man dead. House received a 15-year sentence at the Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman Farm), of which he served two years between 1928 and 1929. He credited his re-examination and release to an appeal by his family, but also spoke of

946-640: A railroad porter for the New York Central Railroad and as a chef . In 1964, after a long search of the Mississippi Delta region by Nick Perls , Dick Waterman and Phil Spiro, House was "rediscovered" in Rochester, New York working at a train station. He had been retired from the music business for many years and was unaware of the 1960s folk blues revival and international enthusiasm for his early recordings. He subsequently toured extensively in

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1032-674: Is disputed by Patton's biographers Stephen Calt and Gayle Dean Wardlow . They consider that House's musicianship was too limited to play with Patton and Brown, who were also rumoured to be estranged at the time. They also cite one statement by House that he did not play for dances in Lula. Beaumont concluded that House became a friend of Patton's, traveling with him to gigs but playing separately. In 1930, Art Laibly of Paramount Records traveled to Lula to persuade Patton to record several more sides in Grafton, Wisconsin . Along with Patton came House, Brown, and

1118-535: The Aluminum Ore Company , the employer hired blacks as strikebreakers. The American Steel Company also recruited blacks. They were available in part during this period because the U.S. Army initially rejected many black volunteers in the years before an integrated military. This was also the period of resentment on both sides and the arrival of new workers created fears for job security at a time of union organizing and labor unrest, and raised social tensions. At

1204-595: The Blues Hall of Fame . 78-RPM recordings Recorded May 28, 1930, in Grafton, Wisconsin , for Paramount Records Recordings for Library of Congress and Fisk University Recorded August 1941, at Klack's Store, Lake Cormorant, Mississippi. There are some railway noises in the background on some titles, as the store (which had electricity necessary for the recording) was close to a branch line between Lake Cormorant and Robinsonville. Recorded July 17, 1942, Robinsonville, Mississippi The music from both sessions and most of

1290-510: The Casino Queen riverboat casino generated the first new source of income for the city in nearly 30 years. In 1991, Gordon Bush was elected mayor. Several major industries operating in the area had gained separate incorporation as jurisdictions for the land where their plants are sited. These "communities" have virtually no residents, and the shell jurisdictions are outside the tax base of East St. Louis (See: Sauget, Illinois ). Residents of

1376-524: The Library of Congress and Fisk University . The following year, he left the Delta for Rochester, New York , and gave up music. In 1964, Alan Wilson , co-founder of the band Canned Heat , found House and had him listen to his old recordings. He encouraged him to find his way back to the music and from this collaboration, Father of Folk Blues was born. Wilson even played second guitar on “Empire State Express” and

1462-580: The Mississippi River from Vicksburg, Mississippi . When he was in his early teens, they moved to Algiers, New Orleans . Recalling these years, he would later speak of his hatred of blues and his passion for churchgoing (he described himself as "churchy" and "churchified"). At fifteen, probably while living in Algiers, he began preaching sermons . At the age of nineteen, while living in the Delta, he married Carrie Martin, an older woman from New Orleans. This

1548-657: The Montreux Jazz Festival ; a recording of his London concerts was released by Liberty Records . He also played at the Two Days of Blues Festival in Toronto in 1974. On an appearance on the TV arts show Camera Three , he was accompanied by the blues guitarist Buddy Guy . Ill health plagued House in his later years, and in 1974 he retired once again. He later moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he remained until his death from cancer of

1634-536: The Poplar Street Bridge and Stan Musial Bridge . Prior to its decommissioning, the fabled U.S. Route 66 also shared a concurrency with these Interstate highways. In addition, U.S. Route 50 also shared a concurrency prior to its being rerouted to run concurrently with Interstate 255 . The closest airport is the St. Louis Downtown Airport located in nearby Cahokia, Illinois , just south of East St. Louis. As of

1720-541: The Rust Belt , East St. Louis was severely affected by the loss of jobs due to the flight of the population to the suburbs during the riots of the late 1960s. In 1950, East St. Louis was the fourth-largest city in Illinois when its population peaked at 82,366. As of the 2020 census , the city had a population of 18,469, less than one-quarter of the 1950 census and a decline of almost one third since 2010 . A recent addition to

