Topic: CRS Version
People believe “Kumbaya” was brought to this county from Angola by a missionary. Legends aren’t historical chronicles, but tales people construct to explain unknowns. They often are accretions of details built around half-remembered facts. [1]
In 1959, the publisher of the song identified Melvin Blake as the source for his version. [2] Since Blake, indeed, was a missionary assigned to Angola, he may be the nub of the tale.
Charles Melvin Blake was born in 1918 in Corydon in southern Indiana’s Harrison County. His maternal grandfather’s immigrant ancestors were Swiss Mennonites fleeing persecution in Bern. [3] After landing in Philadelphia, they made their way to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. [4]
Although Blake’s mother probably shared the musical traditions, she wouldn’t have attended the service. Her father had converted to Methodism and become a lay preacher aligned with Perseverance Chapel. [8] In 1904, that church held a Holiness meeting on a Saturday “with a large attendance and a good time.” [9]
Blake’s paternal great-great-grandfather moved from Person County, North Carolina, to Indiana by 1825. [10] Blake’s grandfather, Reuben, married several times. He named one of the sons by his last wife George Wesley Blake, suggesting a late interest in Methodism. [11]
Reuben died when Blake’s father, Lemmie, was seven year old. It’s not known how they survived, but George [12] and Lemmie moved their young families to Eaton, Indiana, sometime after the end of World War I. [13] Eaton had prospered when natural gas was discovered in the area in 1878. Once the gas was depleted, people left the area, which probably made good farm land more affordable. [14]
Blake’s son recalls “the Methodist church was a center of activities in their little Indiana town, and THE center for his family.” [15] In high school, he played trumpet in both the band and orchestra, and sang in the chorus and quartet, as well as in the church choir. [16]
In 1936, Blake entered Taylor University [17] where his older sister was a sophomore. [18] The school then was an unaccredited institution [19] that drew its student body from the “plain people.” [20] In 1931, the fathers of 78.5% of the students were farmers [21] like Lemmie. Students worked on the school farm to subsidize their training. [22]
In his senior year, Blake said his life work was the Ministry. [23] He had been converted when he was fourteen, and “became a ‘local preacher’ when he was a junior in high school.” [24] However, he did not major in religion at Taylor, but in English. One professor had her PhD from Johns Hopkins; [25] the other earned hers at Cornell. [26]
The social life of Taylor revolved around the church. Chapels were held daily, and Vespers on Sunday evenings. Students attended local churches in the morning. In addition, the Holiness League met on Friday evenings, and the Prayer Band on Wednesdays. [27] Members of The Student Volunteer Band met twice a week and conducted “missionary services at local services.” [28]
Taylor wasn’t particularly doctrinaire in these years. William Ringenberg noted that, while it “sympathized with Fundamentalist doctrine,” it gave “minimum attention to the theological conflict” then raging between critics of Darwinism and higher criticism and their liberal defenders. The school “spent much less time in these years rationally defending its faith than it
did emotionally experiencing it.” [29]
The Holiness League was an indigenous organization that sporadically aligned with national groups. In 1907, [30] it was part of the Young Men’s Holiness League, [31] which held a full-immersion baptism in Indianapolis in 1911. [32] Between 1929 and 1933, it was affiliated with the Young People’s Gospel League, [33] which was organized in Chicago in 1928. [34]
The year Blake joined the group, the meetings of “eager, earnest youth” were “filled with fine singing, peppy testimonies, intense praying and short but mighty messages.” The yearbook added the “presence of the Holy Spirit manifests Himself in the services.” [35]
Music provided Blake’s more important religious experiences. In his junior year, he joined the chorus. Every December it performed Handel’s Messiah. At Easter, it sang John Henry Maunder’s Olivet to Calvary. [36] At Thanksgiving, he led the group singing for the student organized devotionals. [37]
In his senior year, Blake was selected for one of the traveling quartets. The first was organized in the depression year of 1936 [38] to raise money for the chronically underfunded school. Since it kept its tuition low, Taylor depended on contributions for much of its operating funds. The quartet was expected to provide entertainment and testimonials that would encourage pledges and recruit students for the school. [39]
In 1938, it appeared at “revivals, week-end meetings, summer institutes, camp meetings, school programs, home-comings, business men’s luncheons, and street meetings.” [40] When Blake was a member it made its annual appearance at the Cherry Run Camp Meeting near Oil City, Pennsylvania. [41]
Quartets had replaced soloists like Ira D. Sankey and Homer Rodeheaver as the musical partners in revivals. As mentioned in the post for 3 December 2017, evangelists had begun their own radio programs that copied Rudy Vallée, who featured the African-American Mills Brothers. In 1936, Lowell Wilson, the man who converted Blake, [42] invited the Cleveland Quintet to lead his Eaton Church revival. [43] The five Black men were members of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. [44]
Graphic
1. Base map: Locator map for Delaware County, Indiana, based on one produced for the National Atlas by the United States Department of the Interior, Geological Survey. Uploaded to Wikimedia Commons on 12 February 2006 by David Benbennick.
