52.CLF Interview, November 30, 1977, 171-72; Lafayette Interview, 36-38. See also E. L. Branch Interview, 28-29; Spillers, “Fabrics of History,” 167-68, 169-76. (back to text)
53.Boggs, Living for Change, 69, 91, 121. That James Boggs’s cousin Irene was a New Bethel member active on the Usher Board suggests the intricate weave that bound this community. For a discussion of Robert Ruark’s commercially successful 1955 novel, Something of Value, with its depiction of African independence fighters in general, and the Mau Mau in particular, as barbaric and beyond efforts at “civilizing,” see Hickey and Wylie, An Enchanting Darkness, 194-97. (back to text)
54.CLF, What Think Ye of Jesus?; the text is from Matthew 22:41-42 (KJV). (back to text)
55.See Fauntroy, “Black Religion and Politics,” 49, for a brief discussion of the adaptability of that symbolic language. For a broader discussion of the power of a dissent grounded in the very expectations of the political culture it would transform, see Walzer, The Company of Critics, and Salvatore, Eugene V. Debs. (back to text)
7. FAME
1.CLF, Following Jesus; CLF, The Story of Job; Kirby Interview, 21-22. Kirby observed that CLF “was all lion and he presented and delivered his messages that way.” (back to text)
2.VF Interview, 27-28; Detroit News, September 26, 1977; CLF, The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest; CLF, Fret Not Thyself; Kincaid Interview, 28. Muddy Waters is cited in Tooze, Muddy Waters, 85. (back to text)
3.CLF Interview, May 10, 1978, 225. (back to text)
4.On Brown and other court cases that dismantled legal segregation, see Kluger, Simple Justice. (back to text)
5.Michigan Chronicle, April 3 and 17 and July 7, 1954. (back to text)
6.Metress, The Lynching of Emmett Till, 14-43, passim; Michigan Chronicle, September 17, 1955. Till’s father, Louis, served as an army private in the European theater during the war. In February 1945 he was found guilty in a military trial of the “premeditated murder” of one Italian woman and the rape of two others. On July 2, 1945, he was executed by hanging at the American military base in Leghorn, Italy. See Michigan Chronicle, October 22, 1955. (back to text)
7.Michigan Chronicle, May 28, 1955; Metress, The Lynching of Emmett Till, 25; Wolff, You Send Me, 123-24; Ross, Secrets of a Sparrow, 81; Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, 121-26; Sellers, The River of No Return, 14-15. Abdul-Jabbar is quoted in Metress, The Lynching of Emmett Till, 277. (back to text)
8.Michigan Chronicle, September 17 and October 15, 1955. The Murray Kempton article is reprinted in Metress, The Lynching of Emmett Till, 65-67. The precise wording used by Mose Wright can be found in the caption to a Life magazine sketch of the trial reprinted in Metress, The Lynching of Emmett Till, immediately preceeding 153. (back to text)
9.Michigan Chronicle, September 24, 1955; Chester Himes is quoted in Metress, The Lynching of Emmett Till, 117. (back to text)
10.On Edward Turner see U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Un-American Activities, Hearings: Communism in the Detroit Area, 1:2811-12. On the protest meeting see Michigan Chronicle, September 24, 1955; Johnson Interview, 18-19. (back to text)
11.Michigan Chronicle, October 22, 1955. (back to text)
12.In May 1956 the Detroit NAACP reported more than fourteen thousand members; see Michigan Chronicle, May 26, 1956, and, for earlier figures, Michigan Chronicle, June 6, 1953, and July 2, 1955. For an analysis of earlier challenges to the leadership of the Detroit NAACP, see Bates, “A New Crowd Challenges the Agenda of the Old Guard.” CLF left no record of his personal reactions to the Till lynching, but in an interview forty-four years later, his close friend Harry Kincaid pointedly, with felt emotion, and without any prompting informed an interviewer of his origins near the town where Till was murdered. Mr. Kincaid did this within two minutes of the start of the interview. See Kincaid Interview, 1. (back to text)
