Lawrence Gellert, Negro Songs of Protest

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Steven Garabedian

Forgotten Manuscripts: Lawrence gellert, Negro Songs of Protest

ntheAugust1936issueof Opportunity,accomplishedAfricanAmericancom- IposerandchorusdirectorHallJohnsonofferedaglowingreviewof a“modest littlebookwithabrownpapercover.”Althoughheknewitwasa“bigstatementto makeaboutanybookandasurprisinglybigstatementtomakeaboutalittlebook,” Johnsonneverthelessassertedtoreadersthatthevolume“shouldclaimandhold theattentionof everybodyintheworldwhoisatallinterestedinhowtheworldis gettingon”(241).TheitematissuewasNegro Songs of Protest.Afolkmusicsong- book,thetextpresentedtwenty-fourlyrictranscriptionsandaccompanying arrangementsdrawnfromtheSouthernfieldworkof whitecollectorLawrence Gellert.“Inmyopinion,”concludedJohnson,the“two-dozenbiglittlesongs, solovinglycollectedandsosincerelyoffered,arewellworthsingingandhearing forall thattheycontain”(244). Johnsonincludedlyricsamplesfromthreeof thesongsinhisreview: Lay down late, getting’ up soon, Twelve o’clock an’ I has no noon. All I want’s dese col’ iron shackles Off my leg. ………………………… Work all de summer, summer, Work all de fall, fall— Gonna make dis Chris’mas, Chris’mas, Chris’mas in mah overall. ………………………… How long, brethren, how long Mus’ my people weep an’ mourn? So long my people been asleep,— White folks plowin’ niggers’ soul down deep,— How long, brethren, how long?1 Suchlyrics“giveaninklingof agroup-state-of-mindwhichhasbeenformingfor many,manyyears,”heldJohnson(241). Someeightyyearslater,whathasbecomeof Negro Songs of Protest anditscom- piler,LawrenceGellert?Initsera,thebookwaswellreceived.Theleft-wingpress raved,asdidJohnsoninOpportunity.Moremainstreamoutletsalsoofferedfavorable notices.2 TheNew York Times printedapositivefeature,3 andTime magazinecredited Gellertfor“collectingNegrosongsthatfewwhitemenhaveeverheard”(“Songs” 59).Tothatpoint,The Crisis somewhatconfusedtheissue.Itincludedamentionof thevolumeinarecommendationsectionforreaderstitled“BooksbyNegro Authorsin1936”(Spingarn48).Gellertlikelywouldhaverelishedthemistake. “Longandpainstakingly,”hewrote,“Icultivatedandcementedconfidenceswith individualNegroeswithoutwhichanyattempttogettothecoreof thelivingfolk loreisforedoomedtofailure.”Hecontinued,“ThroughGeorgia,theCarolinas,way overinMississippiandLouisianaeven,incityslums,onisolatedfarmsoutinthe sticks,onchaingangs,lumberandturpentineworkcamps,Igatheredmorethan 300songsof theblackfolk.”Thesesongs“revealforthefirsttimethefullheroic

statureof theNegro,”Gellertinsisted,“dwarfingforalltimethetraditionalmean estimateof him”(Preface,Negro Songs of Protest n.pag.). Ofcourse,AfricanAmericanauthorsandartistshadbeenworkingtodismantle generationsof oppressivemisrepresentationsinceatleastthe“NewNegro” Renaissanceof the1920s.AsscholarLorenzoThomashaspointedoutinanarticle onSterlingBrowninthesepagesinAfrican American Review in1997,thecorrective gesture hasbeenelementaltoAfricanAmericantradition(410).Whatwasnewabout Negro Songs of Protest,then,wasnotthecorrectiveeffortinblackrepresentation,but ratherthatanewcommunityof allieshadrisentothecause.LawrenceGellertwas oneof thesenewallies.Hisworkreflectedtheartisticandpoliticalintersectionof the“OldLeft”andthe“NewNegro”inthe1930s.4 Neverwithoutcontradictions, thismergingneverthelessprovedvitalinpotentialandaccomplishment.Forboth internalandexternalreasonsitdeclinedafterWorldWarII,andGellert’sreputation sufferedaccordingly.This“ForgottenManuscripts”entryisintendedasareintro- ductiontoLawrenceGellert,whoserichdocumentaryarchiveof AfricanAmerican songsdeservesarenewedhearing. ThenameLawrenceGellertisnotentirelyforgotteninbluesandfolksong revivalscholarship,butithaslongbeenshadowedbycontroversy.Certainly,there