Photo courtesy Beat Street Publications

A Main Line is the "main section or the members of the actual club, that has the permit to parade. The parades consist of a larger element of fans and the curious following that section of members .

Those fans, admirers and curious are the "second line" or part two of this planned street parade. These parades have come to be called and known by this fact.

Normally called, "Second Lines", the sponsoring element is called the "Main Line" and is usually a Social Aid & Pleasure Club of the neighborhood in which they are parading. By state and city ordinances and law, very seldom does these parades take up routes on heavily traffic laden thoroughfares in the city. Most are held in the back areas, visiting the stops that help the clubs to continue the tradition.

The Social Aid & Pleasure Club tradition is a mixture of African traditions that came together to form one of the most unique forms of celebration in the united States. The tradition's history, however, dates back to the tribes in western Africa.

The old saying that, "It takes a village to raise a child", is rooted in ancient tribal tradition and fact. According to the records of the some African tribes, the warriors of the "felt", or prairie lands, sometimes waged war against their neighbors and took hostages as slaves, spools of the conflict.

Most of these conquered tribes, valued a concept of tribal society, that a productive member was a valued part of the tribe. In times of need or death, his family was taken care of, and if need be, their entire life by the tribe.

Why!!?? Because everything that tribal member did, was for the care and benefit, not just for his family, but of the entire tribe. If he killed an antelope, he would divide up the carcass so each tribal member could share. He shared in the building of huts, or the digging of shallow rock shelters, rituals, and the defense of the tribe and more.

While he was healthy, he was socially required to do these tasks, and if he was sick or injured from battle or accident, he was assured of care from his family, while the village took care of all other needs until he was able to resume his role. Pride, assured that the member got back on his feet A.S.A.P.

When it was time to bury him, the entire tribe took care of the entire process for the family, with the family in "mourning", it was the tribe who buried him, with honors in appreciation of his part in the society.

It is this concept that followed the captured slaves, whom were sold to the traders in the late 1600's and very early 1700's when the slave trade was booming thanks to mostly the French.

Throughout the 146 years until the end of the civil war, the concept of contribution of services to the collective, served to form tight knit groups on the plantations and in the young city. Much of African traditions survived the time of bondage in the delta region of Louisiana, because to the live and let live approach to slavery that the French took towards the practice.

That approach enabled enterprising slaves to come up with ways to earn money and consequently earn enough to buy their freedom. For the Africans that accomplished this, they struggled to learned trades and elevated the trades into finely homed art. Some were considered the finest skilled tradesman in their fields in the entire south. In some cases, as a testament to how well they had taken their craft, even their former masters and foremen (overseers) came to call upon them, for their considerable skills.

In 1783, the very skilled tradesmen who were former slaves, took the lead to train and integrate many into the very society they once served. The concept which had guided the Africans since birth was allowed to once again come to the surface and guide these men into service for their people. In March of that year, The Perseverance Benevolent & Mutual Aid Association is formed as the first of hundreds of such organizations. The Association became the cornerstone of most of the African American Social clubs, Ball Only clubs and Carnival Organizations. It is based on the principles taught in Africa of coming together, especially in times of need, for the collective good.

Several other smaller Mutual Aid Associations were unofficially recorded, but were nothing near the size of the original. The one thing the P.B.M.A.A. could not do, was to bury as many as they wished.

It was not until after the Civil War that the final aspect truthfully came into existence, in any real sense. In the late 19th century the African American community was set free as a whole, in New Orleans, by the emancipation proclamation. All those slaves needed to be integrated into society, and "educated".

The New Orleans Freedmen's Aid Association, was founded 7 months after the Civil War, in 1865.

This organization's goal was to provide loans assistance and legal counsel, and a means of "education", to the newly freed slaves. Reading, writing, and learning a trade were their chief concerns.