13.For one parishioner’s experience of this, see Thompson Interview, 26. (back to text)
14.On the Political Action Guild see Kincaid Interview, 9-10; Penn Interview, 23; Young Interview, 15-16; Johnson Interview, 22-23; Michigan Chronicle, October 9, 1954; New Bethel Baptist Church and the Progressive Civic League, Program: Adam Clayton Powell at New Bethel Baptist Church, n.p.; Progressive Civic League, Program: 10th Anniversary Meeting, n.p.; New Bethel Baptist Church, 8th Annual Radio Broadcast Program, n.p. (back to text)
15.Kincaid Interview, 10; Carson, The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 2:290; Johnson Interview, 22-23. (back to text)
16.Interview with Arthur Featherstone by author, 7 (hereafter cited as Featherstone Interview); Johnson Interview, 19-21. For a perceptive 1952 analysis of the relationship between secular black elites in the urban North and the ministerial leaders of churches with large migrant populations, see Reid, The Negro Baptist Ministry, 12 and passim. CLF also commented that the black church was “uniquely situated” to encourage political action. CLF Interview, November 2, 1977, 118. (back to text)
17.CLF quoted in Detroit News, September 26, 1977. See also Kincaid Interview, 7, 8, 10; E. L. Branch Interview, 22; EF Interview, 40-41; Stepp Interview (2000), 20, 21; Ralph Williams Interview, 39, 40; CLF Interview, November 2, 1977, 118. For the presentation of these ideas in CLF’s sermons at this time, see Counting the Cost, The Fiery Furnace, Ye Are the Salt of the Earth, The Foolish and the Wise Builders, and The Project of Making Man. (back to text)
18.On Powell’s earlier visits to New Bethel see Michigan Chronicle, October 9, 1954; New Bethel Baptist Church and the Progressive Civic League, Program: Adam Clayton Powell at New Bethel Baptist Church, n.p.; Progressive Civic League, Program: 10th Anniversary Meeting, n.p.; Penn Interview, 23. On the 1956 presidential race see Michigan Chronicle, October 27, 1956; Lichtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit, 371-72. (back to text)
19.On the 1956 Powell affair see Michigan Chronicle, July 28, October 20 and 27, and November 3 and 10, 1956. Powell is quoted in Michigan Chronicle, October 27, 1956. For a contemporary analysis of the black Republican vote that November, see Michigan Chronicle, November 17, 1956. Although cosponsored by New Bethel and featuring CLF’s radio hour on WJLB, the event was held at the larger King Solomon Baptist Church. (back to text)
20.Michigan Chronicle, November 3 and 10, 1956. (back to text)
21.CLF Interview, May 3, 1978, 219. (back to text)
22.Horace Clarence Boyer, How Sweet the Sound, 127-28. (Reese’s given name was Delloreese Patricia Early.) On the gospel tour see ibid., 55-57; Heilbut, The Gospel Sound, passim; interview with Hulah Gene Hurley by author, 17, 19-20 (hereafter cited as Hurley Interview); Baltimore Afro-American, August 31, 1957. On Sam Cooke, who became the lead singer of the Soul Stirrers in 1951, see the insightful discussion in Guralnick, Sweet Soul Music, 32-36. On Tharpe, see Heilbut, The Gospel Sound, 189-96. CLF comments on whites in the audiences on tours in CLF Interview, May 3, 1978, 224. (back to text)
23.Kyles Interview, 15-16; Boyer, “Contemporary Gospel,” 23-27; Davis, I Got the Word in Me, 78-79; Lincoln and Mamiya, The Black Church in the African American Experience, 346; Walker, “Somebody’s Calling My Name,” 22; Harris, The Rise of Gospel Blues, 184-89, 202. (back to text)
