Got to Tell it: Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel

by Jules Schwerin

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.

Genres: Music

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 1992

Reviews

[Sasha]

Reminiscences of movie director Jules Schwerin who some three decades earlier tried to make a documentary about majestic Mahalia Jackson (who at the same time made far more prestigious cameo in "Imitation of life") and his own take on the world he knew nothing about. While being impressed and drawn to the Afro-American community and Gospel music, Schwerin can only be embarrassed for the brutality and harshness of 1950s racial segregation (when Mahalia drove him around New Orleans, he had to sit at the back so it appears she is driving her boss) but basically he is outsider peeking into another reality. Peppering his story with testimonies of other travellers on the same road, author unfortunately falls in the trap of listening embittered voices who were left in the dust behind Jackson's international success - often its just pure envy and jealousy, claiming she had changed and somehow metamorphosed into shrewd businesswoman.

It seems that even decades after her passing, people still try to understand such towering presence that Jackson was and easiest thing is to point at her humanity: look in her private life, she was not so holy as we think. Schwerin gleefully lists anecdotes and lists of situations where the stress of travelling life on the road, searching for accommodation, taking care of finances and performing made even "Queen of Gospel" curse and people are quick to recall how she kept cash in her bra, etc - what nobody can explain is where this magnificent spirit came from and how coming from the poorest part of town, this impoverished washerwoman made her way blazing trough the churches of US into international stages, led by her steely confidence and conviction. Really, Jules Schwerin, a hundred years from now, nobody will care for you and your opinions but the world will still listen Mahalia Jackson in awe.

[Andrew Coes]

Grest info about an American treasure.