Topic: Origins - Ring Shout
Ring shouts survived because they could be modified as individuals’ social situations and religious beliefs changed. As the rituals moved from bare cabins to churches, the architecture of the locations introduced variations.
When shouts were held outdoors or in empty rooms, it was possible for everyone present to move in a circle. When they first moved indoors, participants objected to benches that cluttered the space. [1] Eventually, churches attached pews to the floors, and shouts survived the loss of the ring.
Protestant churches that held revivals reserved an area between the front row of pews and the altar rail for the unconverted to come commit themselves to Christ. [2] The exhorters, mentioned by Fredrica Bremer in New Orleans in 1852, [3] moved into the space to direct their energies on those on the mourning bench. The Bolton Brothers said their mother was among those who gathered around would-be converts. [4]
This wide open area, which had no name in diagrams of Protestant churches, was a transitional space that was not part of the formal church represented by the altar. When gospel groups performed in church concerts they didn’t stand on the platforms used by pastors where they could be seen. Instead, they sang in the metaphorical mourning benches.
The exception was modern megachurches that had turned their altars into stages with large aprons reaching into the empty spaces. Groups like Keith Johnson [5] and the Bolton Brothers worked on the apron in front of a curtain that, if it did not actually shield the altar, acted as a symbolic barrier between formal and information religious areas.
When musicians like George Nesbitt and the Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir did sing behind the altar in Goose Creek, South Carolina, it was because they were perceived to be part of the service, not a separate concert. [6]
Artists could only reach the mourning benches the way converts did, by walking up the aisles. They didn’t have access to the side rooms used by the pastor and choir. Those processionals became so much a part of the concert that Willa Ward published a picture of her sister Clara and the Ward Singers "entering through the audience at Philadelphia Convention Hall, 1951." [7]
They no doubt mounted the stage and had access to the wings in the secular space, but the procession emphasized that they were not preachers there to convert unbelievers. The role remained the same as the musicians observed by Laura Towne on Saint Helena in 1862 who stood to the side while the others moved in the circle. [8] The backup singers and instrumentalists were there to serve the needs of the participants.
The quartet soloist did not emerge until the Soul Stirrers added a second lead singer around 1939, so the soloist had a full quartet backing him. [9] Ray Allen believed the lead singer took on the role of the priest who re-enacted the drama of contact with the Holy Spirit on behalf of the audience, who might or might not join him or her. [10]
Allen’s experience was with gospel groups in Brooklyn, New York. One of the men in a group he interviewed, instead emphasized the expectations of the audience. When they were in Sumter, South Carolina, for the wedding of one of the group’s kinfolk, Jeff Richardson told Allen:
"You see people down here, they know how to have church! [. . .] They know how to get down and clap their hands, and shout, and have a good time without any music [instruments]. Up in New York they just mess around, until it’s time to hear some music and clap their hands." [11]
For many concert goers, the lead replaced the exhorter. It was his or her role to abet their religious experience. That was why Johnson invited people to come down into the mourning bench space and made it permissible to dance.
Ring shouts originally lasted for hours, but they weren’t all climax. People danced and rested. One woman told Lydia Parrish on Saint Simons Island: "‘When it gets hot, them that’s on the outside of the church comes runnin’ in.’ I asked what she meant by ‘getting hot.’ ‘O, you feel good. You know things is warmin’ up and you gets revived’." [12]
The pacing occurred on several levels. Within songs in the prelude-denouement format, there was the movement from exhortation to exhilaration. In a performance, artists sang other types of songs. Willa Ward said, in a concert in a Los Angeles church in 1949, they
"opened with ‘Jesus Is All the World to Me,’ which I had arranged. Clara, Marion, and I blasted the line ‘When I’m sad, He makes me glad, He’s my friend.’ Then we dropped the volume. Marion and I did a spot obbligato in high register and close harmony with Cara ad-libbing."
Willa indicated they were very attuned to their audience responses.