arefascinatingtwistsinthelifestory.BornSeptember14,1898butdisappearing fromthepublicrecordin1979,5 Gellertwasthefifthof sixchildreninaHungarian immigrantfamilyfromBudapest.TheGellerts(originally,theGrünbaums)arrived inNewYorkCityin1905,andLawrencegrewupintheareawithhisfourolder brothersandyoungersister.6 Ashecameof age,Gellertpursuedjobsinthetheater andwiththeBrooklyn Daily Eagle.DuringWorldWarI,thefamilysufferedamajor traumawhenoneof thebrothers,Ernest,diedsuspiciouslyingovernmentcustody asaconscientiousobjector(“Objector’sFamily”8).Afewyears later,inhisearly twenties,Lawrencesufferedapersonalcrisis.Owingtophysicaland,ashealways claimed,mentalcollapse,heleftNewYorkforthesunshineof theSouth. Ultimately,hemadehisadoptedhomeinTryon,NorthCarolina.7 Inlaterreflections,LawrenceGellertexplainedthathehad“quiteverything”in NewYorkandheadedout“tomakeanewlife.”8 Asevidenceindicates,healtered hisnameandstyledhimself abig-cityexile.GellertapparentlyresettledinTryonin 1922.Thelocalpaperreferstohimas“LawrenceGoelet”intwopiecesonthe towntheatercompanyin1926,and“Mr.LawrenceGouletteof NewYork”shows upagaininthelocalpressin1929.9 Inthemid-1930s,F.ScottFitzgeraldreportedly crossedpathswithGellertinTryon.FitzgeraldcomparedthecollectortoCarl Sandburg(Buttitta163;Confort29). GellertcalledTryonhis“centerof gravity”intheSouthforaperiodof years inthe1920sand’30s.Heremembereditasan“oasis”of liberalsentiment,owing toitsregularcoterieof artists,intellectuals,andsocialitesfromoutsidetheregion.10 “Thehomeswerecrowdedwithgoodbooks,goodmusic,andacertainpaternal andsympatheticattitudeof agroup,”Gellertrecalled,“whocouldadmirebeauty andwholesomenesswithoutprejudice[since]itcostthemnothing,evenamused andidledtheirtimeaway”(LettertoNowlin).11 Oneindividualwhofoundoppor- tunityinthevibrantatmospherewasNinaSimone,whowouldbecomeoneof the mostimportantjazzvocalistsof thetwentiethcentury.AlthoughGellertnever mentionstheartistinhisownrecollections,EuniceWaymonwasborninTryonin 1933.Shebeganpianolessonswiththelocalteacher,Muriel“MissMazzy” Mazzanovich,andreceivedfinancialsupporttocontinuehermusicaleducationin partfromacommunity“EuniceWaymonFund.”By1950,shehadmadeherway north,andby1954shehadtakenherlegendaryname.12 AlthoughGellertcamefromaprogressivefamily,hewasnotpoliticallyactive whenhearrivedintheSouthintheearly1920s.Hewasaniconoclastwhoflouted convention,buthewasnotaradical.Healsoprofessedtoknownothingabout

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music.ButGellertbegantosocializewithmembersof theblackcommunityand developedafriendlyreputationamongthem.Andhebegantoheartheblackreli- giousmusicof generalpublicacceptance.“Thatwasthebeginningof myinterest,” Gellertexplained.“Ihadneverheardanythinglikeit.”Hestated,“Iwasverycurious, andIgotacquaintedwithsomeof theboys,andwehadacoupleof evenings together.And,thenIheardsomethingwhichhadnothingtodowithchurch,” herelated.Itwas“terrificprotest.”13 Gellert’ssensitivitytotheSouth’sracialclimateseemstohavegrownapacewith hisinterestinAfricanAmericanvernacularculture.Ashepursuedblackmusicover thecourseofthedecade,hedevelopedamoredefinedpoliticalconsciousness.Bythe 1930s,Gellerthadradicalized.LikemanyAmericansduringtheGreatDepression, hefoundanoutletintheorganizedpoliticalLeftorientedaroundtheCommunist PartyU.S.A.GellertneverjoinedtheParty(unlikehisbrother,Hugo,whowasa memberforlife),buthewasanactiveleft-winger.“[L]ookforthecompleteliberation of alltheNegromassesonlyunderaSovietAmerica,”hedeclaimedinaletterto theeditorin1934(New Masses).Hewasstill,inthelate1960s,toutingsocialism “asasuperiorsocietytocapitalism.”14 Negro Songs of Protest waspublishedbytheAmericanMusicLeague,aCommunist- affiliateorganization.Bythetimeof itsrelease,LawrenceGellerthadbecomea frequentcontributortotheera’sculturalLeft.Themoniker“NegroSongsof Protest” hadbeenattachedtohisworkwithaseriesof articlesintheLeftistjournal New Masses beginningin1930.LawrenceGellert’snameexcitedinterest.