i guess the first thing you've got to know is it's pronounced "juk" joint. and this one, this is a real good one. scholars have suggested the word juk came from the gullah, descendants of enslaved africans, and it meant wicked or disorderly, to dance, or a place of shelter. juke joints started as plantation community rooms during slavery times. they went on to become the small, private african-american run bars, clubs, and lounges, first in rural areas, then in towns and cities, where workers could dance, drink, party, and gamble as a respite from the hard labor of delta sharecropping, tenant farming, house service and segregation. they were often condemned by church leaders as houses of the devil. william "po'monkey" seaberry runs this place, as he has since 1963, and he makes the rules.