American history tells us slavery ended in 1865. But deep in the swamps and pine forests of Florida and Georgia, over half a million Blacks were held in debt servitude until the 1970’s. More than 100 years after the last cotton plant was plucked by an unpaid Black hand, turpentiners tapped the longleaf pines, harvesting pine gum fourteen hours a day. Because they earned less each week than they were forced to spend on food and clothing in the company store, the turpentiniers were virtually enslaved to their bosses. “The onliest way out is to die out,” says a seasoned worker in the play. Bannister and Hurd’s poetic looks at the extraordinary lives of the Blacks enslaved by debt peonage, but freed by their stories, songs, rootwork, and magic.

Based on dozens of interviews with surviving centenarian turpentiners and the memories of Hurd’s own grandfather, Jake, Turpentine Jake is a rich spoken word poem full of dreams, wonders, and hard realities. Part history lesson, part poetry, part American Folklore, Turpentine Jake is a “blues drama,” capturing the soul (and sparkling with the wit and tenacity) of the turpentiners, truly “poets of the swingin’ blades” that carved the faces of the pines in the deep South. The book contains an introductory essay, photos, music, a glossary, and bibliography.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Production History

A Note on the Play

ACT I

• Scene 1
• Scene 2
• Scene 3
• Scene 4
• Scene 5
• Scene 6

ACT II

• Scene 1
• Scene 2
• Scene 3
• Scene 4
• Scene 5
• Scene 6
• Scene 7
• Scene 8
• Scene 9

Glossary

Bibliography

Songs from Turpentine Jake

Illustrations

“Turpentine Jake is a play full of mystery and song, with an epic story and indelible characters that lifts some dark times out of the piney forests of Florida and into the hearts of the audience. On the cloud of an ending that is as honest as it is surprising, I left the theater feeling thankful and hopeful about what theater can accomplish with wonderful material.”

 â€”Constance Congdon, Playwright in Residence at Amherst College

“Turpentine Jake is a breakthrough play that highlights the social milieu surrounding a forgotten chapter of American life … a 21st century warning to all of us when we consider the ongoing balancing act of business needs versus the dictates of morality and ethics.”

—Valencia E. Matthews, Ph.D., Director of Theatre at Florida A&M University

“Turpentine Jake is that rare synthesis of history and theatre that stuns us with its authenticity, and shakes us with its dramatic charge. Through sweat, music, laughter, and pain it draws us into a deep examination of race and our national character. This play will live in your heart for a long time after you have experienced it.” 

—Kevin Lawler, Producing Artistic Director of The Great Plains Theatre Conference, Omaha

“Turpentine Jake is an evocative and authentic glimpse of life in the Turpentine camps. A labor of love carefully researched and artfully told.”  

—Laurie Kay Sommers, Ph.D., Folklorist and Director, Traditions of Turpentine Project, Valdosta State University

"Turpentine Jake is a compelling account, written in a richly textured language, that distills a historic disgrace into compelling action, spiced with humor and American magic realism."

—Ron West, Ph.D., Professor of Theatre, Metropolitan Comm. College, Omaha

Linda Bannister, professor of English at Loyola Marymount University, has a Ph. D. in Rhetoric, Linguistics, and Literature from the University of Southern California. She was the inaugural holder of The Daum Professorship, an endowed chair at LMU honoring a senior professor whose scholarship, creative work, teaching, and service are exemplary. Bannister co-wrote (with James E. Hurd, Jr.) and produced the world premiere run of their play Turpentine Jake at the Del Rey Theatre on the LMU campus in Los Angeles, which was nominated for two 2009 NAACP Theatre Awards, winning one. Turpentine Jake was also a 2015 Humanitas Prize in Drama Finalist and a publication of the Marymount Institute Press. Bannister and Hurd have also co-authored an award-winning short film based on Turpentine Jake, "Poet of the Swingin' Blade," which was invited to nine film festivals and won Best Message Film at the San Diego Film Festival 2007 and Best Experimental Film at The Fort Omaha Film Festival 2009. Dr. Bannister is also a Board Member of The CSJ Center for Reconciliation and Justice, and a past Board Member of the World Stage in Los Angeles.

James E. Hurd, Jr. was a writer, actor, and director, co-authoring civil rights-themed dramas with Linda Bannister, including One Sunday in Mississippi and Turpentine Jake, both of which were invited to the National Black Theatre Festival. Turpentine Jake was a 2015 Humanitas Prize in Drama Finalist and a publication of TSEHAI Publishers. The world premiere of Turpentine Jake, which Hurd co-directed, was at The Del Rey Theater on the LMU Campus, and was nominated for two NAACP Theater awards, winning one for best actor in a local production. Hurd and Bannister co-founded The Kohl Players in Los Angeles www.kohlplayers.com. Hurd appeared on many Los Angeles stages, including The Wilshire Ebell, The Met, The Actor's Gang, The Stella Adler, and The Long Beach Playhouse. He also starred in over 50 features and short films, many of which went to film festivals around the country. After a long battle with cancer, James Hurd passed away in 2014, with his devoted partner Linda Bannister at his side.