“Dear ComradeGellert,”wroteAfricanAmericanCommunisteditorandfutureNew YorkCitycouncilmanBenjaminDavis.“Howaboutlettingushavesomemoreof thoseSongsof Protest?We’veprintedanumber[inThe Negro Liberator]andwould liketohavesomeontap”(Davis). Certainly,thecontentof Negro Songs of Protest wasdistinctive.Earlywhitecol- lectorsoftheblacksecularmusictraditionhadworkedinthemodeofcondescension andexoticism,notrevolution.Thefirstscholartocollectandpublishamajorstudy of AfricanAmericansecularsong,psychologistandsociologistHowardOdum, didso“lesstopreserveanAmericanheritagethantodiscoverwhatmadethose strangeNegroestick,”describeshistorianBenjaminFilene(31).15 Odum’searlypeer, JohnLomax,somedaytobeof Libraryof Congressfame,waslessthe“scientist,” butequallyconservativeinhisjudgments.Thepredominantthemeof blackfolk- song,hepositedin1917,wasthatof racialself-pity(Lomax141). Inthiscontext,itisnowonderthatNegro Songs of Protest madeanimpression. HallJohnsonwasnottheonlyAfricanAmericancommentatortoexpressapproval, andthisisindeednotthefirsttimethatLawrenceGellert’snamehasappearedin AAR.Inthe1997piecementionedpreviously,LorenzoThomasidentifiesSterling BrownasanearlyandconsistentGellertadmirer.Thomasrelatesthatthetwo authorswereimpressedwithoneanotheruponmeetingin1932,andthatBrown applaudedGellert’sworkinNegro Poetry and Drama in1937andreferenceditthere- after“inalmosteveryarticleontheblueshesubsequentlypublished”(Thomas413). Gellert’ssongarchiverepresenteda“veryadeptself-portraiture,”Brownstated, and“puttoshamemuchof theinterpretationof theNegrofromwithout”(Negro Poetry 29). BrowncreditedGellertwithunlockinga“verboten”traditionofblackexpressive resistancerarelyheardbyoutsiders(“NegroFolkExpression”58-59).Whatwere someof theseprohibiteditemsfeaturedinNegro Songs of Protest?Readersshould consulttheattachedmanuscriptexcerpt.Here,Iwillsimplycallattentiontoselect titles.“IWenttoAtlanta,”“Sistrenan’Brethren,”“HowLong,Brethren?,”“Work AllDeSummer,”“WayDownSouth,”“CauseI’maNigger,”and“Scottsboro”are amongthemoststriking.Although,aswehaveseen,thebookwasaproductof

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Leftmovementculture,noneof thesesongtextsmakesovertclaimsforthisorthat politicalcampaignorparty.Still,if protestisabouttakingastandandspeaking truthinthefaceof greatadversityandperil,thenthesewereindeedovertexpres- sionsof protest.NinaSimonespokeeloquentlyonthefunctionof theartsinthis context.“Iamjustoneof thepeoplewhoissickof thesocialorder,sickof the establishment,sicktomysoulof itall,”shesaid.“Tome,America’ssocietyisnoth- ingbutacancer,anditmustbeexposedbeforeitcanbecured.Iamnotthedoctor tocureit.AllIcandoisexposethesickness”(What Happened). TheitemsinNegro Songs of Protest weregrassrootspoliticalstatementsmeantto “exposethesickness.”IntheDepressionyearsfollowingthesurgeof the“New Negro”movementof the1920s,themultiplestreamsof anongoingAfrican Americancultureof oppositionpooledatmultiplesitesof convergence.Lawrence Gellertworkedatoneof thesepointsof coalescence.Hecollectedhisquarryin thatspaceinthe1930swherehistoricblackresistancefoundanew“red”political frameworkof actionandsolidarity.16 AnotherfellowtravelerontheLeft,Langston Hughes,workedfromthesamefooting.