Scratch Ankle: Difference between revisions
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'''"Scratch Ankle"''' was a pejorative term used by the [[Birmingham Police Department]] and others to refer to the [[4th Avenue Historic District|black business district]] centered on [[18th Street North]] and [[4th Avenue North]]. | '''"Scratch Ankle"''' was a pejorative term used by the [[Birmingham Police Department]] and others to refer to the [[4th Avenue Historic District|black business district]] centered on [[18th Street North]] and [[4th Avenue North]]. One suggestion for the origin of the name is the itching welts left by the leg-irons used to bind workers in chain gangs. In the early 20th century African-American men were often rounded up on minor charges and put to work in the state's "[[convict lease system]]" for long periods. | ||
One source locates Scratch Ankle as a mining district at the edge of the city. Another community by the same name was located in Monroe of Clarke County, so named because stagecoach travelers were frequently attacked by fleas or other insects on that part of their journey. | |||
Bustling by day, the district became known for illicit activities at night. Scratch Ankle was listed as a den of vice and a source of bad publicity in [[George Ward]]'s calls for county-wide prohibition in the early 1900s. It was used as the name of a chapter in [[Clement Wood]]'s [[1922]] novel ''[[Nigger (novel)|Nigger]]''. [[Diane McWhorter]] described the Scratch Ankle of the mid-20th century as a "subterrein" ruled by [[Charles Barnett|Charles "Rat Killer" Barnett]], owner of the [[17th Street Shine Parlor]] who organized the bootlegging and pimping activities in the district while enjoying immunity from prosecution as an informant to [[Bull Connor]]. | Bustling by day, the district became known for illicit activities at night. Scratch Ankle was listed as a den of vice and a source of bad publicity in [[George Ward]]'s calls for county-wide prohibition in the early 1900s. It was used as the name of a chapter in [[Clement Wood]]'s [[1922]] novel ''[[Nigger (novel)|Nigger]]''. [[Diane McWhorter]] described the Scratch Ankle of the mid-20th century as a "subterrein" ruled by [[Charles Barnett|Charles "Rat Killer" Barnett]], owner of the [[17th Street Shine Parlor]] who organized the bootlegging and pimping activities in the district while enjoying immunity from prosecution as an informant to [[Bull Connor]]. | ||
Another well-known character in Scratch Ankle of the 1880s was [[Jennie Beal]] (or Beall), a madam who operated her "palace" with African-American and mixed-race prostitutes which were visited by both black and white men. | |||
In early [[1899]] the ''[[Birmingham Age-Herald]]'' embarked on a campaign to have the "dives and dens of infamy and vice" in Scratch Ankle and [[Buzzard Roost]] "broken up, root and branch" for, "the lasting benefit of the city." | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
* ''[http://bplonline.cdmhost.com/digital/collection/BrmnghmNP01/id/9848/rec/1 Weekly Age Herald]'' (January 2, 1889) - via {{BPLDC}} | |||
* "Birmingham's Eighteenth Street" (August 1937) ''U. S. Steel News''. Vol. 2, No. 8 | * "Birmingham's Eighteenth Street" (August 1937) ''U. S. Steel News''. Vol. 2, No. 8 | ||
* {{McWhorter-2001}} | * {{McWhorter-2001}} | ||
Revision as of 16:41, 26 June 2018
"Scratch Ankle" was a pejorative term used by the Birmingham Police Department and others to refer to the black business district centered on 18th Street North and 4th Avenue North. One suggestion for the origin of the name is the itching welts left by the leg-irons used to bind workers in chain gangs. In the early 20th century African-American men were often rounded up on minor charges and put to work in the state's "convict lease system" for long periods.
One source locates Scratch Ankle as a mining district at the edge of the city. Another community by the same name was located in Monroe of Clarke County, so named because stagecoach travelers were frequently attacked by fleas or other insects on that part of their journey.
Bustling by day, the district became known for illicit activities at night. Scratch Ankle was listed as a den of vice and a source of bad publicity in George Ward's calls for county-wide prohibition in the early 1900s. It was used as the name of a chapter in Clement Wood's 1922 novel Nigger. Diane McWhorter described the Scratch Ankle of the mid-20th century as a "subterrein" ruled by Charles "Rat Killer" Barnett, owner of the 17th Street Shine Parlor who organized the bootlegging and pimping activities in the district while enjoying immunity from prosecution as an informant to Bull Connor.
Another well-known character in Scratch Ankle of the 1880s was Jennie Beal (or Beall), a madam who operated her "palace" with African-American and mixed-race prostitutes which were visited by both black and white men.
In early 1899 the Birmingham Age-Herald embarked on a campaign to have the "dives and dens of infamy and vice" in Scratch Ankle and Buzzard Roost "broken up, root and branch" for, "the lasting benefit of the city."
References
- Weekly Age Herald (January 2, 1889) - via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections
- "Birmingham's Eighteenth Street" (August 1937) U. S. Steel News. Vol. 2, No. 8
- McWhorter, Diane (2001) Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0743226488