Mahalia Jackson And The Black Gospel Field

Nearly a half century after her death in 1972, Mahalia Jackson remains the most esteemed figure in black gospel music history. Born in the backstreets of New Orleans in 1911, Jackson during the Great Depression joined the Great Migration to Chicago, where she became an highly regarded church singer and, by the mid-fifties, a coveted recording artist for Apollo and Columbia Records, lauded as the "World's Greatest Gospel Singer." This "Louisiana Cinderella" narrative of Jackson's career during the decade following World War II carried important meanings for African Americans, though it remains a story half told. Jackson was gospel's first multi-mediated artist, with a nationally broadcast radio program, a Chicago-based television show, and early recordings that introduced straight-out-of-the-church black gospel to American and European audiences while also tapping the vogue for religious pop in the early Cold War. In some ways, Jackson's successes made her an exceptional case, though she is perhaps best understood as part of broader developments in the black gospel field. Built upon foundations laid by pioneering Chicago organizers in the 1930s, black gospel singing, with Jackson as its most visible representative, began to circulate in novel ways as a form of popular culture in the 1940s and 1950s, its practitioners accruing prestige not only through devout integrity but also from their charismatic artistry, public recognition, and pop-cultural cachet. These years also saw shifting strategies in the black freedom struggle that gave new cultural-political significance to African American vernacular culture. The first book on Jackson in 25 years, Mahalia Jackson and the Black Gospel Field draws on a trove of previously unexamined archival sources that illuminate Jackson's childhood in New Orleans and her negotiation of parallel careers as a singing Baptist evangelist and a mass media entertainer, documenting the unfolding material and symbolic influence of Jackson and black gospel music in postwar American society.

""African American gospel singer Mahalia Jackson was just sixty years old when her heart finally gave out on January 27, 1972, as she lay alone in her sick bed at Little Company of Mary Hospital just south of Chicago. Obituaries faithfully recounted the best-known story lines of her unlikely career: how the power of her voice was rooted in her devout Baptist upbringing; her birth in 1911 and rise from dire poverty in Uptown New Orleans to international celebrity; a dedication to the black freedom struggle that further elevated her to the status of cultural and political symbol. Together, Jackson's voice, faith, prestige, and activism, made her at the time of her death, in the assessment of her friend Harry Belafonte, "the single most powerful black woman in the United States." Yet her reputation is also complex. Invoking the charisma of Martin and Malcolm, the persuasion of statesmen and despots, and the splendor of divas and diadems, Maceo Bowie's letter to the editor of the Chicago Defender seems to both celebrate and grapple with the substance of Jackson dynamism as a gospel singer and her consequence as an illustrious black public figure. In an editorial in the Defender following Jackson's death, E. Duke McNeil acknowledged Jackson's habitual acclaim as the "Queen of the gospel singers," while also observing: "You can almost say that Mahalia was the 'greatest' because she was the only gospel singer known everywhere." Indeed, for scholars of black gospel, the music itself is often hidden in plain sight. On the one hand, gospel voices are inescapable, audible not just within the music industry, where they have become a lingua franca for pop singers, but also in recurring representations of the black church, in the omnipresent sound of the black gospel choir, and in the personal histories of many black artists. On the other, in comparison with such genres as jazz, blues, country music, and hip hop, documentation of black gospel music, which has thrived in in-group settings, is relatively scant, leaving researchers with limited sources and largely reliant on oral history. Fortunately, the scope and coverage of Jackson's caereer produced a paper trail that enables us to study her personal and professional life while gaining insight into the black gospel field of which she was such an integral part. In compiling a wide swath of these sources on Jackson, The Mahalia Jackson Reader seeks to paint a fuller and more vivid picture of one of the most resonant musical figures of the second half of the twentieth century. This volume offers a wealth of biographical detail about Jackson, though it also reveals that Jackson was many things to many people. This is reflected in the book's organization by topic and type of writing, though, as often as possible, Jackson's own voice joins the dialogue, offering her side of the story. Jackson always identified as a child of New Orleans and the documents in Part I convey her recognition of the singularity of that city and of her legacy as the grandaughter of enslaved and emancipated African Americans. Stories about Jackson's upbringing are recounted by the esteemed critics and commentators in Part II, though these writers also ruminate upon the essence of her artistry, her relationship to jazz, her significance as an African American woman in the public eye, and the ways in which she became an increasingly complicated crossover figure as her visibility grew beyond the bounds of the black church. Newspaper coverage in Part III offers "hot takes" on Jackson's appearances, the pop-cultural cachet of postwar gospel singing, and the singer's transatlantic reception. Already in the 1950s, though even more in subsequent decades, it is evident that beyond being an exemplar of gospel singing, Jackson was read through various investments in the sociopolitical significance of black expressive culture. In 1931, Jackson moved from New Orleans to Chicago where she became immediately immersed in a burgeoning modern gospel movement. The testimony of Jackson and her associates in Part IV are more personal and allow us to understand her less as an exceptional individual than as a musical colleague and as a member of a black South Side community. Yet another perspective on Jackson emerges from the writing directed toward a scholarly audience in Part V, which seeks to contextualize the singer historically and offer enterprising interpretive claims"--

