Skip to Main Content

Wasn't That a Mighty Day: African American Blues and Gospel Songs on Disaster

Online ISBN:
9781496841780
Print ISBN:
9781496841698
Publisher:
University Press of Mississippi
Book

Wasn't That a Mighty Day: African American Blues and Gospel Songs on Disaster

Published online:
18 May 2023
Published in print:
24 August 2022
Online ISBN:
9781496841780
Print ISBN:
9781496841698
Publisher:
University Press of Mississippi

Abstract

Using printed and recorded sources, Wasn’t That a Mighty Day: African American Blues and Gospel Songs on Disaster takes a comprehensive look at—and shows the historical and cultural importance of—African American sacred and secular songs about natural disasters (hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, droughts, earthquakes, etc.), accidental disasters (sinkings, fires, train wrecks, explosions, air disasters, etc.), the Boll Weevil infestation, epidemics and diseases (the jake leg, the 1918–1920 flu, etc.). The complete lyrics of several disaster songs about events occurred between 1879 and 1955 have been transcribed. Thirty unreleased black disaster songs held at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. are analyzed and/or transcribed for the first time, and new information about their pertinence to disasters has been unearthed. Most of the analyzed material is derived from African American singers and informants. Some printed sources and recordings by white singers dealing with disasters that black performers also sang about are scrutinized for comparative purposes. All the lyrics are accompanied by textual analysis, including a comparison of song lyrics to historical facts, enabling answers to such questions as: a) how deeply and directly the catastrophes affected the black communities; b) how African Americans in general, and blues and gospel singers in particular, faced and reacted to such events; c) whether these collective tragedies prompted different reactions among white people and, if so, why; d) how the role of memory in recounting and commenting on historical and cultural facts shaped African American society in the period under consideration.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close