"We could see the listeners twitch in their seats—we knew their reserve from crumbing. By the time we eased into our heavy hitters, the congregation was crying, shouting, and holy dancing in the aisles. Even the ushers lost control and joined the joyous happening." [13]
The Clara Ward Singers were stars who were responsible for an entire concert. Many gospel programs included several acts. Thus, the pacing of songs existed within individual acts that in turn were part of a series, in which each climax was followed by a lull at a level higher than the previous one. Each group then raised the emotional plateau for the next act. At any point, the atmosphere could become what Saint Simons’ Clara called hot, then cool, then reheat.
End Notes
1. Richard James Arnold’s observations on benches were quoted by Frederick Law Olmsted in the post for 25 September 2018.
2. Charles Finney and the introduction of mourning benches was discussed in the post for 12 August 2017.
3. For Bremer’s comments, see the post for 27 September 2018.
4. For the Bolton Brother’s comments, see the post for 12 August 2017.
5. Keith Johnson was discussed in the post for 23 September 2018.
6. Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir was discussed in the post for 30 September 2018.
7. Willa Ward-Royster. How I Got Over: Clara Ward and the World-Famous Ward Singers. Told to Toni Rose. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1997. 90-91.
8. For more on Laura Towne, see the post for 20 September 2018.
9. Shelia G. Kidd. "Soul Stirrers." Handbook of Texas Online. 6 May 2013; last updated 5 October 2015.
10. Ray Allen. Singing in the Spirit. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991. Chapter 6.
11. Jeff Richardson. Quoted by Allen. 186. Ellipsis for text in the middle of the comment; bracketed comment in the original. Richardson played drums for Willie Johnson’s Brooklyn Skyways. He was born in Brooklyn, but "spent childhood summers with his grandmother in South Carolina and continues to visit friends and family on a regular basis." (Allen. 187.)
12. Lydia Parrish. Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands. New York: Creative Age Press, 1942. Reprint edition, Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1992. 89. Parrish did not provide Clara’s surname. "Revived" here drew on at least two meanings: given new energy and converted.
13. Ward. 75. Marion Williams often sang lead with the Ward Singers. Note the use of the word "eased."
Showing posts with label Baptist Goose Creek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baptist Goose Creek. Show all posts
Sunday, October 7, 2018
Sunday, September 30, 2018
Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir - Right Now Jesus Is a Needed Time
Topic: Origins - Ring Shout
Ring shouts may no longer follow Protestant ceremonies in African-American churches, but many churches allow special music at the ends of services. George Nesbitt led the singing "after the preached word" at Trinity Missionary Baptist Church north of Charleston, South Carolina, in 2013.
His version of "Right Now Jesus" was borrowed from one by Henry Dixon that in turn was based on the variant by Inez Andrews discussed in the post for 27 August 2017. The seven-minute video began while he was singing and ended before the music stopped. Six rows of pews were between the altar where Nesbitt sang and the camera.
Dixon’s recording used a choir to repeat key phrases while he sang the opening chorus five times. By the time the Goose Creek church video began, Nesbitt was singing the chorus and a couple seated women were clapping as were a few women in the choir. On the second iteration, two other middle-aged women stood in front of their pew bench. One swung her arms while the other clapped.
At the end of the first minute, others were standing to clap and Nesbitt bent forward a little while he sang, then straightened. After another half minute, he began to shift from diagonal to diagonal but remained in place.
Fifteen seconds later, the drums became louder and he started using vocables. One of the standing women was patting her thigh. Half a minute after that, on the other side of the church, a man in a dark suit, who might have been an usher or deacon, stood. Either the bass drum changed to a dull thud or a wood block was used [1] to play double time, while Nesbitt’s torso moved up and down. He may have been bending his knees, but it was impossible to see anything below his waist. [2]
As the wood block became louder, the choir sometimes could be heard. More often, the camera microphone only picked up Nesbitt’s vocables. He bent more, and his shifts to the left and right were more pronounced. He soon began waving his free hand, then let it swing.
At about the half-way point in the video, three women walked in front of the camera, and began double clapping. He leaned forward forty-five degrees from his hips, while the usher moved to the edge of the altar to clap. Twenty seconds later, the sound of the block was more pronounced and Nesbitt had one hand on his hip. The other man turned to face the congregation and bent his knees in synch with Nesbitt.
