Singing in My Soul: Black Gospel Music in a Secular Age

208 Pages·2004·1.08 MB·English

by  Jerma A. Jackson

Singing in My Soul

Singing in My Soul
BlackGospelMusicinaSecularAge
jerma a. jackson
TheUniversityof NorthCarolinaPress
chapel hill & london
©2004TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress
Allrightsreserved
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Jackson,JermaA.
Singinginmysoul:blackgospelmusicinasecularage/JermaA.Jackson.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferences(p.)andindex.
isbn0-8078-2860-2(cloth:alk.paper)—isbn0-8078-5530-8(pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Gospelmusic—Historyandcriticism. 2.AfricanAmericans—Music—History
andcriticism. 3.Popularmusic—UnitedStates—Socialaspects. I.Title.
ml3187.j23 2004
782.25'4—dc22 2003024973
‘‘TakeMyHand,PreciousLord,’’byThomasA.Dorsey
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Formyfather,ReginaldN.Jackson,1916–1988

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Chapter1.ExuberanceorRestraint
MusicandReligionafterReconstruction 8
Chapter2.IJustDoWhattheLordSay
GospelasWomen’sMissionaryWork 27
Chapter3.ChurchesandEntrepreneurs
TheGrassrootsCampaignforGospel 50
Chapter4.WithHerSpiritualsinSwing
SisterRosettaTharpe,Gospel,andPopularCulture 77
Chapter5.BetweenReligionandCommerce
GospelinthePostwarEra 103
Epilogue 133
Notes 143
Bibliography 167
Index 185
Asectionofillustrationscanbefoundfollowingp.68.

Acknowledgments
Researching and writing about gospel music has been an enriching
and transformative experience for me, both intellectuallyand emotionally. I
havenottakenthisjourneyalonebuthavebeenaccompaniedbyamultitude
ofstrangers,friends,andcolleagueswhosewisdom,stories,knowledge,and
supporthavenurturedandshapedthisproject.
Thethoughtofwritingadissertationaboutmusicseemeddauntingwhen
IbeganthisprojectasagraduatestudentatRutgersUniversity.Myknowl-
edge of the subject was virtually nonexistent, and few historians at the time
engagedthetopic.Yetacommunityoffriendsandscholarsmorethancom-
pensated for these apprehensions.Conversations about religion with Sharla
Fett,KatherineBassard,andPamelaWalkerraisedprovocativequestionsand
provided me with a vibrant source of intellectual engagement. Members of
mydissertation committee—Donald Gibson, Allen Howard, Deborah Gray
White, and Virginia Yans—taught me how to give structure and life to an
idea.T.J.JacksonLears,myadvisor,taughtmetoseevalueandpossibilityin
ambiguity, insisting that vital cultural changes, neverclearly identifiable, are
diffuseandmurky.
AdissertationfellowshipfromtheSmithsonianInstitution’sNationalMu-
seum of American History planted the seeds for the pillars of this project:
commerceandmusic.CharlesMcGovernschooledmeabouttheworkingsof
the music industry.Charlie, who regarded my naïveté about popular music
asavirtue,engagedandencouragedmyquestions.BerniceJohnsonReagon
introducedmetotheworldofearlygospelrecordings.Moreimportant,she
put a tape recorder in my hand and insisted that this project hinged on oral
history.MyresidenceatFloridaInternationalUniversityprovidedasupport-
iveandintellectuallyenrichingenvironmentforwriting,withthehistoryde-