The “second line”—especially in New Orleans and in other places as well—follows the regular band at parades and funerals, and follows the tune by clapping along, dancing or playing additional instruments. The term “second line” has been cited in print since at least 1939 and 1949, and The Second Line was the title of the New Orleans Jazz Club’s newsletter in 1950.
 
A person in the second line is a “second liner” (cited in print since at least 1962). “Second lining” (cited in print since at least 1962) is the practice of being in the second line.
   
       
Wikipedia: Second line (parades)
Second line is a tradition in brass band parades in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The “main line” or “first line” is the main section of the parade, or the members of the actual club with the parading permit as well as the brass band. Those who follow the band just to enjoy the music are called the “second line.” The second line’s style of traditional dance, in which participants walk and sometimes twirl a parasol or handkerchief in the air, is called “second lining.” It has been called “the quintessential New Orleans art form – a jazz funeral without a body.” Another significant difference from jazz funerals is that second line parades usually lack the slow hymns and dirges played at funerals (although this is not a hard rule; some organizations may have the band play something solemn towards the start of the parade in memory of members who died since their last parade).
 
(Oxford English Dictionary)
second line  n. Mil. (see quot. 1876); also attrib.; also gen., any second row or series; frequently attrib. or as adj., esp. designating persons or things that rank second in ability, value, etc.
1797   Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 738/1   The first line ought to consist of 20 battalions, with..16 battalions in the second line.
1876   G. E. Voyle & G. de Saint-Clair-Stevenson Mil. Dict. (ed. 3) 231   An army, when drawn up for battle, should be formed in three distinct lines; the first line to commence the battle, the second, to support it, and to fill up the gaps; the third..as a reserve.
1904   Westm. Gaz. 17 May 9/1   The main body of the investing force will be composed of fortress and second-line troops.
1912   C. Mackenzie Carnival (ed. 5) iv. 43   Lilli Vergoe, a second-line girl in the Corps de Ballet of the Orient Palace of Varieties.
1939   Russell & Smith in Ramsey & Smith Jazzmen 27   The funerals and parades always had a ‘second line’ which consisted of the kids who danced along behind.
1955   N. Shapiro & N. Hentoff Hear me talkin’ to Ya iii. 39   I was a ‘second~line’ kid. That meant I’d follow the big bands down the streets, and..carry their cases while they played.
 
second-liner  n.
1958   C. Wilford in P. Gammond Decca Bk. of Jazz ii. 40   The improvisations of master executants..preserved on record, for ready imitation by a host of second-liners.
 
second-lining  n.
1972   Jazz & Blues Sept. 10/1   These ‘second liners’ wave handkerchiefs and umbrellas and..break into a dipping, funky-butt step—half shimmy, half strut—that is known as ‘second lining’.
   
10 April 1949, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), “The Battle Against Bebop” by Peggy Menghis, magazine sec., pg. 23, col. 4:
When combinations like these swing into “When the Saints Go Marching In,” it’s impossible to keep still. As Costa or Sam leads the march down from the bandstand, the youngsters who make up the new crop of Dixieland jazz players form the “second line.” They all wind among the tables of exuberant listeners and more than half the crowd follows the urge to join the procession. The others feel impelled to stand and pat time to the music.
 
24 August 1949, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), “Lewis, Dixieland Jazz Band Score” by Ed Brooks, pg. 18, cols. 3-4:
The band, as a group, was at its best in “High Society,” which also featured Talbert’s dominant trumpet and Robinson’s trombone; “Bugle Boy,” a march which had the old “second line” flavor with Lewis’ prominently displaying his remarkable clarinet technique, along with fine trombone, and in the finale, “Saints,” Howard’s vocal, another fine Lewis’ solo and good, solid playing all around had the crowd clapping in time to the music and highly enthusiastic at the close.
 
25 December 1949, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), magazine sec., pg. 7, col. 1:
“When people talk about a “second line,’” said Dr. (Edmond—ed.) Souchon, “they usually mean a string of Negro kids following the bands and parades, but at these very dances. the second line was a crowd of admiring white youngsters.”
 