Always, where there is life, eventually, there is death. This organization was also the first form of "insurance", to ever exist in any African American communities, and quite possibly, the first in America. They paid funeral costs, when possible, and arranged for Jazz funerals. You could build up a good equity up in the club, and if times got hard, you could even borrow against the value of the policy. This function is where the clubs and groups that followed derive their core name, "social aid ".

After the Civil War, it was much easier to get musical instruments, so newly freed African Americans, began to form marching bands that consisted of only brass instruments with the lone exception of a bass and tom tom drums. In the late 1890's and the early 1900's these "brass bands" began to be asked to perform at Jazz funerals. Jazz funerals were at the heart of an early African slave religious practice, of celebrating of the life of a deceased person.

When the church's funeral service was over, and the procession began the movement from the church to the cemetery, the band would play slow, sad, funeral hymns, known as a "dirge". Led by a "Grand Marshal", the band and mourners would move to the burial site, with the band playing a dirge to signal the struggles, the hardships, the ups and downs of life.

On the way back, the music became more joyful. The band played high-spirited tunes such as "Didn't He Ramble," and "Lil Liza Jane", amongst other tunes. This was to signal the dismissal, and interment of the physical body, and the joyous event of the release, of the soul, to heaven. Relatives, friends, and acquaintances would become the second line and dance with wild abandon. The second line, usually sporting umbrellas and handkerchiefs, became traditional at these jazz funerals.

After the Association's untimely demise, more benevolent organizations arose within neighborhoods to function as mutual aid societies. These Social Aid Clubs of the early 20th Century provided and (some still do,) aid to fellow African Americans and insure that club members get a proper burial.

As stated before, the Clubs, and organizations, operated like a loose social safety net. A member paid dues to the club, and into his policy, each month, with some collecting as much as $2 every week. With the weekly or bi monthly policies, you built equity quickly.

Remember, back in those days a funeral costs were around $200-300 dollars. 52 weeks at rates of $.50 cents to $2, netted you a max of around $104 a yr. Once you reached your burial expense, the equity started to build.

After enough time had elapsed you could build quite a nest egg if you were frugal, and could even borrow against it, with some clubs. If times were hard, they were your social safety net. But unlike today's welfare, that net had a very real limit. It was important to get on your feet again as quickly as possible.

The dues structure also enabled the societies to purchase tombs and vaults for their members. Some of the older Clubs, such as the Y.M.O., and the Zulus, still hold sets of vaults, located in only 2 cemeteries, namely Lafayette, and City II.

Once the member’s burial expenses itself are paid, the balance of the money is used to finance the funeral of the member in style, sometimes, if desired, with a traditional New Orleans jazz funeral.

Usually, the club would host a jazz funeral, complete with a brass band and horse drawn carriage bearing the casket. Some of the clubs, even had their own Tombs, with one designed to hold up to 25 bodies at a time. It no longer exists. It was severely damaged when the I-10 high rise was put through downtown New Orleans. Only seven such tombs are still in use, today

Since more enrolled members meant the organization would continue to be solvent, these societies had to advertise, in a very unique way, their style. Throughout the city of New Orleans, there were fraternal organizations, groups and burial societies, who often competed with each other to see which group could send off a member in the greatest style.

Members would dress in matching suits, and outfits, with handmade decorative chest banners, called sashes and they carried elaborately decorated fans, umbrellas, and handkerchiefs. All embroidered, engraved or imprinted with the organization's name. One member would carry the club's official banner.This gave the prospective members a glance of what their processional would look like.

Several S&P Clubs, that were founded before and shortly after the turn of the century, are still around today. The Young Men Olympians, was formed in 1884, the Zulus in 1909, and the Prince of Wales in 1928.

Over time, these organizations were phased out of the "business of helping others", by the influx, and more heavily advertised companies of the insurance industry into the metro area. In 1978, there were only 6 to 10 clubs of this nature on the books and parading in the neighborhood streets of New Orleans, Louisiana.

