Julie's Project

Hi Everyone,

Here is my brainstorming on my project as it currently exists:

Description of Project:

“A light shade had been pulled down between the Black community and all things white”

The above quote is from Maya Angelou’s beautiful novel I know Why the Caged Bird Sings and it will provide a frame for my project on Deep Deuce. For my project, I aim to explore the dichotomy between Deep Deuce and the broader (read: white) Oklahoma City community during the early decades of the 20th century. However, I also want to address the dichotomy within “Deep Second” (I use the term “Deep Second” because that was the name residents used. In contrast, Deep Deuce, appears to be a term that emerged due to development and marketing strategies in the 1990s) .

While various social forces (e.g., discriminatory laws, racism, fear) worked to produce the geographic mapping of the black community, it is appears that other factors contributed to the bifurcation within Deep Second. My thoughts currently is that time was a primary factor: By day, it was a thriving business community and by night, a roaring jazz and entertainment district. I still need to explore further though the complexities of this (in many ways it resembles the day/night dichotomy of urban environments). The more conceptual mapping of time fascinates me. (Note: Let’s talk about the social forces and the creation/decline/revitalization of DS/DD this weekend. The processes are quite interesting from a social science perspective). It also strikes me that while we can expose the power relations between whites/blacks and the creation of DS, that it may be more difficult to figure out whether it is a strict dichotomy between the business and jazz subcultures or if something else is going on.

My project thus allows me to explore the inside/outside issue on multiple levels: 1) the “banishing” of Blacks to Deep Deuce thus constructing them as outsiders, 2) the way that boundaries (even those that are forced and socially constructed) are fluid (e.g., young white women visiting jazz clubs in Deep Second while Blacks were unwelcomed at night (or day) in OKC and 3) the way that time shapes what is inside/outside.

Here’s how I envision my project looking:
1) My vessel is a box. On the outside of the box are pictures of Oklahoma City between 1900 and the 1960s. On the inside of the box, half of the box will be photos of Deep Deuce by day (businesses: physicians, restaurants, theaters, etc.) and the other half will be Deep Deuce by night (jazz/entertainment). On the rim of the box, I’ll use Angelou’s quote (unless I find something by Ralph Ellison that I like better). Inside the box, my object will be something that signifies either 1) the “caging” of deep deuce, or 2) the business/jazz dichotomy (e..g, guitar/piano and cash register.

I am very interested in your comments and to hear more about your projects as they emerge.

Image Source: Nate (http://flickr.com/people/okaycity/)