Whatever Happened to Jackson's Station? Community, Sexuality and Tragedy in a Southern Blues Bar

• In Event: 306 - Section on Sociology of Sexualities Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 12. Sexual Geographies

Abstract

This essay tells the story of Jackson's Station, a unique Rhythm and Blues club located in the tiny town of Hodges, South Carolina. Owned and operated by two gay men in the 1970s and 1980s, Jackson Station was a beacon of tolerance, diversity and progressivism in the US south. Conveniently located in the middle of nowhere but on the way to everywhere, Jackson's Station functioned as a late night gathering place for the after-hours crowd for people across rural South Carolina (as well as parts of Georgia, and North Carolina). Major musical acts such as James Brown, the Muddy Water’s Band, the Swimming Pool Qs, and Widespread Panic, all played there. In this work I construct a social history of Jackson’s Station and the meanings it had for the people who went there. I am interested in how Jackson’s Station's identity was constructed, the processes through which it sustained itself, and how it came to an end. The conclusion offers some suggestions for interpreting Jackson’s Station and places like it in society today.

Author

• Daniel M. Harrison, Lander University