2. Photograph courtesy of Paul Blake. The members were David Hoover, Ralph Cummings, Devee Brown, and Melvin Blake.
3. Blake’s photograph appears on the Photos K tab.
End Notes
1. My article in Voices explores the origins of the African genesis legend. An abstract and ordering information appear on the Papers tab. A copy that includes another photograph of Blake has been uploaded to the Academia.edu website.
2. Lynn Rohrbough. Letter to Shawnee Press. 16 February 1959. Typed carbon. My access to this letter and its current location are described in the post for 14 October 2020.
3. The expulsion of Anabaptists from Bern is mentioned in the post for 19 January 2020 that discusses the subsequent founding of New Bern, North Carolina. Their beliefs are described in the post for 26 January 2020.
4. ; ). “Ulrich Rhodes.” Find a Grave website. 1 November 2011. The father who was born in Bern, Switzerland.
Audrey. “Rev John Hans Roads.” Find a Grave website. 24 May 2007; last updated by ; ). The son who was born in Zürich, Switzerland.
5. Shirley McKim. “Abraham ‘Squire’ Rhodes.” Find a Grave website. 21 February 2009.
6. Charles S. Rhodes. Note added to McKim on 2 February 2012.
7. Item. The Corydon [Indiana] Democrat. 20 August 1919. 6. In the tradition of camp meetings inspired by Cane Ridge, [45] “they also came prepared to administer the Lord’s supper which was done in a very Impressive manner.”
8. Terry Bigler. “Daniel J. Rhodes.” Find a Grave website. 25 February 2008.
9. Item. Corydon [Indiana] Republican. 21 July 1904. The Holiness movement is discussed in the post for 7 December 2017.
10. Charles Arthur Chester. “William Marion Blake.” Geni website. 1 December 2014. His daughter Sarah was born in Harrison County in 1825.
11. Robert Blake Reid. “George Wesley Blake.” Find a Grave website. 5 August 2009.
12. Reid, George Wesley Blake. His only reported daughter was born in Corydon in 1914. [46]
13. Robert Blake Reid. “Mary Cathern “Katie” Blake Reid.” Find a Grave website. 4 February 2018. She was Lemmie’s daugter and was born 11 April 1921 in Eaton, Indiana.
14. Wikipedia. “Eaton, Indiana.” The population dropped 8.9% between 1910 and 1920, and another 15% between 1920 and 1930.
15. Paul Blake. Email. 12 November 2020.
16. Paul Blake.
17. “Freshmen.” The Gem. Taylor University yearbook edited by Clayton J. Steele. 1937.
18. “Sophomores.” The Gem. 1937.
19. William C. Ringenberg. Taylor University: The First 150 Years. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B . Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996 edition. 83 and 113.
20. Ringenberg. 119.
21. John H. Furbay. The [Taylor University] Echo. 4 March 1931. 1. Quoted by Ringenberg. 119.
22. Ringenberg. 120. The New York Times said Blake “worked his way through Taylor University.” [47]
23. “Melvin Blake.” 24 in The Gem. Taylor University yearbook edited by John Warner. 1940.