24.Jasper Williams Interview, 33; CLF Interview, May 3, 1978, 203; Matthews Interview, 2-3; Smith, Dancing in the Street, 42. (back to text)
25.Thompson Interview, 10-16; Jones Interview, 1-2. (back to text)
26.Kyles Interview, 15; Boyer, How Sweet the Sound, 105-6, 111; CLF Interview, May 3, 1978, 221; “The Preacher with the Golden Voice,” 40. On Little Sammy Bryant see Ray Funk, liner notes to None but the Righteous, 4-5. For Aretha’s first known public performance, see Isaac Jones, “In Detroit Churches,” Michigan Chronicle, August 23, 1952. “Oretha,” as Jones referred to her, sang “God Will Take Care of You.” Her earliest gospel recordings are available on Franklin, Aretha Gospel. For the list of gospel performers that evening in Jackson, Mississippi, see Thompson Interview, 10-11. (back to te
xt)
27.CLF, Pressing On; Thompson Interview, 13-14. (back to text)
28.Jones Interview, 1-2, 17-18; Jasper Williams Interview, 35; Kyles Interview, 15-16; E. L. Branch Interview, 11. (back to text)
29.CLF Interview, November 30, 1977, 183, 184; CLF Interview, May 3, 1978, 199, 200, 219, 222, 223; CLF Interview, May 10, 1978, 229; Ralph Williams Interview, 15, 58, 59. (back to text)
30.CLF Interview, November 2, 1977, 13; CLF Interview, May 3, 1978, 222, 223; Kyles Interview, 36; E. L. Branch Interview, 11. For similar testimony on CLF’s faith see telephone interview with Reverend Gardner C. Taylor by author (hereafter cited as Taylor Interview). (back to text)
31.Jenkins Interview, 10; Ralph Williams Interview, 9-10; Buck Interview, 12-17; Kyles Interview, 43. (back to text)
32.Perkins Interview, 24; Margaret Branch Interview, 15; CLF Interview, October 14, 1977, 70-71; CLF Interview, October 21, 1977, 87-88; Heilbut, The Gospel Sound, 276; Guralnick, Last Train to Memphis, 287. On Gertrude Ward see also Buck Interview, 15; Goreau, Just Mahalia, Baby, 233. (back to text)
33.Cohodas, Spinning Blues into Gold, 135; Collis, The Story of Chess Records, 149; CLF Interview, November 15, 1977, 152; Funk, liner notes to None but the Righteous, 4-5; Young, Woke Me Up This Morning, 193-95; Hayes and Laughton, Gospel Records, 1943-1969, vol. 1, n.p. (CLF entry). Don D. Robey, founder of Peacock Records, had approached Franklin in 1954 after Clara Ward informed him that the preacher was “interested in recording, at this time, for a reputable Company.” A contract was never signed. See Robey to “Dear Reverend Franklin,” February 15, 1954, Houston, CLFP. (back to text)
34.Thompson Interview, 9-10; Hayes and Laughton, Gospel Records, 1943-1969, vol. 1, n.p. (CLF entry); Heilbut, The Gospel Sound, 273-74; Guralnick, Sweet Soul Music, 138; Ward, Just My Soul Responding, 139; Brown, Miss Rhythm, 142; EF Interview, 4; Boyer, How Sweet the Sound, 53; King, Blues All Around Me, 50; Maultsby, “The Impact of Gospel Music on the Secular Music Industry,” 24-26; Young, Woke Me Up This Morning, 40; Murray, Boogie Man, 132, 133-34; Cohodas, Spinning Blues into Gold, 61. On Dot Records see Cohodas, 128-29, 211; Escott, Good Rockin’ Tonight, 6; Ward, Just My Soul Responding, 44. (back to text)
35.Cohodas, Spinning Blues into Gold, 61, 76; Young, Woke Me Up This Morning, 40; Ferris, Blues from the Delta, 96; King, Blues All Around Me, 184; Brown, Miss Rhythm, 142; Lewis Interview, 2. (back to text)
36.Lewis Interview, 1; Lewis, Walking with the Wind, 73-74; Jasper Williams Interview, 9; CLF Interview, October 14, 1977, 71-72. (back to text)
37.Reverend Jesse Jackson, remarks given at CLF memorial service, August 3, 1984, CLFP (tape; transcript in possession of author). (back to text)