“Ithinkthesongsaregreat,andamhon- oredtobechosentodotheforeword,”HugheswrotetoGellertin1932asregards theprojectedbook.Inanever-publishedfour-pageintroductionmeantforNegro Songs of Protest,Hugheswaspointedinhisapprobation: ThesesongscollectedbyLawrenceGellertfromplantations,chaingangs,lumbercamps, andjailsareofinestimablevalue,iftheydonothingmorethanshowthatnotallNegroes areshoutingspirituals,cheeringendowedfootballteams,dancingtotheblues,ormouthing inter-racialoratory.Someofthemaretiredofbeingpoor,andpicturesque,andhungry. Terriblyandbitterlytired.17 In1933,whiletouringtheSovietUnion,HughesmadepreparationsforaRussian editionof Negro Songs of Protest.Thetranslationwaspublishedfinallyin1938. LangstonHughes“wasawonderfulguy.Didyouevergettomeethim?”Gellert askedaninterviewerinlateryears.18 LawrenceGellertnevertookdownthenamesof theinformantsfromwhom hegatheredthesongsinNegro Songs of Protest ortherestof hispublishedwriting. “No,thosekindof songs,”heremarked,“theywouldn’twantanynamesmen- tioned.”Inthe1930s,hisgrowingcollectionearnedreputeforitssingularity. SupporterscreditedGellertforamassinganunparalleledbodyof songsolelyof a protestnature.Neithercharacterizationisstrictlytrue,however.Gellert’sfull archiveisbalancedinitsprotestandnonprotestdimensionsandshowsconsider- ableoverlapwiththatof predecessorsandpeers.Gellert,however,wasaverseto acknowledgingthesefacts.Throughouthislife,hestressedthestridentqualityof hismaterial,claiminghe“nevergotasongthatwasn’tprotest.”Presumably,thisis becauseGellertself-identifiedasaLeftculturalworkerratherthanasaconventional scholarorpreservationist.Hisobjectiveswerepolitical,notacademic.“Iwasn’t interestedinjustmusicperse....I’mnotafolklorist,”hestated.Thepointwasto “pushtheNegromovement.”19 Intherebellious1930s,Gellert’ssongmaterialfoundanaudienceinasocial ordershakenbyeconomicandpoliticalcollapse.Butbythelate1940s,theCold Warhadchangedallthat.Gellert’salternativemeansandendsbecameaneasymark fordismissal.Withnoformalacademiccredentialsorinstitutionalaffiliation,and owingtotheembattledpoliticalclimateof theColdWarandsomedegreeof base professionalbackbiting,20 Gellert’snameandworkfellunderacloud.Thecharge emergedthatGellertwasapropagandistwhofabricated“NegroSongsof Protest” toadvanceasubversiveagenda.Postwaranticommunistsentiment,then,combined withlongstandingsuspicionsof blackexpressiveagencytodenytheGellertarchive anonprejudicedhearing.Intheantebellumera,opponentshadquestionedthe

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authorshipandauthenticityofslavenarratives,andinthecivilrightsSouthacentury later,segregationistsfrequentlydismissedlocalactivismastheillegitimateproduct ofoutsideagitators.Gellert’sworkandreputationwasareadydrawforthiscollective fire,pastandpresent. In1970,GellertreleasedanindependentLPof eighteenof hisoriginalfield recordingsfromthe1930s.In1973,hecollaboratedwithRounderRecordstore- releasethedisc,withaccompanyinglinernotesandlyrictranscriptions.Twomore suchcompilationswereproducedinthe1980s.21 Forthefirsttime,interestedparties couldhearactualaudioexamplesof thedocumentaryfieldworkfromwhichGellert generatedhisprintrenderings(Garon200).Still,theshadowremained.Clearly, theGellertmaterialcouldnowbeauthenticatedasrealfielddatafromrealsinger- informants.Butwhowerethepeoplebehindthesesongs?Werethey“folk”?Were they“radicals”?Forsomedoubters,theycouldnotbeboth.Genuinefolkculture, byconservativeacademicdefinition,consistedonlyof materialthatcouldbecon- firmedasoldandanonymous,unselfconsciousandapolitical.LawrenceGellertdid notcareforsuchstandards.Sometimes,heobtainedasongfrom“aguywhohad comeundertheinfluenceof theliteratureof theleftwingmovement.”Butno matter,heinsisted;thesingerwasstill“oneofthefolk.”Often,hesaid,hecollected songsfrominformantswithoutanymarkedpoliticalidentity.Thenagain,headded, “PracticallyeveryNegrodownthere”was“arevolutionist”bycircumstance.“Imean, if youhadtoliveundertheconditions.”22 Gellert’sdetractorssawthingsdifferentlythen,andsomestilldo.Unfortunately, thetraditionof Gellertdenialhasre-emergedof latewithrenewedinsistence. HistorianSamCharters,whorecentlydiedbuthadbeenaleadingfigureinblues revivalscholarshipsincethe1960s,discoveredGellertonlyinthelastdecade,when hestumbleduponacopyof Negro Songs of Protest formerlyownedbyEleanor Roosevelt.Evaluatingthebookina2004essay,Charterswasguarded.Wasthe materialgenuinefolkexpression?Someof ithad“moreof thefeelof apolitical meeting,”hejudged,than“abackroadcabin.Itisdifficulttoimagineasonglike ‘Scottsboro’...wasactuallycreatedbythefolkprocess”(138).