A bit later, the woman who had been waving her arms at her sides, raised them over her head. He stayed tilted forward from the hips as he sang. Occasionally he was silent, so only the drums and hand claps could be heard. The woman began shifting her weight from foot to foot.
After almost five minutes, everyone was double clapping, including women in the choir and the usher. Nesbitt’s arms were bent at the elbows and his body tilted further forward as it rose and fell. Around the sixth minute of the video, he was standing again, and the tambourine played by a woman in the chorus could be seen by the camera.
Then, he set the mike down, and moved toward the center where he was lost from the view of the lens. The wood block, tambourine, and clapping were continuing with no singing when the video stopped.
The camera’s view was limited, but the increased sounds of clapping suggested others in the church had joined the polyrhythm. The women in front of the camera were dressed in Sunday clothes and probably were wearing nylon hose and shoes with low heels that constrained their ability to move. [3] It was impossible to know what was occurring on the other side of the center aisle.
During the singing, a man stood behind the pulpit. He joined the clapping early, bringing one hand down on the other, then switching hands between claps. Later he moved from left to right from the waist.
Performers
Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir
Vocal Soloist: George Nesbitt
Vocal Group: Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir
Instrumental Accompaniment: organ [4]
Rhythm Accompaniment: hand claps, tambourine, wood block, drum
H. E. Dixon
Vocal Soloist: Henry Dixon
Vocal Group: Truth Tabernacle Choir
Instrumental Accompaniment: organ, synthesizer
Rhythm Accompaniment: drums, cymbal, hand claps
Credits
Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir
"a song by Pastor H.E. Dixon" [5]
H. E. Dixon
(C) OPHIRGOSPEL
Notes on Lyrics
Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir
Language: English
Phrases: right now Jesus, it’s a needed time
Vocabulary
Pronoun: we
Term for Deity: Jesus
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: open-ended
Verse Repetition Pattern: repeated one verse, with some comments
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
H. E. Dixon
Language: English
Phrases: right now Jesus, it’s a needed time
Vocabulary
Pronoun: we
Term for Deity: Jesus
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: prelude-denouement
Prelude: five repetitions of "it’s a needed time" chorus
Transition: three verses that listed reasons we needed Jesus against repetitions of "it’s a needed time;" ended with a repetition of the Prelude chorus
Denouement: repeated the phrase "it’s a needed time," followed by the Prelude chorus
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir
Opening Phrase: Inez Andrews
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: repetition with variations in rhythm
Singing Style: Nesbitt began singing, then only repeated phrases that were hard to hear from where the camera’s microphone was located.
Solo-Group Dynamics: the choir began by repeating "needed time," then stopped and let the instruments support him.
Vocal-Instrumental Dynamics: organ maintained a continuo; toward the end, when no one was singing, it played the melody with a strong rhythm.
Vocal-Rhythm Dynamics: it took over the functions of the chorus as a continuo for the organ and soloist, and then was all that was heard.
H. E. Dixon
Opening Phrase: Inez Andrews
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: tripartite. Organ introduction was followed by synthesizer and drums; the drum beat pattern changed with the same instruments in the second part; hand claps and musical interlude occurred before third part with same instrumentation as second.
Solo Singing Style: occasional use of guttural pronunciations; he made interjections like "tell it" to begin lines.
Group Singing Style: generally timbraic harmony; at the ends of verses the choir used diverging chords.
Solo-Group Dynamics: the group sang one phrase over and over. Dixon began by singing with them, then began to start a little before or after with slightly different words.
Vocal-Instrumental Dynamics: remained constant
Vocal-Rhythm Dynamics: changes in rhythm demarcated segments
Notes on Performance
Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir
Occasion: church service
Location: Trinity Missionary Baptist Church, Goose Creek, South Carolina
Microphones: Nesbitt had a hand-held microphone with a cord.
Clothing: the women in the choir were dressed in black. Nesbitt was wearing a red shirt and black vest.