38.McBeth, The Baptist Heritage, 782-86; U.S. Bureau of the Census, Religious Bodies: 1936, vol. 2, pt. 1, 144; Smith, The National Baptist Bulletin, 1946, 37; Smith, The National Baptist Bulletin, 1948, 7; National Baptist Convention, The Record of the 76th Annual Session of the National Baptist Convention, 1956, 243. On the first three presidents see Fitts, A History of Black Baptists, 81; Jackson, A Story of Christian Activism, 78-79, 127, 218; National Baptist Convention, Proceedings of the Sixty-ninth Annual Session of the National Baptist Convention, 1949, 9; McBeth, The Baptist Heritage, 787. (back to text)
39.Hamilton, The Black Preacher in America, 159-60; Jackson, A Story of Christian Activism, 223; Baptist Layman, May-June 1953. The other candidates were Sandy Ray, Brooklyn; E. W. Perry, Oklahoma City; Marshall Shephard, Philadelphia; and Raymond J. Henderson, Los Angeles. For accounts of the lead-up to the convention and the election, see Nannie Helen Burroughs to “Dear Rev. [Joseph H.] Jackson,” April 16, 1953, Box 38, NHB; National Baptist Voice, April, May, June, July, August, September, and October 1953. J. Pius Barbour’s account in the September issue credits Jackson’s victory to his command of the majority of the state presidents and their organizations, a political force far more formidable than that of the national office under an ailing and organizationally weak President Jemison. (back to text)
40.Jackson, Unholy Shadows and Freedom’s Holy Light, 69; Williams, Biographical Directory of Negro Ministers, 264; McBeth, The Baptist Heritage, 787; untitled clipping, February 15, 1932, Box 68, folder 1930s, JHJ. On Jackson’s “Declaration of Negro Intentions” see Michigan Chronicle, May 5 and 19, 1956. (back to text)
41.On the Montgomery boycott see Garrow, Bearing the Cross, 11-82. On the tensions surrounding the 1956 convention see National Baptist Convention, The Record of the 76th Annual Session of the National Baptist Convention, 1956, 58-59, 62; “Banksie” [Mrs. A. A. Banks, Jr.] to Nannie Helen Burroughs, March 22, 1956, Detroit, Box 3, NHB, for her discussion of Martin Luther King Sr.; and the columns of Nelis J. Saunders, The Stained Glass Window, in Michigan Chronicle, September 15 and 22, 1956. On King Jr. as a threat to Jackson, see Kyles Interview, 24. (back to text)
42.On the program see National Baptist Convention, The Record of the 76th Annual Session of the National Baptist Convention, 1956, 52-57, 63-65; Jackson, A Story of Christian Activism, 312-16. Jackson’s reaction to King is discussed in Lewis V. Baldwin, There Is a Balm in Gilead, 209-24; Lincoln and Mamiya, The Black Church in the African American Experience, 31. (back to text)
43.On the St. Louis meeting and its aftermath see Pittsburgh Courier, December 29, 1956; “Dear Pastor and Co-Worker,” n.d. [1956], mimeo. letter of St. Louis reformers, in Box 73, folder NBC, USA, Inc, 1953-1982, JHJ; National Baptist Convention, The Record of the 76th Annual Session of the National Baptist Convention, 1956, 158-60; Nelis J. Saunders, The Stained Glass Window, Michigan Chronicle, February 2, 1957. The preconvention infighting can be followed in J. Pius Barbour to Nannie Helen Burroughs, July 26, 1957, Chester, PA, Box 3, NHB; Gardner Taylor to Claude A. Barnett, August 23, 1957, Brooklyn, Box 386-2, CAB; W. Herbert Brewster to Joseph H. Jackson, August 1, 1957, Memphis, Box 73, folder N.B.C. National: Notes for N.B.C. Exec. Board, JHJ. The broad public discussion can be found in the Michigan Chronicle, February 23, May 11, June 8, and September 7, 1957, and in the wide-ranging interviews on tenure with ministers from across the country published in the paper’s issues of June 29, July 6, 13, and 20, and August 10, 1957. (back to text)