1806-547: The census of 2000, there were 31,542 people, 11,178 households, and 7,668 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,242.9 inhabitants per square mile (866.0/km ). There were 12,899 housing units at an average density of 917.2 per square mile (354.1/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 97.74% Black or African-American , 1.23% White , 0.19% Native American , 0.08% Asian-American , 0.03% Pacific Islander , 0.19% from other races , and 0.55% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.73% of

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1892-423: The 1970s, Bonnie Raitt and Phoebe Snow performed blues. Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi and Rory Block are contemporary female blues artists, who were influenced by Delta blues and learned from some of the most notable of the original artists still living. Sue Foley and Shannon Curfman also performed blues music. Many Delta blues artists, such as Big Joe Williams , moved to Detroit and Chicago, creating

1978-519: The 2010 census, East St. Louis has a total area of 14.37 square miles (37.22 km ), of which 13.99 square miles (36.23 km ), or 97.36%, is land and 0.38 square miles (0.98 km ), or 2.64%, is water. East St. Louis, like all of Southern Illinois, is classified as humid subtropical by the Köppen classification , having hot, humid summers and cool winters. On July 14, 1954, the temperature in East St. Louis allegedly reached 117 °F (47 °C),

2064-450: The Blues" was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame . House was born in the hamlet of Lyon , north of Clarksdale, Mississippi , the second of three brothers, and lived in the rural Mississippi Delta until his parents separated when he was about seven or eight years old. His father, Eddie House Sr., was a musician, playing the tuba in a band with his brothers and sometimes playing the guitar. He

2150-576: The East St. Louis race riot resulted in the deaths of 39 blacks and 9 whites, other estimates put the figure much higher, with estimates of 100 to 250 blacks being killed. W. E. B. Du Bois of the NAACP came to investigate the riots personally. His organization's photographer published photos of the destruction in the November issue of The Crisis . Congress also held an investigation. In New York City on July 28, 10,000 black people marched down Fifth Avenue in

2236-459: The Lake Cormorant area. Alan Lomax recorded House for the Library of Congress in 1941. Willie Brown, the mandolin player Fiddlin' Joe Martin , and the harmonica player Leroy Williams played with House on these recordings. Lomax returned to the area in 1942, where he recorded House once more. House then faded from the public view, moving to Rochester, New York, in 1943, and working as

2322-482: The Library of Congress researchers did not record any Delta bluesmen or blueswomen prior to 1941, when he recorded Son House and Willie Brown near Lake Cormorant, Mississippi , and Muddy Waters at Stovall, Mississippi . However, among others, John and Alan Lomax recorded Lead Belly in 1933, and Bukka White in 1939. In big-city blues, female singers such as Ma Rainey , Bessie Smith , and Mamie Smith dominated

2408-604: The Mayor, as we did, to close up all the saloons ... keep sober and orderly, and when you are organized, apply to the United Workingmen for orders. Don't plunder ... don't interfere with the railroads here ... let us attend to that. The strikers held the railroads and city for about a week, without the violence that took place in Chicago and other cities. The federal government intervened, and on July 28 US troops took over

2494-615: The National Stock Yards. At one plant, workers allowed processing of 125 cattle in return for 500 cans of beef for the workers. Though the East St. Louis strike continued in an orderly fashion, across the river in St. Louis there were isolated incidents of violence. Harry Eastman, the East St. Louis workers' representative, addressed the mass of employees: Go home to your different wards and organize your different unions, but don't keep coming up here in great bodies and stirring up excitement. Ask

2580-507: The Relay Depot, the Commune's command center, and the strike ended peacefully. On May 27, 1896, a tornado struck St. Louis and East St. Louis. It stands as the deadliest tornado to ever hit the cities. In approximately 20 minutes, this tornado resulted in destruction that killed 137 people in St. Louis and 118 in East St. Louis. The tornado's destruction spanned 10 miles (16 km), including

2666-452: The South. While the white workers won a wage increase, the companies retained some black workers, firing white ones. Such economic competition raised tensions between the groups in a period when the number of blacks in East St. Louis had increased dramatically due to the first Great Migration , when African Americans left poor rural areas of the South to escape Jim Crow oppression and seek jobs in

