Today we remember the late great queen of gospel Mahalia Jackson (/məˈheɪljə/ mə-hayl-yə; October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) an American gospel singer. Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she was referred to as The Queen of Gospel. She became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world and was heralded internationally as a singer and civil rights activist. She was described by entertainer Harry Belafonte as the single most powerful black woman in the United States. She recorded about 30 albums (mostly for Columbia Records) during her career, and her 45 rpm records included a dozen golds—million-sellers. I sing Gods music because it makes me feel free, Jackson once said about her choice of gospel, adding, It gives me hope. With the blues, when you finish, you still have the blues. She was born on October 26, 1911 as Mahala Jackson and nicknamed Halie. Jackson grew up in the Black Pearl section of the Carrollton neighborhood of uptown New Orleans. The three-room dwelling on Pitt Street housed thirteen people and a dog. This included Little Mahala (named after her aunt, Mahala Clark-Paul whom the family called Aunt Duke); her brother Roosevelt Hunter, whom they called Peter; and her mother Charity Clark, who worked as both a maid and a laundress. Several aunts and cousins lived in the house as well. Aunt Mahala was given the nickname Duke after proving herself the undisputed boss of the family. The extended family (the Clarks) consisted of her mothers siblings: Isabell, Mahala, Boston, Porterfield, Hannah, Alice, Rhoda, Bessie, their children, grandchildren, and patriarch Rev. Paul Clark, a former slave. Jacksons father, John A. Jackson, Sr. was a stevedore (dockworker) and a barber who later became a Baptist minister. He fathered four other children besides Mahalia: Wilmon (older) and then Yvonne, Pearl, and Johnny, Jr. (by his marriage shortly after Halies birth). Her fathers sister, Jeanette Jackson-Burnett, and husband, Josie, were vaudeville entertainers. Jackson played an important role during the civil rights movement. In August 1956, she met Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King, Jr. at the National Baptist Convention. A few months later, both King and Abernathy contacted her about coming to Montgomery, Alabama, to sing at a rally to raise money for the bus boycott. They also hoped she would inspire the people who were getting discouraged with the boycott. Despite death threats, Jackson agreed to sing in Montgomery. Her concert was on December 6, 1956. By then, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in Browder v. Gayle that bus segregation was unconstitutional. In Montgomery, the ruling was not yet put into effect, so the bus boycott continued. At this concert she sang Ive Heard of a City called Heaven, Move On Up a Little Higher and Silent Night. There was a good turnout at the concert and they were happy with the amount of money raised. However, when she returned to the Abernathys home, it had been bombed. The boycott finally ended on December 21, 1956, when federal injunctions were served, forcing Montgomery to comply with the court ruling. Although Jackson was internationally known and had moved up to the northern states, she still encountered racial prejudice. One account of this was when she tried to buy a house in Chicago. Everywhere she went, the white owners and real estate agents would turn her away, claiming the house had already been sold or they changed their minds about selling. When she finally found a house, the neighbors were not happy. Shots were fired at her windows and she had to contact the police for protection. White families started moving out and black families started moving in. Everything remained the same in her neighborhood except for the skin color of the residents. King and Abernathy continued to protest segregation. In 1957, they founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The first major event sponsored by the SCLC was the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in Washington, D.C., on May 17, 1957, the third anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. From this point forward, Jackson appeared often with King, singing before his speeches and for SCLC fundraisers. In a 1962 SCLC press release, he wrote she had appeared on numerous programs that helped the struggle in the South, but now she has indicated that she wants to be involved on a regular basis. Jesse Jackson said when King called on her, she never refused, traveling with him to the deepest parts of the segregated south. Jackson died in Chicago on January 27, 1972 at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, Illinois, of heart failure and diabetes complications. Two cities paid tribute: Chicago and New Orleans. Beginning in Chicago, outside the Greater Salem Baptist Church, 50,000 people filed silently past her mahogany, glass-topped coffin in final tribute to the queen of gospel song. The next day, as many people who could—6,000 or more—filled every seat and stood along the walls of the citys public concert hall, the Arie Crown Theater of McCormick Place, for a two-hour funeral service. Her pastor, Rev. Leon Jenkins, Mayor Richard J. Daley, and Mrs. Coretta Scott King eulogized her during the Chicago funeral as a friend – proud, black and beautiful. Sammy Davis, Jr., and Ella Fitzgerald paid their respects. Dr. Joseph H. Jackson, president of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., delivered the eulogy at the Chicago funeral. Aretha Franklin closed the Chicago rites with a moving rendition of Precious Lord, Take My Hand.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 13:43:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015