There was a book I read about 10 years ago about the post WW II wave of black migration from the rural South to Chicago. I recall the writer talking about how for blacks there is a strong funeral home tradition of pre-paying for your funeral. Owning a funeral home for a black in the rural south provided a very good income.
(It was a good book - can’t remember the name - won some prizes, I think. It had a picture of a young boy on the hood of a car on the cover)
As for Jewish funeral homes (since it’s been brought up), large cities like Los Angeles and New York have dedicated funeral homes that are Jewish-owned and operated and that follow the laws of body preparation and burial. (This site has details, if anyone’s interested.)
In smaller communities, there is at least one funeral home that may not be Jewish-owned and operated, but still follows the laws of burial.
And the funeral home that did my son’s funeral was the Oliver Funeral Apartments. I don’t want to know how much rent is.
Robin
I live in a city that’s about 30% Arab-Am., and I’m pretty sure there are no “Arab-American” funeral homes here, which does seem pretty odd now that I think about it. I think, though, that the funeral homes that are here, if they want A-A business, have to adjust their practices accordingly so that all is halal.
Happy
Actually, I bet if you were to look up on the Yellow Pages for the Dearborn, Michigan area, you would probably find quite a few Arab-American funeral homes. According to recent census figures, up to 40% of the population of the city of Dearborn is Arab-American, mostly Chaldean and Palestinian (sp?).
Funerals are definitely not “one size fits all.” Given all the cultural/ethnic factors concerning funerals, having funeral homes that differ by ethnicity, religion, or whatever make sense to me.
I think it makes sense. Funeral homes are often family-owned. I imagine that in small towns, those families are well-known in their particular communities. If a loved one died, would you take your business to a stranger? or someone you don’t know well? Or would you take it to a friend, or a friend of a friend, or your friend’s cousin’s next-door-neighbor?
I’m curious why you think this is strange. Being a black-owned business does not mean that’s it’s a “black” business, not any more than a white-owned business means it’s “white”. Unless both business activately discriminate against customers, you shouldn’t be troubled.
I think the existence of “black” and “white” churches should be treated the same way. Black churches have a different style than white churches, but unless people are being turned away at the door for being the “wrong” race, no one should worry. Difference is good. Having alternatives is good.
<hijack>
No, recent census figures didn’t count Arabic as a seperate demographic, and even the Arab community themselves say 30%, whereas government estimates are at about 20. So that’s anywhere between 20,000 and 30,000.
Plus, there are very few, if any, Chaldeans in Dearborn (I don’t want to say none, but it’s not at all a very significant portion of the population). They’re mostly in the northern Detroit 'burbs. Dearborn’s Arab-American community is made up mostly of Palestinian, Yemeni, Iraqi and Lebanese, although many of the Lebanese are moving to neighboring Dearborn Heights.
But I just looked up funeral homes in Dearborn , and didn’t see any Arabic ones.
Sorry for the hijack!
Happy
I just went to the American-Arab Chamber of Commerce website and in their business directory, they had one listing for a f.h. in Detroit. The Numan & El-Amin Funeral Home on West Warren.
Happy
I’ve told my husband that when I die I want a black funeral with singing and laughing and dancing. No clutching tissues and small talk about how natural I look.
It seems that blacks are different from whites in that they are more comfortable with showing their emotions whether it be joy, sorrow or whatever. And white people seem a lot more reserved. I think that’s why churches, funeral homes, beauty salons, etc. are voluntarily segregated.
We also have a lot of Hispanics here in the south and they have their own things too. I guess you go where people know you and your customs. Of course, it’s not a strict segregtion, thank God. We’d all lose out in that situation.
Copper_moon, not to be nitpicky or anything, but your generalization isn’t accurate. None of the “black” funerals I have ever been to had dancing and laughing. Singing, yes, but mournful. Like you would expect at a funeral. And plenty of crying.
If you simply want singing and dancing at your funeral, request that. You can do this without mislabeling it “black”.
In Topeka here we have one funeral home that is patronized mostly by blacks. By that I mean that if one reads an obituary, and the deceased is being handled by ***, you can be 99 percent sure the deceased wa black. For the other funeral homes, as far as I know, it’s mixed.
I agree with those posters here who figure it’s familiarity and custom, rather than actual rules, that have things this way. And it could be specialization in makeup or customs too. At one job I had we got to talking about funerals, and one coworker(black) in a joking voice, told us "If I die on the job, just don’t send me to XYZ Funeral home! They don’t know how to do us folks. Send me to ***. " So later on we would tease her "Victoria, don’t get sick and call in, because if you die on us we’ll send you to XYZ!
It’s common and not really any more remarkable than say “Black” nightclubs. I doubt there’s any prejudice involved. Morticians love to bury people.
Hey **Happy ** thanks for doing the finger work on that. ( I’m up in the northern burbs.
Another question, has anyone ever seen a chinese or asian funeral home? I would suspect over in CA, there would be, but not here.
There’s plenty of them in Toronto…
I mis-stated myself RT- I should have said “banners”.
However, since many of my black town members wear a confederate flag as their doo-rag, that really isn’t an issue either.
I think the preference probably lies in how the body is prepared. There are different techniques in black hair and make-up preparation, so naturally, you’d go to one that has the most experience in your race, so to speak. But that doesn’t mean you CAN’T go to the “other” funeral home". Unless you’re me, who wants nothing to do with any funeral home anywhere. One less thing for me to worry about, I guess.
Saint Paul, Minnesota has a large Hmong (SE Asian) population, and they have their own funeral homes. The Hmong ritual takes place over several days, and is a 24 hour a day kind of ritual. The Hmong funeral home has become a hot issue, due to traffic and parking in residential neighborhoods.
Much like Boyo Jim I know of two Irish funeral homes in Saint Paul. One Jewish one as well.