WSF Celebrates Its First Year

One year ago, on 30 October 2020, WSF went live with a post by Mark Burford on Marian Anderson. In the past challenging year there have been 45 posts, including 8 by guest authors and 6 that were group posts. To celebrate this moment, we have redesigned the website. Now, all photos are taken from posts in the past year. To launch us on Year 2, Mark Burford writes about Mahalia Jackson and the soft power of Gospel Sisterhood.

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Kitty Cheatham’s Redemption Songs

Kitty Cheatham – singer, actress, daughter of slave-owners – was committed to preserving Negro spirituals, even as her performances swore allegiance to the Lost Cause of the antebellum South.

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Women Composing as Men, Part 1

Before and after 1900 many women songwriters published their songs with male pseudonyms. Three of the most successful share an unexpected biographical trait.

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