“Sistrenan’ Brethren”too,Chartersworried,hadversesthatwere“troublingintheirself- conscioususeof imageandlanguage.Thesong’simageof alynchinganditsopen callforarmedresistancehasmoreof thefeelof apoliticalpamphlet”(139-40). Chartersconcludedhisessaywiththeflatgeneralizationthat“thereisstillno documentationforthesources”of Gellert’ssongs(142). ItistruethatGellertdidnotrecordspecificnamesanddatesforhisfield recordings.Butwecan,nonetheless,findquiteabitof documentation—anaudio archiveof morethan500sounditems,publishedarticleswithlyrictranscriptions thatincludedparagraphannotationsof settingandcircumstance,twosongbooks (asecondvolumeof Negro Songs of Protest waspublishedin1939),23 andmorethan ninehoursof tapedinterviewsfromthe1960sand’70s.Moreover,thereiscorrob- orationbyAfricanAmericanauthorities,withHallJohnson,SterlingBrown, andLangstonHughesamongthem.Noneof theseGellertcontemporariesever repudiatedthecollector.Indeed,Charters’sdoubtsareassuagedevenwithinthe contextof hisownessay.TheauthorreportsthathetookNegro Song of Protest toa colleagueforasecondopinion:“Dr.RobertStephens,Professorof WorldMusicat theUniversityof Connecticut,grewupintheSouth,andhisvoicerosewhenhe sawthefirstsonginthebook,”Chartersrecountsinthepiece.“‘IWenttoAtlanta’! ThatwasasongweusedtosingwhenIwasgrowingupinSavannah.It’sjustthe waywesangit!”(139). Asindicatedabove,morethan500documentaryrecordingsinthefullGellert collectionrunfromthe1920stoWorldWarII(nowdigitizedforenhancedpublic accessibility).TheseitemsareheldattheArchivesof TraditionalMusicatIndiana

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UniversityBloomington.TheLillyLibraryatIUhousesadditionalpapersina Gellertmanuscriptcollection.24 “Scottsboro”and“Sistrenan’Brethren,”twoof thesongsChartersfindstroubling,arenotrepresentedamongGellert’saudioitems, butneitheris“IWenttoAtlanta,”asongwithwhichheultimatelyseemscomfort- ableafterpeerconsultation.TherealityisthatnotallofGellert’sprinttranscriptions canbematchedtoadirectsourcerecording.Gellertsometimesusedhissound equipmentandsometimestranscribedinshorthand.Still,ininterviewsfromthe 1960s,Gellertrelatestherecordingcircumstancesforeachof theabovethree songs,andseveralmore,tohisinterviewerRichardReuss,adiscerninginterlocutor whoremainsacclaimedtodayasthepremierscholarof theLeftfolksongrevival.25 Gellertrecounts,forinstance,thathe“got”“Scottsboro”inAlabamainthe“area of theScottsboro...caseitself.Somebodyhadwrittenitthere,”heelaborated, “[o]neof thelocalguys....Theyhadameeting[in]whichtheyraisedmoneyfor theScottsboroBoys.”Atnumerouspointsoverthethree-yearassociationmarked bytheirmultipleinterviewsessions,Reussraisesthequestionof fabrication.Gellert consistentlydeniesthecharge.26 Inthe1980s,BruceConforthtookupthemantleof Gellertresearch.Conforth becametheleadingchampionof Gellertasanalternativefolkloristof radical importance.In2013,however,theauthorreleasedAfrican American Folksong and American Cultural Politics: The Lawrence Gellert Story,abiographythatissurprisingin itstoneandreversals.ConforthnowholdsthatGellertshouldbevaluedforwhat wemightcallhisstraightfolklorecontributionof nonprotestitems,butthatthe collectoris infactguiltyof fabricatingsomeof theprotestcontent.LikeCharters, Conforthisbotheredby“Scottsboro,”forinstance,aswellasahandfulof other songswhichhethinksshowoutsidepoliticalinfluence(236).Overall,Conforth largelydismissestheculturalleftinthebook,andmoststartlingly,heevenspurns Gellertpersonally.Conforth’spositionisthattheLeftwasopportunisticandinsin- cereinitspromotionof “NegroSongsof Protest,”andthatGellerthimself cared littleaboutpolitics.Conforthasserts:“Baseduponexistingmaterialandinterviews, itseemsclearthat‘NegroSongsof Protest’(asaspecialbodyof materialcollected byGellert)neverreallyexistedwithinthefolkmusictradition,butwere,rather,the creationof theleftwingandU.S.CommunistPartyinordertouseaspropaganda, withLawrenceaseithertheirunwittingoridentity-huntingdupe”(159). Whatof thislatestvoiceinthediscourseof denial?WasLawrenceGellertan insecurewandererwithacredibilityproblem,asConforthcharacterizeshiminthe book,a“chameleon”whowomanizedandlivedalifeof “misinformation”and “falsepretenses”manifestingachronicneedforself-invention?27 Ishisarchiveof “NegroSongsof Protest”tainted,aproductof whiteLeftauthorshipratherthan blackcreativeresistance? Somemeasureof responseisnecessary,inpartbecauseweseeelementsof this renewedturninGellert-denialsurfacinginthepublicsphere.Wikipediacanbean unreliablescholarlysource.Nevertheless,itisacommonpointof referenceforlay readersnewtoasubjectThecurrententryonLawrenceGellerthasbeenexpanded recentlytoincludeasectionwiththesubtitle“Fabricationof ProtestSongs.”Italso describesGellertasan“inveteratefabulist,”a“weakanddependentcharacter,”and a“chronicinvalid”and“alcoholic,”who“wasmanipulated”intosongcollectingby theradicalleft(“LawrenceGellert”). Inmyowninvestigationsof morethanseventeenyears,Iseenobasisforthese harshanddismissivejudgments.Therecordof primaryandsecondaryevidence providescorroborationbywhichtocontextualizeGellert’s“NegroSongsofProtest.” IsubmitthatGellertwasanhonestcollectorwithsincerepoliticalconvictions regardingracialandeconomicjustice.Ihaveseennocompellingevidencethat Gellertfabricatedsongs.

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Conforth,intherecentbiography,sharesoraltestimonythathecharacterizes asa“smokinggun”thatprovesGellert“assistedinthecreationof manyof his protestsongs”(160).ThisoralevidencewasconfidedtoConforth,hereports,bya Gellertcontemporary,folkloristHerbertHalpert.Inshort,HalperttoldConforth thatGellert“wouldtalkaboutworkingconditions,thenhe’daskthemif therewas anysongonthesubject.”Whateverthisaddsupto,itishardlydefinitive.Gellert openlydescribedhisownwayof gaininginformants’confidenceintheseterms. With“verboten”songs,somepromptingandrapportwasnecessary.28 Conforth’sHalpertquotationleadsintoasectionwheretheauthorassertsthat Gellertcanbe“clearlyheard”onhisaudiorecordings“speakingorsingingthe wordstoasong”toinformantsbeforehe,ineffect,hitsthe“on”buttonforafield recording.TheaccusationisthatGellertwas“coaching,”if notactuallyco-creating, ratherthandocumenting(Conforth160).Inmyownitem-by-timeanalysisof each of the505itemsintheGellertsoundarchive,Idonotfindsuchaninterpretation compellingatall.OnecertainlycanhearGellertcommentingtoand,sometimes, laughingwithinformants.ButintheseexchangesIhearGellertsaying,“startfrom thebeginning,thewayyoudidoriginally,”“tryitagain,”“who’sgotanotherone?” orsomeequivalent.Informantsareveryoftenheardtellinghim“that’sit,”“that’sall Igot,”and“that’sallthereis”whentheyconclude.29 WhatConforthdeemscoaching soundslikebasicfieldmethodology.Fortunately,theaudioarchiveisavailablefor independentscrutinyasapublicholdingattheArchivesof TraditionalMusic. Finally,whatof theideathatLawrenceGellertwasapolitical?Washe,asBruce Conforthargues,acareeristusingthecauseof blackfreedomasatoolof personal advancement?First,IwouldencouragenewcomerssimplytoreadGellert’simpas- sionedarticlesandsongbooks.Second,Iwouldaddthatreadersmayfinda1976 oralhistoryinterviewinteresting.Gellerttalksformorethantwohoursabouthis timeworkinginthe“NegroUnits”of boththeFederalTheatreProjectandthe FederalWriters’ProjectinNewYorkCityinthelate1930s.Hespeakswithan insider’sfluencyaboutAfricanAmericanhistoryandculture,andhereferswith