Ration Blues by Jackie Washington

Ration Blues by Jackie Washington

Jackie Washington, born in Hamilton Ontario, served in World War II as a proud Canadian soldier and shared the same difficulties of war as any other soldier. His song “Ration Blues” sings about the same struggles any soldier faced when it came to food rations and its bleakness or small amounts. Blues, jazz and gospel music was incredibly popular during war due to the fact it sang about misfortunes with a catchy, somewhat up beat tune that would help boost morale and be an emotional outlet for those serving. The call and response rhythm of the songs would work for higher ranking officers to lead a cohesive group and then in more personal times gospel could help a person on a spiritual level and help deal with all the surrounding death. At the end of the day, a soldier was a human no matter their race and even despite this, Washington still faced daily discrimination in the form of teasing, name calling and racist “jokes”. He explains, "I was the only Black in that regiment, and every time—the officer would come in every day—like, you know, we had, like, a captain and a second lieutenant, you know. But every time they came in, there was a joke about being Black, about me. So I told them, I said ‘look, I don’t like this.’ ‘Aw, we’re just having fun’ I said, ‘I don’t like it,’ but it didn’t stop them anyway, they still thought they were smart." (Washington, Hamilton Civil Museum, 2002)

Jackie Washington

Washington, Jackie. Ration Blues. Hamilton Civic Museum, 2003. [1953].

Hamilton Civic Museum

1943

Hamilton Civic Museum

Song