Them Gospel Songs Poems of the Black Church Experience

THEM GOSPEL SONGS is a collection of Afro-American church folklore & church humor taken from the pre-1960's period of contemporary social history, when blacks were called colored, & the colored church was the single, most important influence & socializing institution in the small-town Negro communities throughout the nation. The life of the colored people at worship is depicted here in warmth, often in humor, but always in detailed reality. "Big Mama is not talkin' about what she heard. She is talkin' about what she knows." And the selections from life-experience are both individual & universal. Blacks across America will see themselves, their friends & relatives in the folklore collected here in THEM GOSPEL SONGS. For they are all here, from the old choir member who won't stop singing, to the eager young preacher too intent on approval. Every reader will get a rare & intimate look at the black church subculture as it was, & is still practiced, in many parts of the country. Big Mama's writings have a wide & varied appeal. Selections from her folklore are studied in university classes & recited in programs of store-front churches. Hers is the living lore of the colored folk of yesteryear, who were little influenced in their traditions, beliefs & ways by the dominant white society outside of their segregated community, once they were home. Big Mama tells their stories, songs & anecdotes with integrity, but in her way. Sometimes she is humorous. Sometimes angry or sad. But always there is irony, wit, & humanity.Big Mama is the author of 'Them Gospel Songs Poems of the Black Church Experience' with ISBN 9780962037313 and ISBN 0962037311.