There is no historical or geographical limit on what can be covered. There is no restriction on the style or genre of song or singing.
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.
To commemorate the writings of W. E. B. Du Bois, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor turned to an unexpected source, Christina Rossetti, setting six of her poems for his Six Sorrow Songs.
With this essay on Black Swan Records, we at WSF celebrate our 2nd anniversary. On 30 Oct. 2020 our first post was Mark Burford’s essay on Marian Anderson.
Mahalia Jackson’s career unfolded through easy-to-overlook intersections with women who were models and mentors, peers and progeny.
Doris Akers was one of Black gospel’s most prolific composers. This is a cross-racial account of her most famous song, “Sweet, Sweet Spirit.”
Marian Anderson was a pioneering interpreter of Jean Sibelius’s songs. “Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings mote,” was one of the first she recorded.