44.On the Louisville meeting and its legal aftermath see Michigan Chronicle, September 14 and 21, October 5, November 23, December 21, 1957; January 4 and 18, 1958. (back to text)
45.On CLF’s sartorial style in Detroit see Jenkins Interview, 19; Penn Interview, 11; Jasper Williams Interview, 4-5; Franklin, Aretha, 12; Broughton, Black Gospel, 97; McGraw, “Style to Spare,” 72; King Interview, 14-15; Goreau, Just Mahalia, Baby, 225; George, “Lucie E. Campbell” (1987), 40. (back to text)
46.Young Interview, 48; Jones Interview, 48. (back to text)
47.The eminently respectable Mahalia Jackson was a beautician who processed black women’s hair regularly and without public comment. Her “croconoling,” a form of the process, “was absolutely the best we had seen anywhere,” Willa Ward-Royster stated. “Those hairdos lasted three times longer than when anyone else did them.” Ward-Royster, How I Got Over, 67. On the procedure for the conk see Michigan Chronicle, January 23, 1955, and May 10, 1958. (back to text)
48.Michigan Chronicle, January 23, 1955; April 26 and May 3, 10, and 17, 1958; DeCaro, On the Side of My People, 55; King, Blues All Around Me, 143; Williams, Temptations, 27-28; Murray, The Omni-Americans, 50-51. As a young teen in the 1950s Cecil Franklin and a friend processed their schoolmates’ hair in the Franklins’ downstairs bathroom for years. Their skill and cheaper fees than the traditional barbershop attracted numerous clients, and when Cecil left for Morehouse College, he turned the business over to his close friend Smokey Robinson. See Robinson, Smokey, 58; Franklin, Aretha, 48. The opening chapters of Aretha Franklin’s autobiography also suggest how multiple cultural influences could be framed within a dominant African American cultural experience even by a young teenager and her friends. See Franklin, Aretha, esp. 3-62. (back to text)
49.McGraw, “Style to Spare,” 72; Franklin, Aretha, 72; Smith, Dancing in the Street, 42; EF Interview, 45; Lewis Interview, 20. Sylvia Penn is cited in Franklin, Aretha, 12. For CLF’s critique of the pretensions of church members, see CLF, The King, Lord of Hosts. In his 1954 sermon The Prodigal Son, CLF stressed that the elder brother who stayed in his father’s house “was too selfish to come in and join in the banquet” celebrating the return of the younger, prodigal son: “ So that Jesus intends for us to learn in this that it is dangerous to stay in the Church and be selfish as it is to go out but finally come back.” (back to text)
50.On CLF’s anniversaries in general see Perkins Interview, 39-41; interview with Beverli Greenleaf by author, 34 (hereafter cited as Greenleaf Interview); King Interview, 19; Michigan Chronicle, August 16, 23, 1952; June 5, 12, and 19, 1954; June 18, 1955. On the 1957 celebration see Michigan Chronicle, July 6 and 27, 1957. On T-Bone Walker see Michigan Chronicle, March 6, 1948; Pete Welding, liner notes to Walker, The Complete Imperial Recordings, 1950-1954; Levine, Black Culture and Black Consciousness, 236, 237; Buck Interview, 6, 8; Hurley Interview, 13, 15; Kirby Interview, 23; Taylor Interview. (back to text)
51.King, Blues All Around Me, 193-94, 197; Gordon, “Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland,” n.p.; Elder, “Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland,” 3; Guralnick, Lost Highways, 77. (back to text)
52.EF Interview, 2; Ralph Williams Interview, 11; Bego, Aretha Franklin, 20-21; King, Blues All Around Me, 150; Brown, Miss Rhythm, 120-21; Heilbut, The Gospel Sound, 75-76, 85, 261-63; Mahalia Jackson sings this on Gospels, Spirituals, and Hymns. (back to text)
Singing in a Strange Land Page 45
