ECU Libraries Catalog

Spirituals and the birth of a black entertainment industry / Sandra Jean Graham.

Author/creator Graham, Sandra J. (Sandra Jean) author.
Format Book and Print
Publication Info Urbana : University of Illinois Press, [2018]
Copyright Notice ©2018
Descriptionxvi, 330 pages : illustrations, music ; 24 cm.
Subject(s)
Series Music in American life
Music in American life. ^A223005
Contents Introduction -- The folk spiritual -- Part I. The rise of a jubilee industry -- The Jubilee Singers of Fisk University -- The Fisk concert spiritual -- Innovators, imitators, and a jubilee industry -- Part II. Spirituals for the masses -- The minstrel show gets religion -- Commercial spirituals -- Spirituals in Uncle Tom shows, melodramas, and spectacles -- Blurring boundaries between traditional and commercial -- Conclusion: lessons and legacies.
Abstract In the first book-length treatment of postbellum spirituals in theatrical entertainments, the author mines a trove of resources to chart the spiritual's journey from the private lives of slaves to the concert stage. The author 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 laid the foundation for a black entertainment industry whose artistic, financial, and cultural practices extended into the twentieth century.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 301-312) and index.
LCCN2017057358
ISBN9780252041631 (hbk. alk. paper)
ISBN0252041631 (hbk. alk. paper)
ISBN9780252083273 (paperback alk. paper)
ISBN025208327X (paperback alk. paper)

Available Items

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Music Stacks ML3556 .G77 2018 ✔ Available Place Hold