The Negro Hour

Sam Barber

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Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Sociology

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 02 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669840992
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE NEGRO HOUR
THE PRECURSOR TO THE WINGS OVER JORDAN CHOIR
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sam Barber
 
Copyright © 2022 by Sam Barber.
 
Library of Congress Control Number:
2022914104
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-4101-2

Softcover
978-1-6698-4100-5

eBook
978-1-6698-4099-2

 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
Rev. date: 08/30/2022
 
 
 
Xlibris
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www.Xlibris.com
844163
 
The genealogy of the Wings Over Jordan Choir grew out of the Negro Hour, a local Cleveland program started by the Rev. Glen T. Settle in 1937 to reveal to Clevelanders and to the public the aspirations and contributions of Negroes. A lack of written documents precludes a precise accounting of the development of the Negro Hour but there is enough documented evidence along with impressionistic memories to render a good representation of the Negro Hour’s origin.
The following context will give the reader a guide to understanding Rev. Settle’s thinking and experience as to how he conceived the Negro Hour and The Wings Over Jordan concept.
The story of The Negro Hour and The Wings Over Jordan is deeply rooted in black folklore and legend, in theology, and in the personal experiences in the life of the founder, the Reverend Glen Tom Settle.
To illuminate the beginning and the aesthetic character of the names and thus the programs The Negro Hour and Wings Over Jordan, one must first examine the personal history, experiences and environment of the young Reverend Glen Tom Settle. The story begins as Glenn was lying flat on his back in a pea patch anesthetized by the beautiful singing of his mother as she sang her favorite song, “I Got as Home in That Rock, Don’t You See.” 1
“As a lover of music and youth possessed with a visionary and messianic mind, Glenn eclipsed into a heavenly dream atop a downy dandelion-top chariot from which he surveyed the landscape to discover disorder and chaos among a divided people. Later, Glen became more acutely aware of the calming and therapeutic qualities of music. Recognizing the mystical qualities of music as a unifying instrument, Glen committed himself to the singular cause of bringing together a divided people through music.” 2
 
A recorded account of Glen’s childhood dream follows:
In his dreamin,
he was floating
high in the sky
upon a dandelion-top
that
had gone to seed,
and then
been strung like a bead
upon a silver thread of melody
which
held the song together
as it drifted onward
ever onward
through the sky.
Far beneath him
he could see
thousands of men and women,
working in the soil,
or planting seeds
in the long rows
that lined
two great plantations.
“Mo’ people even
than ah knowed they wuz
in all de lan’,”
he said to himself.
“Mo’ even, ah betcha,
dan wus in all dem multitudes
what Jesus fed.”
Now
all these things,
the lazy little lad
on the dandelion-top,
could look down
upon the world and see,
and the earth of the one plantation
was white,
while
the earth of the other
was black.
Between them,
someone
had built a fence.
It looked
to the little boy
like an old fence,
because
some of the posts were rotted
and were leaning,
while
in many places
the slackened wires
were hanging low,
as if
people had been crossing
and travelling
to and fro.
Even though
he was high in the sky
and riding swiftly along
on an upflung strain
in the music’s call;
he could not help but see
that the gesturing
of the workmen
in the divided fields,
sometimes,
was not friendly.
One or two
stooped and three
clods of earth
at their comrades,
and that
made the little boy sad,
for he felt
that when something
like his mother’s song
was abroad in the sky,
everyone
should hear and be happy
like him.
. . . . .
Then the melody
began to sway and swing,
instead of climbing high
and gliding down;
and as the dandelion-top swayed,
the little boy could look down
upon the workmen in the field
that was white;
and when it swung,
he could look down upon those
who worked in the earth,
which was black.
. . . . .
Thus,
the boy
was drifting now,
o’re all who worked
in both the fields;
and the soft coolness
of the dandelion-top’s shadow,
followed him like a tail,
making cheerful
and refreshing all
who took notice
of its passing.
. . . . .
Because
he was slowly turning
while descending,
the lad could see the fields
where
had labored all the workmen,
over whom
he had been drifting,
but
none were working now.
They had gathered
at the fence row,
and they were singing songs,
and they were laughing,
and they were tearing down the fence. 3
Constantly reminded by his mother that, “If white and colored folks just got to know each other better, everything would work out all right.” 4
Directed by Divine Guidance, he committed himself to fulfill the revelations of his dream. His commitment to prepare for this all important mission is evidence in such early activities as a strong religious background and ethnic, a high regard for motherhood, a great respect for the elderly, a belief in the equality of womanhood, an insatiable quest for knowledge, a love of mankind, and a humanitarian concern for all people. This ideology was pervasive in all stages of Reverend Glen T. Settle’s development.
The correlation between Black folklore and legend and theology is interrelated, thus each incorporates elements which traverse and interact within both disciplines.
The Bible is replete with paradigms and references to angles and the Jordan River. According to Evangelist Billy Graham, there are over three hundred references made to angels in the Bible. 5 It is universally acknowledged that man has always dreamed of possessing magical powers and angelic wings with which he might transcend his spiritual body and rise beyond the travails of human existence into the Celestial City. In the Black experience, the pre-eminence of a triumphant entry into the Celestial City and the death themes concomitant with that victory are all-encompassing and are evidenced in the examples to follow.
First among them is the death legend, which consumed slave life from birth to death, is probably more deeply rooted in folklore than theology but with theological nuances. The legend gained currency during slavery with the deprivation and prohibition of verbal communication. Although communicating with Supernatural Beings was not uncommon in the African heritage, restricted verbal communication forced slaves to communicate with invisible spirits. Unlike most musical expressions, these experiences were both personal and voluntary. Endowed with a genuine love of and a natural proclivity for the spoken word, restricted verbal communication enabled slaves to transcend the relationship between man and man and to communicate directly to God the torrents of dehumanizing and demoralizing sufferings they encountered. Of all the themes communicated, the death theme was probably the most omnipresent. With regularity, slaves would call out to God in despair in a loud and clear voice for a band of angels to come and carry them safely across the River Jordan and subsequently, home. In all the suffering, the supreme sacrifice, then as now, during the earthly pilgrimage was the preparation of the human soul during life to receive the ultimate reward after death -- the Promised Land.
Another example of folklore representing the consummate death motive revealed winged angels transporting departed souls across the Jordan River. Again, the obsession of the death theme assumed special importance and significance as it determined the conduct and actions of one’s earthly activities.
A theological reference that may indeed reflect Reverend Glen T. Settle’s views on the genesis of the name Wings Over Jordan may be seen in the following statement:
When a Negro dies, it is said that he has crossed the River Jordan. This famed stream is thought of as the dividing line between this earth and promised eternal reward. In days of slavery, freedom could be obtained only through death, and around the Biblical promises of an eternal reward, songs were sung in plantation cabins, denoting faith in eternity--a place of music, happiness, and enjoyment of the Lord’s presence. One passed from this earth into eternity. It was his hope that he would hear the winged chorus of angels, singing the praises of the Most High, calling the earth-worn traveler to his place of rest. Hence, Wings Over Jordan, the choir of angels God’s children will hear as they cross from earth to heaven. 6
Preoccupation with the death motive as an accompanying theme to angels and the Jordan River is further reflected in many song texts of the slaves. Selected examples are “