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