Voices of Black Folk

The development of the phonograph in the 1920s afforded preachers like Reverend A. W. Nix the opportunity to present traditional black vocal styles of the southern black church as modern black voices. As a minister, Nix utilized the new medium of phonograph recordings to present sermons with messages of racial uplift that instructed his listeners to avoid the worldly lures of a sinful city life. He chose to present these messages on recordings that incorporated the rich and distinctive vocal traditions of preaching and singing that had been closely associated with African Americans in the rural South since the days of slavery. Nix’s recorded sermons highlight the diverse and contested nature of the ideas ascribed to black vocalisms as African Americans asserted cultural autonomy and engaged with modernity. The success of Nix’s recorded sermons on phonographs demonstrates the enduring values African Americans placed on traditional vocal practices.