Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Radio Folgen

In February of 2024, the Mississippi John Hurt Museum burned. The fire, believed to have been set intentionally, happened immediately after the Legendary Mississippi Blues Pioneer's cabin received landmark status. That was not the first or last attack on the Hurt Family museum, land, or legacy. A week later, the sheriff's office began investigating a break-in at the historic store located on County Road 41 in the Teoc community, where the Mississippi John Hurt marker was stolen. The executor of the estate and granddaughter of Hurt, Mary Francis Wright, has been fighting for a long time the many racialized attacks on her family's land and legacy. Mary and Shannon Evans have been working to keep the integrity and safety of the location and family. In this episode, I will speak with Mary and Shannon about the fire and many other assaults they have endured.

As we celebrate JUNETEENTH, we must understand how Folklore and the Blues Narrative relate to this celebration. In this episode, I will discuss the celebration, what the celebration is actually about, and its connection to and significance of African American Folklore and traditional Black Music. Juneteenth should always be mentioned with “African American Traditional Music and Folklore!” Juneteenth is the celebration of the releasing of the last remaining slaves after the emancipation proclamation and civil war. In 1865, June 19 Union soldiers led by Major General Gordon Granger shared the news that the war is over and the slaves were now free, in Galveston, Texas. Ironically, this freedom came after the actual date of 1863, when Lincoln made his declaration. Though, the first documented celebration of emancipation dates back to March 2, 1807, when Congress passed a bill to halt the importation of “slaves” into the United States, effective January 1, 1808, which prompted Absalom Jones, a pastor at St. Thomas’s African Episcopal Church in Philadelphia to call for a special commemoration of the ban. “Let January 1, the day of the abolition of the slave trade in our country, be set apart every year, as a day of public thanksgiving for that mercy,” he declared. The 1808 ban fueled annual public observances, primarily religious gatherings in northern cities such as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, called Emancipation Day. Though the initial celebration of January 1, 1808, was the first recording of Emancipation Day, June 19 then took on the name Emancipation Day, as well as Jubilee Day, now known as Juneteenth. In 1866, during the first celebration of “Jubilee Day” aka Juneteenth, newly freed African Americans sang Black Spirituals such as “Go Down Moses,” and “Many Thousands Gone.” In resemblance to Independence Day, they released a barrage of fireworks. The fact is, Texas was the last to free the slaves... Read More Here: Get Merch here:

Black Spirituals, Field Hollers, and Slave Seculars celebrate Black American Traditional Music and Experience. This show is dedicated to sharing and raising awareness of folklife, songs, dance, scripture, lyrics, and everything related to black Spirituals, Field Hollers, and Slave secular expressions, as well as the coded songs of Black Spirituals that were maps and landmarks for escaping bondage. June 5th, I will be speaking with Eric Crawford, Associate Professor of Musicology, and Peter K. Siegal, Producer and American roots music archivist, about the June 14, 2024, Smithsonian Folkways release “The Complete Friends of Old-Time Music Concert” by Bessie Jones, John Davis & The Georgia Sea Island Singers with Mississippi Fred McDowell and Ed Young. The album is a live recording of a 1965 concert that captured the intersection of Black folk traditions and civil rights activism, produced and hosted by Folklorist Alan Lomax and recorded by Peter K. Siegal. The Liner notes, and essay are written by Eric Crawford, whose research focuses on the rich tradition of Gullah music. Crawford has also written books titled Gullah Spirituals: The Sound of Freedom and Protest in the South Carolina Sea Islands (2021) and Gullah Culture in America (March 2023). Together with Smithsonian Folkways, they have collaborated on presenting a significant album that conserves black expression while introducing these outstanding performances to new audiences.