personalfamiliaritytoindividualssuchasRoseMcClendon,PaulRobeson, LangstonHughes,RichardWright,ArthurSchomburg,RoiOttley,andevenZora NealeHurston,whohadyettobefullyrevivedinpublicconsciousness.Gellert comportshimself asamanheavilyinvestedinAfricanAmericanartsandpolitics.30 Inoneinstance,onthispointof Gellert’sconvictions,Conforthmisstatesfacts. Inthebiography,ConforthhighlightsaGellertarticlepublishedintheLeftjournal Music Vanguard in1935.Conforthemploysthearticleassupportingevidencefor hispositionthatGellerthadnointerestinpoliticsandallowedtheLefttousehis materialonlytobuildhisname.Conforthrelatessomeof thedetailsof theeleven- pagepiecebyGellertandstressesthat—asidefromthetitle“NegroSongsof ProtestinAmerica,”which,hesuggests,wasappliedbyLefteditorsindependently of theauthor’shand—Gellerthimself neverusestheword“protest”inthearticle text.Gellertwasreluctanttousetheword,Conforthargues,andwas“conspicuously avoiding”it“inhisownessays”(118,127).Radicaleditorsattachedthelanguage artificially,hesuggests.Buttheprimaryevidencereadsotherwise.Gellertincludes theword“protest”inhisprosefourtimesinthearticle.Healsousesthewords “insurrection,”“revolt,”and“revolutionary”torefertoblackvernacularsong tradition.31 Conforth’srepresentationof theprimarysourceisinaccurate.Icontend thatGellertincludedtheword“protest”inthispieceandelsewherebecause,likehis editorsontheLeft,hemeantit. Negro Songs of Protest isarevealingtextthatisoutof printandoutof broad publicmemory.LawrenceGellert’sarchiveof AfricanAmericanvernacularmusic alsoremainslargelyunknown.Perhapsamoreaccuratedescriptorwouldbe “Embattled Manuscripts”forthisparticularAAR installment.Despitethedin,Negro Songs of Protest,andGellert’sworkgenerally,warrantsreconsiderationbecauseits contentswarrantfurtherinquiry.

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notes 1. The three songs excerpted are “Late Down Late,” “Work All De Summer,” and “How Long Brethren,” Negro Songs of Protest, 32, 18, 16. Readers will note that the dialect transcriptions, though jarring now, were at the time relatively common. 2. See Max Margulies, “Negro Voices Rise in Protest,” Daily Worker 17 June 1936: 7; and Lan Adomian, “Black Skin Coverin’ Po’ Workin’ Man,” New Masses 23 June 1936: 27. 3. See H. Howard Taubman, “Negro Folksongs: New Genre Dealing with Everyday Life Produced, Particularly in South,” New York Times 5 July 1936: X5. 4. See George B. Hutchinson, The Harlem Renaissance in Black and White (Cambridge: Belknap of Harvard UP, 1995); and William J. Maxwell, New Negro, Old Left: African-American Writing and Communism between the War (New York: Columbia UP, 1999). 5. The landmark missing-child case of Etan Patz took place in New York City just a few blocks from Lawrence Gellert’s longtime address at 148 Sullivan Street on the edge of Greenwich Village. Although Gellert was never seriously suspected, he was apparently questioned. He disappeared from his home and was designated a “missing person” at age 80 in the summer of 1979 (Conforth 228-30). I have written on Gellert in detail; see Garabedian, “Reds, Whites, and the Blues: Blues Music, White Scholarship, and American Cultural Politics,” Diss. (U of Minnesota, 2004), and “Reds, Whites, and the Blues: Lawrence Gellert, ‘Negro Songs of Protest,” and the Left-Wing Folk-Song Revival of the 1930s and 1940s,” American Quarterly 57.1 (2005): 179-206. 6. See Adolph Greenbaum, “Petition for Naturalization,” 20 May 1909, Department of Commerce and Labor, Naturalization Service, United States of America. The family surname was changed from Grünbaum to Greenbaum to Gellert. 