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2752-690: The United States and Europe and recorded for CBS Records. Like Mississippi John Hurt , he was welcomed into the music scene of the 1960s and played at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964, the New York Folk Festival in July 1965, and the October 1967 European tour of the American Folk Festival, along with Skip James and Bukka White . The young guitarist Alan Wilson (later of Canned Heat )

2838-438: The age of 25, House underwent a change of musical perspective as rapid and dramatic as a religious conversion. In a hamlet south of Clarksdale, he heard one of his drinking companions, either James McCoy or Willie Wilson (his recollections differed), playing bottleneck guitar , a style he had never heard before. He immediately changed his attitude about the blues, bought a guitar from a musician called Frank Hoskins and within weeks

2924-631: The album John the Revelator: The 1970 London Sessions . House appeared in Seattle on March 19, 1968, arranged by the Seattle Folklore Society. The concert was recorded by Bob West and issued on Acola Records as a CD in 2006. The Arcola CD also included an interview of House recorded on November 15, 1969 in Seattle. In the summer of 1970, House toured Europe once again, including an appearance at

3010-405: The average family size was 4.02. In the city, the population was spread out, with 32.8% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 24.6% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 12.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 81.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 72.5 males. The median income for a household in the city

3096-530: The birth of early hard rock and heavy metal . East Saint Louis, Illinois East St. Louis is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois , United States. It is directly across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis, Missouri , and the Gateway Arch National Park . East St. Louis is in the Metro East region of Southern Illinois . Once a bustling industrial center, like many cities in

3182-523: The black sections of the city, indiscriminately beating, shooting and killing men, women and children. The rioters burned entire sections of the city and shot blacks as they escaped the flames. They also hanged several blacks. They destroyed buildings and physically attacked people; they "killed a 14-year-old boy and scalped his mother. Before it was over 244 buildings were destroyed." Other sources say 300 buildings were destroyed. The city had 35 police officers, but they were seen to be doing little to suppress

3268-565: The city population became increasingly black. " Brownfields " (areas with environmental contamination by heavy industry) have made redevelopment more difficult and expensive. Street gangs appeared in city neighborhoods. Like other cities with endemic problems by the 1960s, violence added to residential mistrust and adversely affected the downtown retail base and the city's income. The construction of freeways also contributed to East St. Louis' decline. They were constructed through and broke up functioning neighborhoods and community networks, adding to

3354-791: The city's waterfront is the Gateway Geyser . On the grounds of Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park , the fountain is the second-tallest in the world. Designed to complement the Gateway Arch across the river in St. Louis, it shoots water to a height of 630 feet (190 m), the same height as the arch. Native Americans had long inhabited both sides of the Mississippi River. The Mississippian culture rulers organized thousands of workers to construct complex earthwork mounds at what later became St. Louis and East St. Louis. The center of this culture

3440-418: The city, however, suffer from contaminated air and other adverse environmental effects of these sites. At the same time, the city's tax base is too poor for it to maintain its infrastructure, including the sanitary sewers, many of which have broken and overflowed in residential neighborhoods and schools. Since 2000, the city has completed several redevelopment projects: in 2001 it opened a new library and built

3526-441: The city. People who could get jobs moved to places with work and a decent quality of life. Lacking sufficient tax revenues, the city cut back on maintenance, sewers failed, and garbage pickup ceased. Police cars and radios stopped working. The East St. Louis Fire Department went on strike in the 1970s. Structure fires destroyed such a significant number of consecutive blocks that much of the post-Armageddon film Escape from New York

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3612-454: The earliest recordings, consisting mostly of one person singing and playing an instrument. Live performances, however, more commonly involved a group of musicians. Record company talent scouts made some of the early recordings on field trips to the South, and some performers were invited to travel to northern cities to record. Current research suggests that Freddie Spruell is the first Delta blues artist to have been recorded; his "Milk Cow Blues"

3698-462: The early 1990s, archeological surveys and excavations prior to construction of Interstate 55/70 revealed evidence of important prehistoric structures in the East St. Louis area. Both sides of the river had earlier been reported as having numerous earthwork mounds when Europeans and Americans first settled in the area. Unfortunately, most of these cultural treasures in St. Louis and on the east side were lost to development. Illinois researchers discovered