Notes on Audience
H. E. Dixon
Some applause at end.
Notes on Performers
Trinity Missionary Baptist Church was on Old State Road in Goose Creek, South Carolina, north of Charleston. Nesbitt and Dixon were from Huger and Cordesville. The communities were about five miles apart of the edge of the Francis Marion National Forest, and about 35 miles from Goose Creek. [6]
The area was not part of the Goose Creek community that dominated South Carolina trade and politics in the early years, but a bit upstream. Men probably grew indigo and rice, until the introduction of flood irrigation. The land probably was just beyond the area that could be flooded, and land owners either planted cotton or other less-commercial crops.
The State Road was opened in 1747 to connect Charleston with the capital at Columbia and Scots-Irish settlements in the interior. It served as the route to the frontier for those immigrants from the British Isles who arrived by ship. [7] No doubt the traffic may have supported small farms and local tradesmen.
The early slaves would have come from the same shipments as those that supplied the coast. Many may have left the area with emancipation after the Civil War. Much of the area reverted to forest that was logged at the end of the nineteenth century. [8] African Americans were the primary timber workers in those years, [9] and ones who stayed in the area would have been hired. They might have been joined by those from the coast and islands were rice was no longer a commercial crop. [10]
There were indications a Nesbitt Plantation had existed in the area of Huger, but its location was unknown. A Nesbitt family cemetery survived. [11] George Nesbitt remained a common name in the area.
Goose Creek was incorporated in 1961 as a navy town. [12] The first dates on Trinity Missionary Baptist Church’s website were from the 1990s when Idelphia Salley was pastor. [13] The choir sang for church services and was available, for a price, for "your next: Choir Anniversary, Gospel Concert, Birthday Celebration, Service, Revival, etc." Its photograph showed four men and ten women. [14]
The man who uploaded the video, Tyre Singleton, played with the choir in 2013 when the video was made, [15] and performed for the Johnson Temple Church in Huger on 14 May 2017. [16] He posted more videos of music from other local churches.
The songwriter, Henry Dixon, was from the Saw Mill section of Cordesville. In 1973 he received a prophecy that led him to organize the Truth Tabernacle. He performed with some members of his choir for other events, and was available as an evangelist. In 2007, he began selling CDs. [17]
Availability
Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir
YouTube: uploaded by Ty Singleton on 20 May 2013.
H. E. Dixon
Album: Pastor H. E. Dixon and Truth Tabernacle. "A Need It Time." Sweetwater Series, Volume 1. 2011. CD.
YouTube: uploaded by Music Video Distributors Inc. on 17 September 2017.
End Notes
1. Ty Singleton uploaded a video of in which a woman was using a drum stick to beat a small wooden box or block. ("Homegoing Celebration for Aunt Jackie." Uploaded to YouTube on 11 July 2013.)
2. LanGuide TV posted a video of "Brother George Nesbitt singing at Trinity Baptist Church." He was surrounded by a group of men, but it sometimes was possible to seem him move. (Uploaded to YouTube on 1 January 2018.)
3. The women who were dancing in Keith Johnson’s video wore slacks and tops to the concert. They either wore athletic shoes or were free to take off their shoes to move. Johnson’s video was discussed on 23 September 2018.
4. The choir won two organs in the McDonald Choir Showcases in 2013 and 2014. ("Trinity Missionary Baptist Church Inspirational Choir." Church website.)
5. YouTube notes for Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir.
6. Distances from Huger to Goose Creek, and from Huger to Cordesville calculated by Distance Cities website.
7. "Old South Carolina State Road." Family Search website sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
8. Al Hester. "Prelude to a National Forest: Cooperative Forestry in the Lowcountry, 1901-1918." 26 June 2001. United States Forest Service website, "History of the Francis Marion Ranger District."
9. Logging, saw and planing mills were the major industrial employer of Blacks in the Southeast from 1880. William Jones said, 83,000 were working for such mills in 1910. Indeed, he said "before World War II, no other industry employed more African Americans." (William Powell Jones. The Tribe of Black Ulysses: African American Lumber Workers in the Jim Crow South. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2005. 1.)