The S&P Clubs are today, a mere shadow of their former selves, and known not as the fore runners of the insurance industry in Louisiana, but as the, Keepers of the Second Line Tradition, Grand Marshal's are now the exception and no longer the rule. There are female and male only clubs, as well as mixed organizations that even include white members, as well.

Their role now delegated to serve, as "living pieces of history", that also actively functions as the symbols of a once proud culture, of self sufficiency, in the city of New Orleans. Unfortunately as these societies started to disappear, so did the tombs and vaults that they had routinely purchased. Once there were hundreds of these vaults about the cemetaries that held the remains of the members, some still do of "kings and Queens" and these are protected as long as the organizations last.

The noun second line, is also the name of a unique dance performed to the beat of New Orleans traditional jazz. The dance is an evolved version of an old African dance known as the, Bambula.

Each year, club members will choose a color scheme, then set about to assemble or make new suits and host their annual second line parade.With names like the "Jolly Bunch", "Money Wasters," "Lady Buck Jumpers", and the "Golden Trumpets," the S&P Clubs played a vital role in the community during the legalized segregation that created an entertaining counterpart to Mardi Gras.

Until segregation ended, African Americans enjoyed "Carnival Day" all along the Claiborne Avenue neutral ground, from St. Bernard Avenue to Orleans Avenue. The Black Indians (now called Mardi Gras Indians), and brass bands would parade by, sparking excitement, until the most famous and largest S&P Club arrived—The Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club.

It is for this reason, that even today, the Zulu parade will past from the main street of Canal, and turn right, down into the back neighborhoods that saw the beginnings of the society.

From just before the turn of the century, to the dawn of the civil rights era in the mid-1950s, African Americans were prohibited from enjoying the greatest free show on earth, "Mardi Gras".

African Americans, were even prohibited from entering the French Quarter, congregating, or even parading on the main streets, until the late 1960's. This is the principle reason that most outsiders, and some city residents themselves know almost nothing about the inner most secrets of the second line.

The police, indeed, enforced a prohibition on the presence of African Americans in the French quarter up into the late 1960s. So, the Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs, a.k.a. second line clubs, celebrated Fat Tuesday in their own unique ways. It was the S&P Clubs, along with the Black Indians and street bands, now known as Brass Bands which provided the Black culture all along Claiborne with that alternate entertainment. The Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club is the largest of the organizations in New Orleans. It is also the only club to date, that is both a S.A.P.C. & a Mardi Gras Krewe. Thus ushering in the clubs mergence into the fabric of Mardi Gras or Carnival.

During the 1980's, more clubs began to be formed for the sole purposes of "parading" and not for the "social aid" aspect. A new wrinkle had been born in the culture. The club's purpose was not to render aid for burial, but to be the actual social fabric, the bonding agent as it were, of the members, to the community.

These clubs of the new era, began to drop the "Aid" from their names and their missions. While the mission of the Social Aid & Pleasure clubs put them in the category of non-profit orgs, the category was still the same as a Carnival Krewe. The Category is known by it's tax code, Section 501 subsection C Chapter 3, or 501(C3).

These new clubs were now strictly for the pleasure of the members, therefore the category that they would operate would also change. They no longer rendered aid or benefit to themselves or others. They were now under law, Fraternal Orders, or Bother and Sisterhoods, that are bound by the rules of a different set of codes. That Section is still 501, the subsection is still C, but the chapter is now 7, or 501(C7).

Starting in the late 1990's, another page was turned in, what is now known as the, "Main Line culture", when Kings and Queens started to appear, on the parade routes with the groups. Most of the royalty, are from other clubs or older members that are honored by the club, but some have taken to honoring the city's influential, and famous.

Another aspect of change in the modern Main Line, is the arrival of floats, where a few years ago there were none to be found in the city's parades. Where in years past, a Main Line processional may have only stretched for a block or two, now, a Main Line could stretch for several blocks.