Singing for freedom : the Hutchinson Family Singers and the nineteenth-century culture of reform / Scott Gac.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gac, Scott.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hutchinson Family (Singers).

Singers--New Hampshire--Biography.

Singers.

Antislavery movements--United States--History--19th century.

Antislavery movements.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 online resource (xi, 312 p.) ) ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the two decades prior to the Civil War, the Hutchinson Family Singers of New Hampshire became America's most popular musical act. Out of a Baptist revival upbringing, John, Asa, Judson, and Abby Hutchinson transformed themselves in the 1840's into national icons, taking up the reform issues of their age and singing out especially for temperance and antislavery reform. This engaging book is the first to tell the full story of the Hutchinsons, how they contributed to the transformation of American culture, and how they originated the marketable American protest song. Through concerts, writings, sheet music publications, and books of lyrics, the Hutchinson Family Singers established a new space for civic action, a place at the intersection of culture, reform, religion, and politics. The book documents the Hutchinsons' impact on abolition and other reform projects and offers an original conception of the rising importance of popular culture in antebellum America.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Prelude

Part First

Part Second

Intermission (Bridge to Part Third)

Part Third

Part Fourth

Finale

Appendix: Lyrics to Select Hutchinson Family Singers Songs

Notes

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 257-299) and index.

ISBN:

9786611729042

9781281729040

1281729043

9780300138368

0300138369

OCLC:

1013936063