(RELIGION.) Judge Jackson. The Colored Sacred Harp. Double-sided frontispiece with portraits of the author and his associate author Bishop J.D. Walker. 96 pages. Oblong 8vo, original printed wrappers, light crease in one corner, otherwise minimal foxing and wear; minimal wear to contents. Ozark, AL: published by the author, [1934]
First edition. Sacred harp singing is a genre of vocal music which features hymns sung in four-part harmony, written in shape notes. It originated in New England and was first popularized by the 1844 publication of The Sacred Harp; it soon migrated to the South. The music is not generally performed at concerts or church services, but at regular participatory "singings." Judge Jackson (1883-1958) was raised in Alabama, where as his son recalled "the only sacred harp singers in Montgomery County were whites." He moved as a young man to Ozark in southeastern Alabama, where he became a sacred harp singer and helped form the Dale County Colored Music Institute. He led the committee to write this new volume of sacred harp music. Each of the dozens of songs are attributed to an author with its composition date. Many are written by Judge Jackson, and he edited the remainder; most of the dates range from 1929 to 1932. The frontispiece urges: "We ask your co-operation both White and Colored to help us place this book in every home. That we may learn thousands of people especially the youth how to praise God in singing." The songs had an extended life, with a revival sparked by the 1970 formation of the Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers and the 1973 publication of a second edition (featuring a "History of the Colored Sacred Harp"). Further editions followed in 1992 and 2004; singings continued in Ozark through at least 2009. We trace no other examples of this 1934 first edition at auction.
