skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Gospel Music “Flip Side:” Research Uncovers Secret Civil Rights Messages

play audio
Play

Tuesday, February 1, 2011   

WACO, Texas - Gospel music of the 1950s and '60s often contained "secret messages" about the civil rights movement – secrets that were literally right under the nose of anyone who purchased a vinyl copy of a song.

That's the finding of Robert Darden, a Baylor University researcher who oversees the school's Black Gospel Music Restoration Project. Darden says he was about a year into cataloging vintage gospel music sent in from all over the country, when he started looking closely at the "B" sides of the older records.

"And here this stuff is, a wonderful spiritual hymn, 'Let's all be good and go see Jesus'; and on the flip side, it says, you know, 'People, we need to rally around Dr. King. This is important.'"

Darden is now focusing on the civil rights songs and messages, many of which are found on records from singers unfamiliar even to gospel experts, and sometimes on record labels that don't exist in any catalogs. He has found lyrics that tell about civil rights marches and demonstrations in Texas and Tennessee, as well as graphic descriptions of violence in Atlanta, Birmingham, and Chicago.

While some radio stations played gospel music at the time, Darden notes they would have only paid attention to the "A" sides of the records. He explains these records were commonly sold in furniture and grocery stores in Black communities throughout the South - where the messages reached their target audiences.

"So on the 'B' sides, they could really indulge what was passionate to them. Every day, I'm just surprised about how straightforward and frank some of the messages are."

The project is being highlighted for February's Black History Month. Darden is looking for other vintage gospel recordings to add to the research. The school's project pays all shipping costs, and returns the recordings along with digitized copies.

Some of the vintage gospel recordings, as well as samples of other songs, are online at www.baylor.edu/itunes.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021