10. Charleston began losing its rice markets in the Civil War when new supplies were developed in Asia. By the end of the century, rice was being grown less expensively in Louisiana and Arkansas with Artesian wells pumping from the aquifer; few growers were left in South Carolina.
11. "Berkeley County SC Cemetery GPS Mapping Project" listed Nesbitt Gardens and Nesbitt House Plantation, but said it had no location information for them. (South Carolina Genealogical Society website) A man named George Nesbitt, Junior, was buried in Nesbitt Gardens in 2016. (His obituary. Tributes website.)
12. Wikipedia. "Goose Creek, South Carolina." It noted, "most of the Naval Weapons Station Charleston is in Goose Creek."
13. "Church History." Trinity church website.
14. Trinity church website, choir page.
15. Rickey Ciapha Dennis Jr. "Not the Average Church Choir." The [Summerville, South Carolina] Gazette website. 14 February 2018.
16. "Johnson Temple Church." Facebook. 16 May 2017.
17. "About Henry Dixon." Facebook.
Ring shouts may no longer follow Protestant ceremonies in African-American churches, but many churches allow special music at the ends of services. George Nesbitt led the singing "after the preached word" at Trinity Missionary Baptist Church north of Charleston, South Carolina, in 2013.
His version of "Right Now Jesus" was borrowed from one by Henry Dixon that in turn was based on the variant by Inez Andrews discussed in the post for 27 August 2017. The seven-minute video began while he was singing and ended before the music stopped. Six rows of pews were between the altar where Nesbitt sang and the camera.
Dixon’s recording used a choir to repeat key phrases while he sang the opening chorus five times. By the time the Goose Creek church video began, Nesbitt was singing the chorus and a couple seated women were clapping as were a few women in the choir. On the second iteration, two other middle-aged women stood in front of their pew bench. One swung her arms while the other clapped.
At the end of the first minute, others were standing to clap and Nesbitt bent forward a little while he sang, then straightened. After another half minute, he began to shift from diagonal to diagonal but remained in place.
Fifteen seconds later, the drums became louder and he started using vocables. One of the standing women was patting her thigh. Half a minute after that, on the other side of the church, a man in a dark suit, who might have been an usher or deacon, stood. Either the bass drum changed to a dull thud or a wood block was used [1] to play double time, while Nesbitt’s torso moved up and down. He may have been bending his knees, but it was impossible to see anything below his waist. [2]
As the wood block became louder, the choir sometimes could be heard. More often, the camera microphone only picked up Nesbitt’s vocables. He bent more, and his shifts to the left and right were more pronounced. He soon began waving his free hand, then let it swing.
At about the half-way point in the video, three women walked in front of the camera, and began double clapping. He leaned forward forty-five degrees from his hips, while the usher moved to the edge of the altar to clap. Twenty seconds later, the sound of the block was more pronounced and Nesbitt had one hand on his hip. The other man turned to face the congregation and bent his knees in synch with Nesbitt.
A bit later, the woman who had been waving her arms at her sides, raised them over her head. He stayed tilted forward from the hips as he sang. Occasionally he was silent, so only the drums and hand claps could be heard. The woman began shifting her weight from foot to foot.
After almost five minutes, everyone was double clapping, including women in the choir and the usher. Nesbitt’s arms were bent at the elbows and his body tilted further forward as it rose and fell. Around the sixth minute of the video, he was standing again, and the tambourine played by a woman in the chorus could be seen by the camera.
Then, he set the mike down, and moved toward the center where he was lost from the view of the lens. The wood block, tambourine, and clapping were continuing with no singing when the video stopped.
The camera’s view was limited, but the increased sounds of clapping suggested others in the church had joined the polyrhythm. The women in front of the camera were dressed in Sunday clothes and probably were wearing nylon hose and shoes with low heels that constrained their ability to move. [3] It was impossible to know what was occurring on the other side of the center aisle.