24. Paul Blake.
25. Profile for Edna M. Robinson. 14 in The Gem. 1940.
26. Profile for Elisabeth Bentley. 15 in The Gem. 1940.
27. Ringenberg. 127.
28. “Student Volunteers. 66 in The Gem. 1940.
29. Ringenberg. 114.
30. Catalogue of Taylor University. 1907–1908. 13. “The Prayer Band, the Volunteer Mission Band, the Young Men’s Holiness League, the Young Women’s Holiness League and regular Sabbath afternoon services furnish excellent opportunities for work and development.”
31. The Young Men’s Holiness League apparently was founded in Indianapolis by Justin Bare sometime in or before 1903. It announced some of its activities in publications of the Church of the Nazarene. [48]
32. “Young Men’s Holiness League River Baptism~Antique Indianapolis Revival 1911.” Postcard photograph offered for sale by pstcardman2014 on Ebay.
33. Search for “Gospel League” on Taylor University website.
34. “Convention Report.” The [Taylor University] Echo. 21 November 1928. 3. The meeting was sponsored by Ivy Durham Vennard’s Chicago Evangelistic Institute. Her son William, a sophomore at Taylor, was named editor of the organization’s newsletter. She was on Taylor’s board of trustees. [49] He later modernized techniques used to train singers. [50]
35. “Holiness League Officers.” 70 in The Gem. Taylor University yearbook edited by Edith Persons. 1939. Blake’s 1940 biography is used for his affiliation date. He listed no extracurricular activities for his first two years. Since his future wife also was a member, this may have provided an opportunity for courtship.
36. John Henry Maunder. Olivet to Calvary. London: Novello, 1904. The repertoire of the chorus drawn from The Gem, 1939, 76; The Gem, 1940, 72; and yearbooks from previous years.
37. “Taylor Students Eat, Play, Sleep On Thanksgiving.” ” The [Taylor University] Echo. 2 Dec 1939. 1.
38. “Male Quartet.” The Gem. Taylor University yearbook edited by Herbert Ayres. 1936.
39. Ringenberg. 103–104.
40. “First Quartet.” 72 in The Gem. Taylor University yearbook edited by Carl Reppert. 1938.
41. Item. The Oil City [Pennsylvania] Derrick. 21 July 1939. 11. It “will contribute gospel singing during the meetings.” In 1938, the university president spent the summer at four camp meetings, including Cherry Run. [51] In 1931, members of the Young People’s Gospel League spent “three weeks helping Rev. Lloyd Mohnkern conduct revival meetings in the Bradleytown church.” [52]
42. Paul Blake.
43. “Colored Quintet Provides Special Chapel Program.” The [Taylor University] Echo. 7 March 1936. 1.
44. “Cleveland Gospel Quintet.” Christian and Missionary Alliance website. The members were Floyd H. Lacy, J. W. Parker, Spurgeon Jones, Alexander E. Talbert, and H. D. Hodges. Parker played mandolin.
45. See the post for 8 November 2020 for more on the rituals of Cane Ridge.
46. Jane. “Lillian Ellen Blake Pursifull.” Find a Grave website. 28 January 2012. She was George’s daughter.
47. “Charles Melvin Blake.” Obituary. The New York Times. 21 March 2011.
48. Justin Bare. “Y. M. H. L.” Nazarene Messenger. 7 May 1908. 5. This announced its fifth national convention for “enthusiastic young men, filled with the Holy Ghost.” Bare identified himself as president.
49. “President of C. E. I. Visits Among Us.” The [Taylor University] Echo. 6 March 1929. 1. The governing board then was the Legal Hundred.
50. Wikipedia. “William Vennard.”
51. “Dr. Stuart’s Itinerary for the Summer.” Taylor University Bulletin. June 1938.
52. Item. The Oil City [Pennsylvania] Derrick. 20 July 1931. 11.
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