Mahalia Jackson was one of the greatest gospel singers America has ever known, the woman who almost single handedly brought black gospel from the churches of Chicago into the public eye. In Got To Tell It, Jules Schwerin, creator of an Emmy award-winning film documentary on Mahalia, brings us a firsthand account of Jackson's life and career, based on his interviews with the Queen of Gospel herself. Schwerin traces her rise from the banks of the Mississippi Delta, to the neighborhood churches of Chicago with her partner Thomas A. Dorsey (the Father of Gospel), to international fame. He delves into the personality of Mahalia, who was both a woman whose spiritual charisma uplifted thousands of souls--whether through radio or recordings, public or private performances--and also a woman who was stingy with her money, and even fired her longtime companion and accompanist Mildred Falls when she asked for a much-deserved raise. From Mahalia's first appearance on the Studs Terkel radio show, to her performance at Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, Second March on Washington, Schwerin brings to life the woman that he and those close to her came to know. Complete with a discography of her recordings, here is an unforgettable portrait of the woman who brought gospel to the world.

They were each born with the gift of gospel. Martin's voice kept people in their seats, but also sent their praises soaring. Mahalia's voice was brass-and-butter - strong and smooth at the same time. With Martin's sermons and Mahalia's songs, folks were free to shout, to sing their joy. On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and his strong voice and powerful message were joined and lifted in song by world-renowned gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. It was a moment that changed the course of history and is imprinted in minds forever. Told through Andrea Davis Pinkney's poetic prose and Brian Pinkney's evocative illustration, the stories of these two powerful voices and lives are told side-by-side -- as they would one day walk -- following the journey from their youth to a culmination at this historical event when they united as one and inspiring kids to find their own voices and speak up for what is right.

From Africa through the spirituals, from minstrel music through jubilee, and from traditional to contemporary gospel, "People Get Ready!" provides, for the first time, an accessible overview of this musical genre.

In A City Called Heaven, Robert M. Marovich follows gospel music from early hymns and camp meetings through its growth into the sanctified soundtrack of the city's mainline black Protestant churches. Marovich mines print media, ephemera, and hours of interviews with artists, ministers, and historians--as well as relatives and friends of gospel pioneers--to recover forgotten singers, musicians, songwriters, and industry leaders. He also examines the entrepreneurial spirit that fueled gospel music's rise to popularity and granted social mobility to a number of its practitioners. As Marovich shows, the music expressed a yearning for freedom from earthly pains, racial prejudice, and life's hardships. Yet it also helped give voice to a people--and lift a nation. A City Called Heaven celebrates a sound too mighty and too joyous for even church walls to hold.

Accompanied by John Holyfield's gorgeous illustrations, debut author Nina Nolan's narrative wonderfully captures the amazing story of how Mahalia Jackson became the Queen of Gospel in this fascinating picture book biography. Even as a young girl, Mahalia Jackson loved gospel music. Life was difficult for Mahalia growing up, but singing gospel always lifted her spirits and made her feel special. She soon realized that her powerful voice stirred everyone around her, and she wanted to share that with the world. Although she was met with hardships along the way, Mahalia never gave up on her dreams. Mahalia's extraordinary journey eventually took her to the historic March on Washington, where she sang to thousands and inspired them to find their own voices. With a timeline and further reading section, this book is perfect for Common Core.

A biography of the renowned gospel singer who hoped that her art would further the cause of civil rights for African Americans.