During the singing, a man stood behind the pulpit. He joined the clapping early, bringing one hand down on the other, then switching hands between claps. Later he moved from left to right from the waist.
Performers
Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir
Vocal Soloist: George Nesbitt
Vocal Group: Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir
Instrumental Accompaniment: organ [4]
Rhythm Accompaniment: hand claps, tambourine, wood block, drum
H. E. Dixon
Vocal Soloist: Henry Dixon
Vocal Group: Truth Tabernacle Choir
Instrumental Accompaniment: organ, synthesizer
Rhythm Accompaniment: drums, cymbal, hand claps
Credits
Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir
"a song by Pastor H.E. Dixon" [5]
H. E. Dixon
(C) OPHIRGOSPEL
Notes on Lyrics
Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir
Language: English
Phrases: right now Jesus, it’s a needed time
Vocabulary
Pronoun: we
Term for Deity: Jesus
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: open-ended
Verse Repetition Pattern: repeated one verse, with some comments
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
H. E. Dixon
Language: English
Phrases: right now Jesus, it’s a needed time
Vocabulary
Pronoun: we
Term for Deity: Jesus
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: prelude-denouement
Prelude: five repetitions of "it’s a needed time" chorus
Transition: three verses that listed reasons we needed Jesus against repetitions of "it’s a needed time;" ended with a repetition of the Prelude chorus
Denouement: repeated the phrase "it’s a needed time," followed by the Prelude chorus
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir
Opening Phrase: Inez Andrews
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: repetition with variations in rhythm
Singing Style: Nesbitt began singing, then only repeated phrases that were hard to hear from where the camera’s microphone was located.
Solo-Group Dynamics: the choir began by repeating "needed time," then stopped and let the instruments support him.
Vocal-Instrumental Dynamics: organ maintained a continuo; toward the end, when no one was singing, it played the melody with a strong rhythm.
Vocal-Rhythm Dynamics: it took over the functions of the chorus as a continuo for the organ and soloist, and then was all that was heard.
H. E. Dixon
Opening Phrase: Inez Andrews
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: tripartite. Organ introduction was followed by synthesizer and drums; the drum beat pattern changed with the same instruments in the second part; hand claps and musical interlude occurred before third part with same instrumentation as second.
Solo Singing Style: occasional use of guttural pronunciations; he made interjections like "tell it" to begin lines.
Group Singing Style: generally timbraic harmony; at the ends of verses the choir used diverging chords.
Solo-Group Dynamics: the group sang one phrase over and over. Dixon began by singing with them, then began to start a little before or after with slightly different words.
Vocal-Instrumental Dynamics: remained constant
Vocal-Rhythm Dynamics: changes in rhythm demarcated segments
Notes on Performance
Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir
Occasion: church service
Location: Trinity Missionary Baptist Church, Goose Creek, South Carolina
Microphones: Nesbitt had a hand-held microphone with a cord.
Clothing: the women in the choir were dressed in black. Nesbitt was wearing a red shirt and black vest.
Notes on Audience
H. E. Dixon
Some applause at end.
Notes on Performers
Trinity Missionary Baptist Church was on Old State Road in Goose Creek, South Carolina, north of Charleston. Nesbitt and Dixon were from Huger and Cordesville. The communities were about five miles apart of the edge of the Francis Marion National Forest, and about 35 miles from Goose Creek. [6]
The area was not part of the Goose Creek community that dominated South Carolina trade and politics in the early years, but a bit upstream. Men probably grew indigo and rice, until the introduction of flood irrigation. The land probably was just beyond the area that could be flooded, and land owners either planted cotton or other less-commercial crops.
The State Road was opened in 1747 to connect Charleston with the capital at Columbia and Scots-Irish settlements in the interior. It served as the route to the frontier for those immigrants from the British Isles who arrived by ship. [7] No doubt the traffic may have supported small farms and local tradesmen.