OCLC WorldCat record
The Second line.
Author: New Orleans Jazz Club.
Publisher: [New Orleans] New Orleans Jazz Club.
Edition/Format:   eJournal/eMagazine : Document : Periodical : English
     
OCLC WorldCat record
Jolly Bunch boys and girls second lining
Author: Crawford, Ralston, 1906-1978 (Creator)et al
Publisher: Howard-Tilton Memorial Library. William Ransom Hogan Archive of New Orleans Jazz. 1956
Edition/Format:   Downloadable archival material : English
Summary:
Boys and girls second lining for the Jolly Bunch parade.
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7 March 1962, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), “Zany King Zulu Sets Wild Pace” by Clarence Doucet, sec. 1, pg. 7, col. 2:
Behind the captain was a Negro jazz band that at times was completely surrounded by impromptu dancers and second-liners who absorbed the spirit(s) of the occasion.
 
1 June 1962, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), “Remoulade” by Howard Jacobs, sec. 1, pg. 15, col. 1:
Souchon (Harry Souchon president of the Jazz Club of New Orleans—ed.) reported that Washington police dispermitted “second lining.” which is the practice of spectators falling in with the parade and truckin’ on down.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Mardi Gras party! : New Orleans second line.
Author: Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band.
Publisher: New Orleans : Mardi Gras Records, 1991.
Series: New Orleans Jazz, no. 6.
Edition/Format:   Music CD : CD audio : English
     
OCLC WorldCat record
Allen Toussaint : the complete ‘Tousan’ sessions.
Author: Allen Toussaint
Publisher: Hambergen : Bear Family, ℗1992.
Edition/Format:   Music CD : CD audio : English
Event notes: Recorded 1958-1959.
Description: 1 audio disc : digital ; 4 3/4 in.
Contents:
Second liner—
 
OCLC WorldCat record
New Orleans second line!
Author: New Birth Brass Band.
Publisher: Metairie, LA : Mardi Gras Records, ℗2006.
Edition/Format:   Music CD : CD audio : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Second Lining Post-Katrina: Learning Community from the Prince of Wales Social Aid and Pleasure Club
Author: Joel Dinerstein
Edition/Format: Article Article
Publication: American Quarterly, v61 n3 (2009): 615-637
Other Databases: WorldCat; WorldCat; WorldCat
Summary:
This article is an analysis of African-American second-line parades in New Orleans and an autoethnography of the first major post-Katrina parade. At a moment of crisis, The Prince of Wales Social Aid and Pleasure Club raised funds to sponsor its annual parade and help rejuvenate local cultural spirit. The article defines a weekly second-line parade as a “mobile block party,” a four-hour and five-mile long community celebration that carnivalizes and colonizes the public sphere. For more than a century, brass bands have created a mobile musical platform for cultural affirmation, dance, style, self-expression, cooking, public grievance and ethnic customs. The club-sponsored second-line parade is the social institution that carries the Black cultural matrix which has always enculturated the city’s jazz musicians, as shown in testimony from Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet. The article argues that the repression of these parades post-Katrina—and the lack of recognition for its cultural importance and continuity—constitutes “aesthetic racism.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
“We made it through that water” : rhythm, dance, and resistance in the New Orleans second line
Author: Benjamin Grant Doleac
Publisher: Ann Arbor : ProQuest, 2018. ©2018
Dissertation: Ph. D. University of California, Los Angeles 2018
Edition/Format:   Thesis/dissertation : Thesis/dissertation : English
Summary:
The black brass band parade known as the second line has been a staple of New Orleans culture for nearly 150 years. Through more than a century of social, political and demographic upheaval, the second line has persisted as an institution in the city’s black community, with its swinging march beats and emphasis on collective improvisation eventually giving rise to jazz, funk, and a multitude of other popular genres both locally and around the world. More than any other local custom, the second line served as a crucible in which the participatory, syncretic character of black music in New Orleans took shape. While the beat of the second line reverberates far beyond the city limits today, the neighborhoods that provide the parade’s sustenance face grave challenges to their existence. Ten years after Hurricane Katrina tore up the economic and cultural fabric of New Orleans, these largely poor communities are plagued on one side by underfunded schools and internecine violence, and on the other by the rising tide of post-disaster gentrification and the redlining-in-disguise of neoliberal urban policy. At the same time, second lines are attracting broader crowds and greater media attention than ever before, with film crews, journalists, smartphone videographers and scholars like me descending on the parade in droves every Sunday. Drawing from three and a half years of field and archival research and over thirty interviews with musicians, dancers, and educators, I explore the past and present of the second line, its rhythms and its participants, and how the key players in New Orleans second line culture utilize the parade to navigate the challenges of the present, to reconstruct community histories and reclaim neighborhood space, and ultimately to forge an expressive narrative of resistance and pride against the threat of cultural erasure