3784-521: The early Delta blues (as well as other genres) were extensively recorded by John Lomax and his son Alan Lomax , who crisscrossed the southern U.S. recording music played and sung by ordinary people, helping establish the canon of genres known today as American folk music . Their recordings, numbering in the thousands, now reside in the Smithsonian Institution . According to Dixon and Godrich (1981) and Leadbitter and Slaven (1968), Alan Lomax and

3870-757: The expansion, many businessmen became overextended in credit, and a major economic collapse followed the Panic of 1873 . This was due to railroad and other manufacturing expansion, land speculation, and general business optimism caused by large profits from inflation. The economic recession began in the East and steadily moved West, severely crippling the railroads, the main system of transportation. In response, railroad companies began dramatically lowering workers' wages, forcing employees to work without pay, and cutting jobs and paid work hours. These wage cuts and additional money-saving tactics prompted strikes and massive unrest. While most of

3956-464: The ferry business, moved to St. Louis County and remarried. One of the Piggotts' great-great-granddaughters became known as actress Virginia Mayo (Virginia Clara Jones). The municipality called East St. Louis was established on April 1, 1861. Illinoistown residents voted on a new name that day, and 183 voted to rename the town East St. Louis. Though it started as a small town, East St. Louis soon grew to

4042-536: The harp on ”Levee Camp Moan”. Son's manager Dick Waterman said,” Al Wilson helped Son House find Son House”. He relearned his repertoire and established a career as an entertainer, performing for young, mostly white audiences in coffeehouses, at folk festivals and on concert tours during the American folk music revival , billed as a " folk blues " singer. He recorded several albums and some informally taped concerts have also been issued as albums. In 2017, his single "Preachin'

4128-497: The highest temperature ever recorded in America east of the Mississippi River . It is not considered a formal record, however, as the city had no weather station. East St. Louis has five St. Louis MetroLink stations: East Riverfront , 5th & Missouri , Emerson Park , JJK Center , and Washington Park . Interstate 55 , Interstate 64 , Interstate 70 , and U.S. Route 40 run through East St. Louis and are linked to St. Louis by

4214-578: The industrial cities of the North and the Midwest. From 1910 to 1917, the black population nearly doubled in East St. Louis. The United States established a draft which would bring in many workers to the military. As the war prevented immigration from Europe even before the U.S. entered the war, major companies had begun to recruit black workers from the South to fill demand. When white workers went on strike in April 1917 at

4300-481: The intervention by the influential white planter for whom they worked. The date of the killing and the duration of his sentence are unclear; House gave different accounts to different interviewers, and searches by his biographer Daniel Beaumont found no details in the court records of Coahoma County or in the archive of the Mississippi Department of Corrections . Upon his release in 1929 or early 1930, House

4386-623: The larynx . He had been married five times and had two daughters, Beatrice and Sally. He was buried at the Mt. Hazel Cemetery. Members of the Detroit Blues Society raised money through benefit concerts to put a monument on his grave. In 2007, House was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Tunica, Mississippi . In 2017, his single "Preachin' the Blues" was inducted in to

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4472-488: The local market for professional blues performance. Patton watched House busking when he arrived penniless at Lula station, but did not approach him. He observed House's showmanship attracting a crowd to the café and bootleg whiskey business of a woman called Sara Knight. Patton invited House to be a regular musical partner with him and Brown. House formed a liaison with Knight, and both musicians profited from association with her bootlegging activities. The musical partnership

4558-600: The mayor of East St. Louis, was appointed arbitrator of the committee. He helped the committee select special police to guard the property of the railroads from damage. The strike and the new de facto workers' government, while given encouragement by the largely German-American Workingmen's Party and the Knights of Labor (two key players in the organization of the Missouri general strike), were run by no organized labor group. The strike also closed packing industry houses surrounding

4644-523: The nearby major center of Cahokia , a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site within the present-day boundaries of Collinsville . A complex urban center estimated to have had a population of perhaps 20,000, this site is about 5 miles (8 km) from East St. Louis. In 2012, archeological work prior to construction of the Stan Musial Bridge across the Mississippi discovered artifacts and evidence of

