Spirituals and the Birth of a Black Entertainment Industry

by Sandra Jean Graham

Spirituals performed by jubilee troupes became a sensation in post-Civil War America. First brought to the stage by choral ensembles like the Fisk Jubilee Singers, spirituals anchored a wide range of late nineteenth-century entertainments, including minstrelsy, variety, and plays by both black and white companies. In the first book-length treatment of postbellum spirituals in theatrical entertainments, Sandra Jean Graham mines a trove of resources to chart the spiritual's journey from the private lives of slaves to the concert stage. Graham navigates the conflicting agendas of those who, in adapting spirituals for their own ends, sold conceptions of racial identity to their patrons. In so doing they lay the foundation for a black entertainment industry whose artistic, financial, and cultural practices extended into the twentieth century. A companion website contains jubilee troupe personnel, recordings, and profiles of 85 jubilee groups. Please go

Genres: Music, History

356 pages, Paperback

Published February 26, 2018

Reviews

[Stan McDaniel]

A very important study!!

This book is an essential starting point to understanding the history of the African American spiritual after the Civil War. It also, I think, provides an initial bridge to exploring the beginnings of African American gospel music. Without the good work of the Jubilee singing groups, one wonders if Charles A Tindley would have been inspired to start a new but related tradition, leading inevitably to Thomas Dorsey, et al.