Book ID: CBB497586158

Preaching on Wax: The Phonograph and the Shaping of Modern African American Religion (2014)

unapi

From 1925 to 1941, approximately one hundred African American clergymen teamed up with leading record labels such as Columbia, Paramount, Victor-RCA to record and sell their sermons on wax. While white clerics of the era, such as Aimee Semple McPherson and Charles Fuller, became religious entrepreneurs and celebrities through their pioneering use of radio, black clergy were largely marginalized from radio. Instead, they relied on other means to get their message out, teaming up with corporate titans of the phonograph industry to package and distribute their old-time gospel messages across the country. Their nationally marketed folk sermons received an enthusiastic welcome by consumers, at times even outselling top billing jazz and blues artists such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey. These phonograph preachers significantly shaped the development of black religion during the interwar period, playing a crucial role in establishing the contemporary religious practices of commodification, broadcasting, and celebrity. Yet, the fame and reach of these nationwide media ministries came at a price, as phonograph preachers became subject to the principles of corporate America. In Preaching on Wax, Lerone A. Martin offers the first full-length account of the oft-overlooked religious history of the phonograph industry. He explains why a critical mass of African American ministers teamed up with the major phonograph labels of the day, how and why black consumers eagerly purchased their religious records, and how this phonograph religion significantly contributed to the shaping of modern African American Christianity.

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Reviewed By

Review Isaac Weiner (2015) Review of "Preaching on Wax: The Phonograph and the Shaping of Modern African American Religion". Journal of American History (pp. 905-906). unapi

Review Tona Hangen (2015) Review of "Preaching on Wax: The Phonograph and the Shaping of Modern African American Religion". American Historical Review (pp. 1918-1919). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB497586158/

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Authors & Contributors
Choi, Kyungsub Stephen
Allyson Nadia Field
Ellen C. Scott
Drake, Jamil W.
Tom Lewis
Graham, Roderick
Concepts
African Americans
African Americans and science
Radio
Communication technology
Mass media
Motion pictures; cinema; movies
Time Periods
20th century, early
19th century
20th century
21st century
Places
United States
Southern states (U.S.)
Ohio (U.S.)
Weimar Republic (1919-1933)
New York City (New York, U.S.)
Germany
Institutions
Radio Corporation of America
Bell Telephone Laboratories
American Red Cross
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