4730-403: The pianist Louise Johnson, all of whom recorded sides for the label. House recorded nine songs during that session, eight of which were released, but they were commercial failures. He did not record again commercially for 35 years, but he continued to play with Patton and Brown, and with Brown after Patton's death in 1934. During this time, House worked as a tractor driver for various plantations in

4816-408: The population. There were 11,178 households, out of which 33.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 21.9% were married couples living together, 40.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.4% were non-families. 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.80 and

4902-505: The railyards and commercial districts of East St. Louis. During the storm, 311 buildings were destroyed and 7,200 others were severely damaged. The cost of this loss was estimated to be between $ 10 million and $ 12 million. In 1896 this was a considerable amount of money, as a two-story brick house could be purchased at that time for $ 1,500. East St. Louis in 1917 had a strong industrial economy boosted by America's economic participation in demands related to World War I ; although war

4988-438: The recorded interviews have been reissued on LP and CD. Singles Other albums This list is incomplete. For a complete list, see external links . Delta blues Although Delta blues certainly existed in some form or another at the turn of the twentieth century, it was first recorded in the late 1920s, when record companies realized the potential African-American market for " race records ". The major labels produced

5074-399: The recordings of the 1920s. Although very few women were recorded playing Delta blues and other rural or folk-style blues, many performers did not get professionally recorded. Geeshie Wiley was a blues singer and guitar player who recorded six songs for Paramount Records that were issued on three records in April 1930. According to the blues historian Don Kent , Wiley "may well have been

5160-484: The region. This led to a precipitous loss of working and middle-class jobs. The city's financial conditions deteriorated. Elected in 1951, Mayor Alvin Fields tried funding measures that resulted in raising the city's bonded indebtedness and the property tax rate. More businesses closed as workers left the area to seek jobs in other regions. The more established white workers had an easier time gaining jobs in other localities, and

5246-713: The remaining population, live in public housing owned by the East St. Louis Housing Authority. All of these residents make less than $ 9,000 per year, meaning the Authority is highly dependent upon state and federal funding to continue operating its aging housing stock. In 2010, the East St. Louis community gardening movement began to develop plots for "urban farming", as has been done in North St. Louis. Inspired by Detroit 's planned use of vacant land for green development, community associations, nonprofits and universities have collaborated to spark green development in East St. Louis. In

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5332-535: The remains of several earthwork mounds . In the East St. Louis area, 50 mounds had been mapped before the Civil War, and seven remain visible today. The largest is estimated to have been originally 40 feet (12 m) high and would have nearly covered a football field. Around the remains of this mound, researchers have discovered evidence of burial mounds, a large plaza, a wooden defensive palisade and several other Mississippian culture structures. These indicate that it

5418-534: The rhythmic drive, vocal power and emotional intensity of his preaching to the newly learned idiom. In a short career interrupted by a spell in Parchman Farm penitentiary, he developed his musicianship to the point that Charley Patton , the foremost blues artist of the Mississippi Delta region, invited him to share engagements and to accompany him to a 1930 recording session for Paramount Records . Issued at

5504-530: The rural South's greatest female blues singer and musician". L. V. Thomas, better known as Elvie Thomas , was a blues singer and guitarist from Houston, Texas , who recorded with Geeshie Wiley. Memphis Minnie was a blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted for more than three decades. She recorded approximately 200 songs, some of the best known being "Bumble Bee", "Nothing in Rambling", and " Me and My Chauffeur Blues ". Bertha Lee

5590-579: The size of the residential population of this site. Discovery of the site led scholars to increase their estimates of the total population of the Mississippians at Cahokia and in the area, now thought to have been about 20,000. They did not have the time to excavate the entire area. It is on private land and subject to risk of destruction by development. East St. Louis is located at 38°37′N 90°8′W  /  38.617°N 90.133°W  / 38.617; -90.133 (38.616, −90.133). According to

5676-597: The social disruption of the period. The freeways made it easier for residents to commute back and forth from suburban homes, so the wealthier people moved out to newer housing. East St. Louis adopted a number of programs to try to reverse decline: the Model Cities program, the Concentrated Employment Program, and Operation Breakthrough. The programs were not enough to offset the loss of industrial jobs due to national restructuring. In 1971, James E. Williams

