Notes
[ 367 ] Introduction 1. Fredrika Bremer, Homes of the New World: Impressions of America, vol. 1, 1853 (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1854), 352. 2. Ibid., 354. 3. Ibid., 369, quoted in Eileen Southern, ed., Readings in Black American Music (New York: W. W. Norton, 1971), 107–8. 4. Fredrika Bremer, Homes of the New World, vol. 2, 1853 (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1854), 509–10, quoted in Dena J. Epstein, Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music to the Civil War (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1977), 164. 5. For more on the Dvorák statement and its influence on black music development , see Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff, Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music 1889–1895 (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2002), 273–76. 6. For early printed references to “barbershop” as a musical term, see Lynn Abbott, “‘Play That Barber Shop Chord’: A Case for the African American Origin of Barbershop Harmony,” American Music 10, no. 3 (Fall 1992): 307–11; Abbott and Sero ff, Out of Sight, 357–60. 7. John Work II, Folk Song of the American Negro (Nashville: Press of Fisk University , 1915), 93. 8. Tom Lacey interviewed by Doug Seroff, November 28, 1983. Chapter One 1. Handwritten note, apparently the text of a speech made by one of the Original Fisk Jubilee Singers, ca. 1873 (Jubilee Singers Archive, Special Collections, John Hope and Aurelia Elizabeth Franklin Library, Fisk University), quoted in Doug Seroff, “Nashville —Historic Capital of Spiritual Singing,” program for Gospel Arts Day, Nashville, June 19, 1988, 2. 2. Mary E. Spence, “A Character Sketch of George L. White,” Fisk University News, October 1911. 3. “An Interview With Mr. Loudin,” Melbourne Daily Telegraph, n.d. Reprinted in Fisk Herald, September 1886. Quoted in Abbott and Seroff, Out of Sight, 13. Notes Notes [ 368 ] 4. 1900 U.S. Census; William Burres Garcia, “The Life and Choral Music of John Wesley Work [III] (1901–1967),” diss., University of Iowa, May 1973, 26, gives Work II’s birth date as August 6, 1872. 5. 1900 U.S. Census, Davidson County, Vol. 11, Enumeration District 87, Sheet 26. Again offering conflicting information, Garcia gives Work senior’s birth date as ca. 1830, and says he was born in Virginia. 6. Helen Work conversation with Doug Seroff, March 19, 1984. According to Garcia , Work I was sent to New Orleans “in the service of a Parisian Frenchman.” Helen Work said her grandfather often spoke French in his home as a form of education for his children. 7. “John Work, Martyr and Singer,” Crisis XXXII, no. 1 (May 1926): 32. According to an interview with Helen Work conducted by William Burres Garcia on August 11, 1971, the author of this unsigned article was Agnes Hayes Work. 8. 1900 U.S. Census. 9. Helen Work conversation with Seroff. 10. Mrs. Minnie Lou Crosthwaite, “In Memory of Prof. John W. Work,” Greater Fisk Herald, January 1926, 9–10. 11. See Abbott and Seroff, Out of Sight for more on the Pugsley (Puggsley) Brothers Tennessee Warblers. 12. “Music and Theatrical World Mourns Death of Alex Rogers,” Chicago Defender, September 20, 1930. 13. Work II, Folk Song of the American Negro, 92. 14. Fisk Herald, June 1895. 15. Work II, Folk Song of the American Negro, 111, 119. 16. Ibid., 114. 17. H. H. Wright, “Jubilee Songs At Chapel Exercises,” Fisk University News, October 1911, 24. 18. Work II, Folk Song of the American Negro, 97. 19. Rev. George W. Moore, Fisk Herald, February 1886. 20. “Jubilee Day,” Fisk Herald, October 1890. 21. “The Departure of the Singers,” Fisk Herald, October 1890. The voice parts of Fannie E. Snow and Antoinette Crump are not given in this source. 22. George M. McClellan, letter, Fisk Herald, December 1890. 23. Fisk Herald, June 1891. 24. “Professor Work Called to Presidency of Roger Williams University,” Fisk University News, October 1923. 25. “John Work, Martyr and Singer”: 32. 26. John W. Work II, “Jubilee Music,” Fisk Herald, March 1898, 5–6. 27. “John Work, Martyr and Singer.” 28. Albany Dispatch, quoted in Fisk Herald, January 1895. 29. Fisk Herald, December 1895. One member of the quintet, Benjamin L. Shook, later became a prominent musician and entertainment entrepreneur in Detroit. For more about Shook, see Abbott and Seroff, Out of Sight. 30. “Agendas of the American Missionary Association Annual Meeting for 1896,” Congregational Church Library, Boston. Thanks to William R. Daniels for assistance. [13.58.244.216] Project MUSE (2024-04-26 10...
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