The early slaves would have come from the same shipments as those that supplied the coast. Many may have left the area with emancipation after the Civil War. Much of the area reverted to forest that was logged at the end of the nineteenth century. [8] African Americans were the primary timber workers in those years, [9] and ones who stayed in the area would have been hired. They might have been joined by those from the coast and islands were rice was no longer a commercial crop. [10]
There were indications a Nesbitt Plantation had existed in the area of Huger, but its location was unknown. A Nesbitt family cemetery survived. [11] George Nesbitt remained a common name in the area.
Goose Creek was incorporated in 1961 as a navy town. [12] The first dates on Trinity Missionary Baptist Church’s website were from the 1990s when Idelphia Salley was pastor. [13] The choir sang for church services and was available, for a price, for "your next: Choir Anniversary, Gospel Concert, Birthday Celebration, Service, Revival, etc." Its photograph showed four men and ten women. [14]
The man who uploaded the video, Tyre Singleton, played with the choir in 2013 when the video was made, [15] and performed for the Johnson Temple Church in Huger on 14 May 2017. [16] He posted more videos of music from other local churches.
The songwriter, Henry Dixon, was from the Saw Mill section of Cordesville. In 1973 he received a prophecy that led him to organize the Truth Tabernacle. He performed with some members of his choir for other events, and was available as an evangelist. In 2007, he began selling CDs. [17]
Availability
Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir
YouTube: uploaded by Ty Singleton on 20 May 2013.
H. E. Dixon
Album: Pastor H. E. Dixon and Truth Tabernacle. "A Need It Time." Sweetwater Series, Volume 1. 2011. CD.
YouTube: uploaded by Music Video Distributors Inc. on 17 September 2017.
End Notes
1. Ty Singleton uploaded a video of in which a woman was using a drum stick to beat a small wooden box or block. ("Homegoing Celebration for Aunt Jackie." Uploaded to YouTube on 11 July 2013.)
2. LanGuide TV posted a video of "Brother George Nesbitt singing at Trinity Baptist Church." He was surrounded by a group of men, but it sometimes was possible to seem him move. (Uploaded to YouTube on 1 January 2018.)
3. The women who were dancing in Keith Johnson’s video wore slacks and tops to the concert. They either wore athletic shoes or were free to take off their shoes to move. Johnson’s video was discussed on 23 September 2018.
4. The choir won two organs in the McDonald Choir Showcases in 2013 and 2014. ("Trinity Missionary Baptist Church Inspirational Choir." Church website.)
5. YouTube notes for Trinity Inspirational Mass Choir.
6. Distances from Huger to Goose Creek, and from Huger to Cordesville calculated by Distance Cities website.
7. "Old South Carolina State Road." Family Search website sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
8. Al Hester. "Prelude to a National Forest: Cooperative Forestry in the Lowcountry, 1901-1918." 26 June 2001. United States Forest Service website, "History of the Francis Marion Ranger District."
9. Logging, saw and planing mills were the major industrial employer of Blacks in the Southeast from 1880. William Jones said, 83,000 were working for such mills in 1910. Indeed, he said "before World War II, no other industry employed more African Americans." (William Powell Jones. The Tribe of Black Ulysses: African American Lumber Workers in the Jim Crow South. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2005. 1.)
10. Charleston began losing its rice markets in the Civil War when new supplies were developed in Asia. By the end of the century, rice was being grown less expensively in Louisiana and Arkansas with Artesian wells pumping from the aquifer; few growers were left in South Carolina.
11. "Berkeley County SC Cemetery GPS Mapping Project" listed Nesbitt Gardens and Nesbitt House Plantation, but said it had no location information for them. (South Carolina Genealogical Society website) A man named George Nesbitt, Junior, was buried in Nesbitt Gardens in 2016. (His obituary. Tributes website.)
12. Wikipedia. "Goose Creek, South Carolina." It noted, "most of the Naval Weapons Station Charleston is in Goose Creek."
13. "Church History." Trinity church website.
14. Trinity church website, choir page.
15. Rickey Ciapha Dennis Jr. "Not the Average Church Choir." The [Summerville, South Carolina] Gazette website. 14 February 2018.
16. "Johnson Temple Church." Facebook. 16 May 2017.
17. "About Henry Dixon." Facebook.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)