5762-490: The start of the Great Depression , the records did not sell and did not lead to national recognition. Locally, House remained popular, and in the 1930s, together with Patton's associate Willie Brown , he was the leading musician of Coahoma County . There he was a formative influence on Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters . In 1941 and 1942, House and the members of his band were recorded by Alan Lomax and John W. Work for

5848-495: The strikes in the eastern cities during 1877 were accompanied by violence, the late July 1877 St. Louis strike was marked by a bloodless and quick takeover by dissatisfied workers. By July 22, the St. Louis Commune began to take shape, as representatives from almost all the railroad lines met in East St. Louis. They soon elected an executive committee to command the strike and issued General Order No. 1, halting all railroad traffic other than passenger and mail trains. John Bowman ,

5934-402: The territory surrounding the city remains undeveloped, bypassed by developers who chose more affluent suburban areas. Many old " inner city " neighborhoods abut large swaths of corn and soybean fields or otherwise vacant land. In addition to agricultural uses, a number of truck stops, strip clubs, and semi-rural businesses surround blighted areas in the city. Over 2,200 people, or over 12% of

6020-642: The violence. The governor called in National Guard troops to try to control the situation; they arrived July 3, but several accounts reported that they joined in the rioting. Most of the violence ended that day, but reports continued afterward of isolated assaults of blacks. Afterward the city Chamber of Commerce called for the resignation of the Police Chief and greater oversight of police operations. Losses in property damage were high, including railroad warehouses and carloads full of goods that were burned, as well as railroad cars. Though official reports suggested that

6106-434: Was a blues singer, active in the 1920s and 1930s. She recorded with and was the common-law wife of, Charley Patton. Rosa Lee Hill , daughter of Sid Hemphill, learned guitar from her father and by the time she was ten, was playing at dances with him. Several of her songs, such as "Rolled and Tumbled", were recorded by Alan Lomax between 1959 and 1960. In the late 1960s, Jo Ann Kelly (UK) started her recording career. In

6192-493: Was a church member but also a drinker; he left the church for a time as a result of his drinking, but then gave up alcohol and became a Baptist deacon . Young Eddie House adopted the family commitment to religion and churchgoing. He also absorbed the family love of music but confined himself to singing, showing no interest in the family instrumental band, and hostile to the blues on religious grounds. When House's parents separated, his mother took him to Tallulah, Louisiana , across

6278-415: Was a fan of House's. The producer John Hammond asked Wilson, who was just 22 years old, to teach "Son House how to play like Son House," because Wilson had such a good knowledge of blues styles. House subsequently recorded the album Father of Folk Blues , later reissued as a 2-CD set Father of Delta Blues: The Complete 1965 Sessions . House performed with Wilson live, as can be heard on "Levee Camp Moan" on

6364-565: Was a ritual center. The 500-acre (200 ha) prehistoric site is now called the East St. Louis Mound Center. The state and University of Illinois are trying to develop coordinated projects with East St. Louis and businesses to use the mounds and artifacts as attractions for heritage tourism . It was built by the Mississippian culture, which extended throughout the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. It reached its peak in this region about AD 1100–1200 at

6450-431: Was a significant step for House; he married in church and against family opposition. The couple moved to her hometown of Centerville, Louisiana to help run her father's farm. After a couple of years, feeling used and disillusioned, House recalled, "I left her hanging on the gatepost, with her father tellin' me to come back so we could plow some more." Around the same time, probably 1922, House's mother died. In later years, he

6536-474: Was born in nearby Alton and grew up in East St. Louis. The 1999 PBS series River of Song featured these musicians in its coverage of music from cities along the Mississippi River. The city suffered from the mid-century restructuring of heavy industry and railroads, which cost widespread loss of jobs. As a number of local factories began to close because of changes in industry, the railroad and meatpacking industries also were cutting back and moving jobs out of

6622-492: Was declared in April, the nation did not meaningfully enter the war until that fall. Industry was dominated by European immigrant workers, who had been coming to industrial cities since the late 19th century. Here and across the country, they repeatedly tried to organize in efforts to gain better wages and working conditions. In the summer of 1916, 2,500 white workers struck the nearby meat packing plants of National City. Companies recruited black workers, sometimes importing them from

