<I>Hallelujah Chorus</I>
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1973
name: label: Written by
content: James Baldwin, American, 1924 - 1987
label: Subject of
content: Ray Charles, American, 1930 - 2004
label: Owned by
content: Ralph Joseph Gleason, American, 1917 - 1975
notes: label: Description
content: A photocopy of a narrative essay written by James Baldwin and outlining a musical and dramatic collaboration between Baldwin and Ray Charles. The essay is typed in black ink on white paper and consists of five total pages: four interior pages as well as a title page.
label: Description
content: The cover page reads [HALLELUJAH CHORUS] at center with [BY / JAMES BALDWIN] at the lower right. The first page is not numbered at the top and begins "My earliest notes indicate that Ray Charles is a A: Troubadour, B: Poet, C: Lover, D: Preacher, E: Tragic Artist." The remaining pages are numbered at the top center. The content of the essay describes Ray Charles and his music before giving a tentative outline for the proposed show. On page three, Baldwin writes, "I am sketching a blue-print for what is, after all, an unprecedented improvisation." The document ends with several paragraphs of prose identified as "JB's opening, after Lift Every Voice." which introduces the event as a "testimony service," and muses on the relationship of "Hallelujah" to "Amen." The essay ends on page four with "But I am here only as a witness, to say, Amen. The right Reverend Ray Charles is testifying, singing Hallelujah: Listen."
place: label: Place depicted
content: United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Instrumentalists (Musicians)
label: Topic
content: Jazz (Music)
label: Topic
content: Literature
label: Topic
content: Musicians
label: Topic
content: Singers (Musicians)
label: Topic
content: Soul (Music)
label: Topic
content: Theatre
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Books and Published Materials
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2011.68.1.3
objectType: label: Type
content: essays
label: Type
content: treatments (documents)
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Unknown - Restrictions Possible
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: toner on paper (fiber product)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 14 x 8 1/2 in. (35.6 x 21.6 cm)