Quarantine Hustles We Hustled BlackintheDay Too

During Coronavirus’s quarantine orders, a lot of new business started and others expanded what they were already doing, showing how inherently innovative we are and have always been.

Here are a few hustles that started/expanded during quarantine that showed up back in the day too:

1 Traveling beauticians/barbers

We been been calling beautician and barbers to pull up on us and get our heads right.

2 Peddling Plates and Plants

Fry some fish or chicken, throw some ‘tata salad and green beans with a slice of pound cake on the side, wrap the plate with saran, and exchange it for cash. We been doing that too. Plates getting fancier these days though.

Then you got the plants. Some got sea moss, others got elderberries, maybe some dandelion tea, and a few toting marijuana (which was and still is oh so sacred and healing to indigenous people all over the world).

Back in the day, they’d peddle butterbeans, pecans, cakes, and other goodies in baskets on top of their heads. Ms. Sadie and Ms. Lula Mae talk about that in the book.

3 Teaching

Where there’s a demand, the supply will soon follow. When black folk in Savannah wanted an education, from the time it was illegal on to it being legalized, teachers like Mother Mathilda Beasley and Susie King Taylor answered the call.

During quarantine, even I tutored students who were suddenly forced into online schooling (which ain’t an easy transition). Others provided resources for the parents. Quarantine also produced more online classes in investing, waistbeading, cooking, reupholstering, wig-making, yoga, etc.

4 Running Numbers

In Krak Teet, Ms. Sadie Green talked about sometimes making up to $500 a day running numbers. That’s back when the lottery was ran by the people and not the government. The Cash 3, Cash 4 and all that? We been doing it. Today, folk are running numbers digitally via bingo cards and other games where you put money in with hopes of winning more back.

5 Sewing

Many elders in Krak Teet said their mamas sewed on the side to bring in extra money. It started out of necessity though. To save money, you’d sew your kids clothes. When the clothes got damaged, you didn’t toss it; you fixed it. If they were particularly good at it, they sewed for others for cash (or barter). During today’s quarantine, our seamstresses are showing up and showing out with the face masks.

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6 Bootlegging licka (liquor)

From 1920 to 1933, it was illegal to make, sell, buy, or transport alcohol in the United States. As long as people want it though, you’ll always and forever have someone selling it–regardless what the law says. So you had speakeasies, which were houses that sold alcohol on the low, and other folks who’d sell a mason jar full of a good time they concocted.

Even after the prohibition ended, the demand and supply for bootleg liquor stayed put. Anybody that had some, moonshine especially, will tell you it’s stronger. Same for the cocktails being bottled and branded during quarantine.

7 Doing strange thangs for change

Often, speakeasies were in brothels (a fancy name for a hoe-house, or a house of prostitutes). And fun fact, women known as madams often managed prostitutes rather than men pimps.

Note: Sex work ain’t just physical sex. It’s anything done to sexually satisfy or arouse someone in exchange for something of value or need (mainly money). And as the late Chad Butler of Port Arthur, Texas said best: “Pimping ain’t dead. It just moved to the web.”

And consensual sex workers today, especially during quarantine, share sexy pictures and videos on subscription content-based websites (like OnlyFans) to make a few dollars.

8 Reading futures

We think of tarot cards, crystals, and palm readings and almost immediately think of New Orleans. Of voodoo and hoodoo, and, if you ain’t educated in the spiritual practice, you’d probably liken it to dark magic or devil’s work.

It ain’t just New Orleans though; it’s worldwide. From West Africa to Cuba to Haiti, Brazil, Jamaica, Bahamas, New York, DC, the Carolinas, Savannah, Florida, Louisiana, Oakland…using thangs (cards, palms, bones, etc.) to see thangs (past, present, and future) ain’t nothing new.

And given the increased uncertainty and anxiety around the virus and quarantine, more people are paying/bartering for these services.

P.S.: I ain’t promoting none of these hustles. Just passing on the facts 🙂

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