Preaching on Wax: The Phonograph and the Shaping of Modern African American Religion

Religion, Race, and Ethnicity Series

by Lerone A. Martin

The overlooked African American religious history of the phonograph industry

Winner of the 2015 Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize for outstanding scholarship in church history by a first-time author presented by the American Society of Church History

Certificate of Merit, 2015 Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research presented by the Association for Recorded Sound Collections


From 1925 to 1941, approximately one hundred African American clergymen teamed up with leading record labels such as Columbia, Paramount, Victor-RCA to record and sell their sermons on wax. While white clerics of the era, such as Aimee Semple McPherson and Charles Fuller, became religious entrepreneurs and celebrities through their pioneering use of radio, black clergy were largely marginalized from radio. Instead, they relied on other means to get their message out, teaming up with corporate titans of the phonograph industry to package and distribute their old-time gospel messages across the country. Their nationally marketed folk sermons received an enthusiastic welcome by consumers, at times even outselling top billing jazz and blues artists such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey.


These phonograph preachers significantly shaped the development of black religion during the interwar period, playing a crucial role in establishing the contemporary religious practices of commodification, broadcasting, and celebrity. Yet, the fame and reach of these nationwide media ministries came at a price, as phonograph preachers became subject to the principles of corporate America.

In Preaching on Wax, Lerone A. Martin offers the first full-length account of the oft-overlooked religious history of the phonograph industry. He explains why a critical mass of African American ministers teamed up with the major phonograph labels of the day, how and why black consumers eagerly purchased their religious records, and how this phonograph religion significantly contributed to the shaping of modern African American Christianity. Instructor's Guide

Genres: History, Religion

240 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2014

About the author

Lerone A. Martin is the Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Professor in Religious Studies and director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University.

Reviews

[Jamie Howison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating study of the ways in which the invention of the phonograph - and the subsequent release of recorded sermons - shaped African-American religious life and black culture generally. Martin gives consideration to the ways in which the development of large chain stores impacted commerce generally, such that even as black preachers critiqued the demise of small business they benefitted from the marketing of their recordings through the sophisticated system of the big chains. The parallels to Amazon and the like are striking!

[Troy Solava · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well organized and informative. Martin wrote this book after lots of research regarding the impact of the phonograph on the African American community. This book would have been more helpful if it traced how the phonograph effect influences today.

[Richard Wolff · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book - well-written, and it tells a compelling story. Focusing on the inter-war period, it looks at the role of "race records" in Black consumer, urbanized, and religious cultures. At a time when white preachers were better able to send their sermon messages over the radio airwaves, Black preachers recorded sermons on wax. In an era where much commercial and consumer attention was given to what some considered more "lewd" forms of entertainment (the blues, etc.), religious figures sought to elevate "race records" by recording erudite sermons. The form that succeeded, however, were sermons told more in the vernacular, particularly that drawing upon old rural rhetorical styles, even as most African-Americas were moving to urban areas. Debates about how Black culture was reflected in the various forms of commodified products arose. Martin, the author, considers all this, ultimately focusing on one particular Black record preacher, Rev. James Gates, as an in-depth case study. Along the way, he also considers other prominent Black record preachers, including women, and offers an interesting comparison with the approaches of Gates and Martin King. All told, this is a fascinating and enlightening book, one whose compelling analysis matches its engaging prose.

[beulah · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most interesting media/history books I’ve ever read!