• ' • - ; V . - •. •< •- V*'.. ^,-ST t- '' •'• ■
By Erin Gibson
Senior Reporter
Sacred gospel music chronicled the
struggles of American blacks against
whites and between factions of their
own culture, a distinguished profes
sor and musician said Sunday night.
Bernice Johnson. Reagon, an
American University history profes
sor, author and professional musician,
opened the third annual Abraham Lin
coln Lecture Series in Kimball Hall
accompanied by the Lincoln Commu
nity Gospel Choir.
Reagon traced the beginnings of
the gospel movement, now visible in
any American church that sings
praises through a gospel choir.
Although most Christian churches
today use a gospel choir in joyous cel
ebration, the roots of gospel were not
always joyous, she said.
In the beginning, blacks would
“use the tradition at strategic times to
help the people survive,” Reagon said.
The gospel movement began when
black Americans escaped slavery, she
said, and later were emancipated and
moved into the cities seeking greater
freedom.
“The fresh air of the South was
stagnant, choking and binding,” she
said.
The gospel tradition soon woul<i
help an uprooted four million blacks
deal with a new city environment
Where they often were not accepted—
even by other blacks.
The new urban blacks walked be
tween Western rules and black culture,
adding their own style to traditional
black hymns. Innovative black
songwriters brought gospel out of the
church and into mainstream black
culture, Reagon said.
For instance, Philadelphii
preacher Charles Albert Tenley copy
righted gospel tunes, including “Stan<
By Me” in 1902: The song late
formed the base for Benny King’
popular,'secular tune by the same titli
in the 1950s.
Tenley also introduced “I Will
Overcome Someday,” which later
evolved into the song popular in the
1960s civil rights movement.
Black gospel composers’ songs
— A
were not always accepted, she said.
Not even the organ was accepted when
it was first introduced.
“Inside the culture there was a dia
logue over what people needed,” she
said.
Songwriters after Tfenley struggled
to introduce blues and jazz singing
into the black gospel tradition, they
met opposition, she said, even at tra
ditional, all-black institutions, includ
ing Howard University.
The music resulting from these
internal struggles continues to change
and document the happenings in black
culture today, Reagon said.
Reagon will continue her walk
* through the roots of the American
- gospel tradition at 7:30 p.m. Monday
1 through Wednesday this week and
r Thursday at 4 p.m.
* Monday’s lecture will be held at
" the Clyde Malone Community Cen
ter, 2032 U St. Tuesday and Thursday
Reagon will be back in Kimball Hall,
and Wednesday she will travel to St.
Paul Methodist Church, 1144 M St.
All lectures are free and open to
the public.
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