Darlene Sparks ~

I embarked on a learning experience with a group of other graduate students, intent on
learning all there is to know about Gospel music in Philadelphia. It is true that I was not an avid listener of Gospel music before that time, and I could not have known the depth and breadth of the Philadelphia Gospel scene before that, because I just wasn't paying attention. Like most people I had my favorite radio stations that I listened to on the way to work, and when there were too many commercials, I just turned to the tape deck. Little did I know how much I was missing out on.

Our first class last September was to begin on the 11th, but it was cancelled. The shock of the World Trade Towers crumbling right before our eyes was still fresh one week later when we finally did start class. Everyone I had encountered during that week was feeling the same thing - helpless, but going about our business. As I did the same, I measured my steps carefully against the enormity of what the world was going to have to deal with in the future; I wanted to make sure that my steps counted toward something meaningful. I decided that the best place I could be was in this class, about to embark on fieldwork in Philadelphia's Gospel community.

The first Sunday we all went to the Milenium Baptist Church. Its nerve-wracking to enter a church in which you are a total stranger to everyone. How will we know what to do? What is the protocol for sitting, is there a special place? Is everyone wondering why we are here in a group? Well, I just did what has always served me well in the past. I put a big smile on my face and I graciously thanked everyone I saw. The nice man that handed me the weekly program, the young lady that showed me where to sit, everyone, was smiling at me too, so I knew it was going to be okay. Then, the music started. First a hymn from the book was sung. It was peaceful and calming and helped me to settle in on where I was and what it meant. Then the children came in children with white shirts and blouses
on, led by their Director and very well behaved. The singing and worshiping and gospel reading and sermonizing continued and took about an hour and a half, and I just soaked it all up. When it was all over we walked out and spoke to the other congregants who were smiling and welcoming us. It was, in fact, exactly what I needed on that Sunday morning, only a week and a few days after September ll. It had been so long since I was in any church I had forgotten how good it could feel.

For the next 12 weeks we went to Gospel shows in addition to classes. I saw the Sensational Starlights from Bridgeport Connecticut, the Blue Gates of Harmony, B.T. Green and the Gospel Harmonettes among others. One evening as I was leaving a Gospel show, a member of the band stopped me on the street and asked me how I liked the show. I told him that it was great, and thanked them for a great performance. He told me that his son, who had started with this group years ago, is now singing with Lyle Lovette. It was then that I began to understand how important Gospel music is to today's contemporary music scene. How many others had started this way?

We had knowledgeable visitors that came to class, like Clayton White, the Director of Music at the Philadelphia Community College, and Harrison Ridley Jr., whose show on WRTI, "Historical Approach to the Positive Music" has won several Best of Philly awards. They were able to fill in the blanks for us about the history of Gospel music, the history of slavery, and the real personal stories of people who have made a difference in promoting African American music and culture, like the Fisk Jubilee Singers who formed the first Gospel Choir.

We interviewed radio personalities like Linda Timmons from WHAT, and I had the chance to speak one-on-one with Neicy Tribbet, Music Director and Station Manager of WDAS. Neicy brought me around to all of the people that work in the station and I was able to meet Louise Williams, a 40-year veteran of Gospel radio, whom I had read about during my research. What I learned from all of these people and all of my research is that there has been a tremendous impact on popular musical styles by Gospel for the last fifty years which has been phenomenal. I understood what Louis Williams had said to me during the few minutes I spoke with her. She said that you can't get some knowledge from books, you have to live it. The soul behind the singing is the most important part. It was something that Elvis Presley had understood, she said.

Philadelphia has been extremely important to Gospel music and African American culture in general. It is the city where W.E. Du Bois lived and wrote, the place where the African Methodist Episcopal Church was founded by Richard Allen. Paul Robeson and Marian Anderson both lived here and are icons of Philadephia's history.

I look forward to reading more about Philadelphia's legacy to Gospel music, as more research is conducted at the University of Pennsylvania. There is a story to be told, and should be told about the birth of a sound, born in the Gospel choir and carried throughout the world.