6708-501: Was elected as the city's first black mayor. Faced with the overwhelming economic problems, he was unable to make much of a difference. In 1975, William E. Mason was elected mayor; his term marked a return to patronage politics and the city sank deeper into debt and reliance on federal funding. In 1979, Carl Officer was elected as mayor (the youngest in the country at that time, at age 25). Despite hopes for improvement, conditions continued to decline. Middle-class citizens continued to leave

6794-549: Was filmed in East St. Louis. In 1990, the State of Illinois passed (65 ILCS 5/Art. 8 Div. 12) The Financially Distressed City Law. Under this law, Illinois Governor James R. Thompson provided $ 34 million in loans to East St. Louis, with the stipulation that an appointed five-member board, called the East St. Louis Financial Advisory Authority, manage the city's finances. In 1990 the state legislature approved riverboat gambling in an effort to increase state revenues. The opening of

6880-600: Was given after the United States acquired the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and more European Americans began to settle in the area. The village was first named "Illinoistown". East St. Louis was founded in 1797 by Captain James Piggott, a Revolutionary War veteran. In that year Piggott began operating a ferry service across the Mississippi River, connecting Illinoistown with St. Louis, which had been founded by ethnic French families. When Piggott died in 1799, his widow sold

6966-661: Was named an All-America City in 1959 by the National Civic League. East St. Louis celebrated its centennial in 1961. It was known as the "Pittsburgh of the West". Its population had reached a peak of 82,366 residents in the 1950 census, the fourth-largest city in Illinois at the time. Through the 1950s and later, the city's musicians were an integral creative force in blues, rock and roll and jazz. Some left and achieved national recognition, such as Ike & Tina Turner . The jazz great Miles Davis , who became internationally known,

7052-464: Was playing with Hoskins, McCoy and Wilson. Two songs he learned from McCoy would later be among his best known, "My Black Mama" and "Preachin' the Blues". Another source of inspiration was Rube Lacey , a much better known performer who had recorded for Columbia Records in 1927 (no titles were released) and for Paramount Records in 1928 (two titles were released). In an astonishingly short time, with only these four musicians as models, House developed to

7138-1086: Was recorded in Chicago in June 1926. According to Dixon and Godrich (1981), Tommy Johnson and Ishmon Bracey were recorded by Victor on that company's second field trip to Memphis, in 1928. Robert Wilkins was first recorded by Victor in Memphis in 1928, and Big Joe Williams and Garfield Akers by Brunswick / Vocalion , also in Memphis, in 1929. Charley Patton recorded for Paramount in Grafton, in June 1929 and May 1930. He also traveled to New York City for recording sessions in January and February 1934. Son House first recorded in Grafton, Wisconsin, in 1930 for Paramount Records . Robert Johnson recorded his only sessions, in San Antonio in 1936 and in Dallas in 1937, for ARC . Many other artists were recorded during this period. Subsequently,

7224-477: Was still angry about his marriage and said of Carrie, "She wasn't nothin' but one of them New Orleans whores". House's resentment of farming extended to the many menial jobs he took as a young adult. He moved frequently, on one occasion taking off to East Saint Louis to work in a steel plant. The one job he enjoyed was on a Louisiana horse ranch, which later he celebrated by wearing a cowboy hat in his performances. He found an escape from manual labor when, following

7310-507: Was strongly advised to leave Clarksdale and stay away. He walked to Jonestown and caught a train to the small town of Lula, Mississippi , sixteen miles north of Clarksdale and eight miles from the blues hub of Helena, Arkansas . Coincidentally, the great star of Delta blues, Charley Patton , was also in virtual exile in Lula, having been expelled from his base on the Dockery Plantation . With his partner Willie Brown , Patton dominated

7396-477: Was the urban complex of Cahokia , located to the north of present-day East St. Louis within Collinsville, Illinois . Before the Civil War, settlers reported up to 50 mounds in the area that became East St. Louis, but most were lost to 19th-century development and later roadbuilding. East St. Louis lies within the fertile American Bottom area of the present day Metro East area of St. Louis, Missouri . This name

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