St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1947-09-05
Condemns Jazzing SpirituaIs;
Says World Needs Songs
Which Sprung From Slavery
By Robert Dun

By Robert Dun
| may not know music but |
know shouting when | hear it. And
believe me, the prostituted playing
and singing ofgood music, es-
pecially Of thespirituals which
were born out ofthe suffering of
our ancestors under the lash Of
the slave driver,is in my opinion
blasphemy. The great Fisk
Jubilee Singersand the Tuskegee
Singers sang to
open the doors Of those who, after
hearing spirituals well sung, would
see the beauty Of the souls Of black
folks, get a more sympathetic view
of their burden-bearing in the heat
of the day, and their unrequited
longings for a richer and fuller life
to the end that the decidedly more
advantaged and philanthropically
inclined listener might be inspired
to invest in the development of
men and women of character with
in the race set free when Lincoln
signed the Emancipation Proclama-
ton.
Their singing was for a noble
purpose-not for the amusement
of the children Of slavocrats, men
who fought to keep them as their
property, a fight which still RACES
in areas where ignorance and pow
erty are covered over by thin
layer Of culture on top and n
seething mass of uneducated, un-
trained and ill-cOnditiOned people
at the bottom.
Spirituals Were Prayers
The old spirituals were mostly
prayers for strength to endure,
to tramp forward toward a better
day, for deliverance. They were
sometimes recitations of things
heaped upon our forefathers which
we may forgive but can hardly
forget because our aim should be
a world where no race would suf-
fer as the black man and woman
suffered for so long in the deep
South and elsewhere. The spiritu-
ais, therefore. are sacred. They are
the voice, the blood-curdling
screams of anguish Of our chained
grandfathers and great grand
mothers as they cried out as the
slavemasters' whip tore their bod
les into shreds for not having
picked so much cotton, hoed so
many rows Of corn, or performed
other set tasks, though their ema-
ciated bodies, as often was the
case, were tortured by hunger, dis
ease and sickness unto death.
We dream of day when these
old spirituals and the fire out Of
which they came will be so under
stood and appreciated by all free
dom-loving peoples that they will
be looked upon as sources of in
spiration for great crusades for
freedom, and will be among the
revered things we will not sell
for money or life itself.
They built in the black folks in
the day Of their anguish sense Of
patience--the kind Of patience
which trapped men must plant in
the garden of their souls. the roots
Of which are bitter but whose fruits
are sweet.
New Age With Unclean Hands
We live in a new age now-an
age in which men must dream good,
great dreams, sacrifice and give
all Of their soul, might and
strength to make their dreams
come true. 1t is an age in which
we enter and become part Of the
great symphony Of peoples Of one
world-a world which is beset by
clouds Of distrust and suspicion
and court into which so many come
with strong but unclean hands.
At no time in all the history Of
the world has the race of mankind
needed great, inspiring and invig.
Grating songs which will lift men
up and watt them toward unifica-
ton in social institutions Of divine
origin, move men to achieve Il re.
aliZation of the practicality of unit
ing the worlds peoples in one cul,
ture and one civilized order.
We must have new songs which
will move men to selfless, unusual
and unmeasured sacrifice that jus,
tice may prevail more than evel
in this hour as we stand at the
cross roads of civilization. Today
atomic bombs are being built, two
of which, according to a reported
statement by President Rober'
Hutchins of the University of Chi