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In African American Folksong and American Cultural Politics: The
Lawrence Gellert Story, scholar and musician Bruce Conforth tells
the story of one of the most unusual collections of African
American folk music ever amassed-and the remarkable story of the
man who produced it: Lawrence Gellert. Compiled between the World
Wars, Gellert's recordings were immediately adopted by the American
Left as the voice of the true American proletariat, with the
songs-largely variants of traditional work songs or blues-dubbed by
the Left as "songs of protest." As both the songs and Gellert's
standing itself turned into propaganda weapons of left-wing
agitators, Gellert experienced a meteoric rise within the circles
of left-wing organizations and the American Communist party. But
such success proved ephemeral, with Gellert contributing to his own
neglect by steadfastly refusing to release information about where
and from whom he had collected his recordings. Later scholars, as a
result, would skip over his closely held, largely inaccessible
research, with some asserting Gellert's work had been doctored for
political purposes. And to a certain extent they were correct.
Conforth reveals how Gellert at least "assisted" in the creation of
some of his more political material. But hidden behind the few
protest songs that Gellert allowed to become public was a vast body
of legitimate African America folksongs-enough to rival the work of
any of his contemporary collectors. Had Gellert granted access to
all his material, scholars would have quickly seen that it
comprised an incredibly complete and diverse collection of all
African American song genres: work songs, blues, chants,
spirituals, as well as the largest body of African American
folktales about Irish Americans (what were referred to as "One Time
I'shman" tales). It also included vast swaths of African American
oral literature collected by Gellert as part of the Federal
Writers' Project. In African American Folksong and American
Cultural Politics, Conforth brings to light for the first time the
entire body of work collected by Lawrence Gellert, establishing his
place, and the place for the material he collected, within the
pages of American folk song scholarship. In addition to shedding
new light on the concept of "protest music" within African American
folk music, Conforth discusses the unique relationship of the
American Left to this music and how personal psychology and the
demands of the American Communist party would come to ruin
Gellert's life. African American Folksong and American Cultural
Politics will appeal to students and scholars in the fields of
American social and political history, African American studies,
the history of American folk music, and ethnomusicology.
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