It is amazing how a certain subject can really trigger thoughts that stir one’s gray matter. On Friday, July 18, Ms. Arlice Ducksworth did just that. She asked the writer, “Do you know what ‘penny social’ is?” Grasping her question, the writer replied, “Yes!” And that affirmation was followed by her offering the writer a taste that, politely, was declined. But the subject brought back many memories: “School days, Dear old Golden Rule days …” For “penny social” stayed on the writer’s mind that whole weekend. And the word “jack mackerel” resurfaced prominently in the writer’s mind as a key ingredient in the salad that has a unique history with Blacks akin to soul food — the type of dishes Blacks, out of survival, created during slavery and thereafter as cooks. And in the 1960s, soul food was popularized and commercialized along with soul music being popularized by the likes of James Brown, Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin. Now, canned jack mackerel and sardines were very popular during the writer’s school days. A 10-cent box of Nabisco crackers and a 10-cent can of sardines — in fields and on jobs — made many lunches. Mama used to tell the writer to go to the store and get some “jack mackerel,” ironically, so she could make “salmon patties,” which, with onions, eggs, etc., you would never think any difference. However, at that time, for many Blacks, salmon and tuna were too expensive. Sardines were 10 cents a can (3.75 ounces), or, as E. A. “Shiah” Rahaim advertised March 5, 1964, “two tall sardines (16 ounces) for 35 cents.” Nabisco crackers “l pound box, 29 cents.” And on March 23, Help Your Self stores advertised “large eggs dozen 49 cents; two 6 ounces Cans of Van Camp Tuna 39 cents; Angler Pink Salmon, 16 ounces, 49 cents.” And, on March 12, Help Your Self stores advertised “Kraft’s Famous Mayonnaise 49 cents quart jar; vinegar 39 cents a gallon; yellow onions three pounds for 29 cents”; while “Shiah” sold a half-gallon of dill pickles for 37 cents, and Help Your Self sold “12 ounces Sweet Gherkins” for 39 cents — items to make “penny social.” At Nora Davis Elementary School in the 1950s, “penny social” was popularly sold to help buy school materials (crayons, construction paper, play dough, water colors, etc.). Otherwise, students would have had less access. Each student would bring an ingredient within his/her means. Teachers — like preachers back then — were intimately apart of the Black community and knew students’ means. And “penny social” sold for a penny a cracker. A square of 4, plus 1 on top for a nickel made for a belly-full. A penny bought things. As Grandpa Lum Warren said, “If you can’t make a dime, make a nickel,” called it, “ah coppa.” Now, it is thrown away. Nonetheless, a penny difference in food prices, many times, caused Mama to tell the writer to bypass Mr. Jolly’s (in “The Bottom”) — on the corner of Cook Avenue and East First, and go to Mr. Jordan’s Help Your Self store (on “The Hill”) — on the corner of Central and North Pine — in recent time, Dodd’s Grocery. Because that penny was saved at Mr. Jordan’s store, he was well-acquainted with Mama’s children. And in his latter years — seen with Ms. Marie Harrison (Maple Street café owner) — the writer would greet him, and he jokingly reflected on “pennies” yet outstanding. The penny was once a valuable coin. For example, during the Jacksonian era of the 1820s and 1830s, when political participation increased by the common people, and literacy rates rose — some newspaper publishers “charged a penny upon delivery,” giving rise to what was called the “penny press” — a penny a paper. With the subject of “penny social,” sending the writer back down Minnie Ripperton’s “memory lane,” talking with Ms. Arlice Ducksworth and Ms. Barbara Gavin, the “two-for-a-penny coconut bar cookies,” two “Tootsie Rolls” for a penny, a “Tootsie Pop” for two pennies, and that famous big penny-cook popped up. This is when kids begged for a penny to spend. Of course, with “penny social,” children did not know the underlying ethno-socio-economic stereotype involved with “jack mackerel and penny social.” The latter has its origin with Blacks in the early days of the South mixing mackerel or sardine, or both, vinegar, eggs, mayonnaise, pickles, etc. on crackers to raise money for schools, churches and items of public interest. Mackerel and sardines were much cheaper than tuna and salmon. But the consumption of jack mackerel, up to the late 1940s, was a sign of low income associated with Blacks. As with many foods in the early South that were less desirable, with little or no value to Whites — like pig feet, pig ears, tails, hog heads, hog intestines, hog maws, hog brains, (liver, heart, lights/ lungs — hash), hog testicles (“mountain oysters,” Daddy’s favorite), cow tongue, tail and tripe, and chicken feet (a give-away at old Hilbun’s Poultry on Walters Avenue), had great food value for many Blacks in Laurel. What were scraps, throw-aways and cheap foods, Blacks thrived on them. As with jack mackerel, a 16-ounce can was 21 cents, while E. A. “Shiah” Rahaim, March 5, 1964 sold “tall sardines — 2 cans 35 cents.” So, “penny social,” created by Blacks during the early South to raise money for school supplies and other occasions is a testament of their ingenuity to take scraps and the least desirable food stuffs and make them highly palatable. As Ms. Arline Ducksworth’s “penny social” — put to proof by Ms. Barbara Gavin — was reminiscent of school day. “Those were the days” when “ah coppa” quelled hunger pangs — a cracker heaped with mackerel/sardine salad.
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