7. Lawrence Gellert, interview by Richard A. Reuss, 28 Mar. 1968, and 11 Sept. 1969. United States, 1966-1969; interviews of Lawrence Gellert by Richard A. Reuss, Israel Goodman Young, and Margot Mayo (on six sound tape reels, analog, 3 _ ips, 2 track, mono). Archives of Traditional Music, Indiana University, Bloomington. Commenced in New York City while the collector was entering his seventies, Reuss’s oral interviews with Gellert between 1966 and 1969 total nearly nine hours. The tapes are a rich source of primary material on Gellert’s life and work. 8. Gellert, interview by Reuss, 28 Mar. 1968. 9. In several references in his interviews, Gellert recalls 1922 as the year of his arrival. Gellert, interview by Reuss, 31 Aug. 1966 and 28 Mar. 1968. See “Drama Fortnightly Club Presents Good Cast,” Polk County News 4 Feb. 1926: 1, and “The Swan Cleverly Presented by Drama Fortnightly Club,” Polk County News 18 Feb. 1926: 1; “Mr. Lawrence Goulette of New York is visiting Mr. Dwight Smith,” Tryon Daily Bulletin 26 Mar. 1929. 10. Gellert, interview by Reuss, 28 Mar. 1968, and 31 Aug. 1966. See Michael J. McCue, Tryon Artists, 1892-1942: The First Fifty Years (Columbus: Condar, 2001). 11. My thanks to Bill Nowlin for sharing this document. 12. See Nadine Cohodas, Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone (New York: Pantheon, 2010). 13. Gellert, interview by Reuss, 31 Aug. 1966. 14. Gellert, interview by Reuss, 25 June 1969. 15. See also Howard W. Odum, “Folk-Song and Folk-Poetry as Found in the Secular Songs of the Southern Negroes,” Journal of American Folklore 24 (July/September 1911): 255-94 and (October/December 1911): 351-96. Studies of African American religious music date back to the nineteenth century. 16. See Mark Naison, Communists in Harlem during the Depression (New York: Grove, 1983); Robin D. G. Kelley, Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1990); Mark Solomon, The Cry Was Unity: Communists and African Americans, 1917-36 (Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1998); Maxwell, New Negro, Old Left; and Michael K. Honey, Sharecropper’s Troubadour: John L. Handcox, the Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union, and the African American Song Tradition (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). 17. Langston Hughes to Gellert, February 1932, and Hughes, Introduction (unpublished). Lawrence Gellert Papers, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. On Hughes, see Jonathan Scott, Socialist Joy in the Writing of Langston Hughes (Columbia: U of Missouri P, 2007); Arnold Rampersad, The Life of Langston Hughes: Volume I: 1902-1941: I, Too, Sing America (New York: Oxford UP, 1986), and The Life of Langston Hughes: Volume II: 1941-1967: I Dream a World (New York: Oxford UP, 1988); and Steven C. Tracy, Langston Hughes and the Blues (Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1988). 18. Hughes to Gellert, 11 June 1933, and 22 Feb. 1934. Lawrence Gellert Papers, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley; the Russian edition is Negrityanskie Pesni Protesta, trans. G. M. Shneerson (Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe Izdateil’stvo “Iskusstvo,” 1938); Gellert, interview by Lorraine Brown, 22 Oct. 1976. Works Progress Administration oral histories collection, Collection #C0153, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia.

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19. Gellert, interview by Reuss, 31 Aug. 1966; 28 Mar. 1968; 11 Sept. 1969. 20. Gellert feuded with several prominent figures, including John and Alan Lomax of the Library of Congress and Irwin Silber, editor of the influential Sing Out! magazine. See Garabedian, “Reds, Whites, and the Blues,” Diss., and “Reds, Whites, and the Blues,” American Quarterly. See also Conforth. 21. Negro Songs of Protest: Collected by Lawrence Gellert, 33rpm, Rounder 4004, 1973; Cap’n You’re So Mean: Negro Songs of Protest, Vol. 2, 33rpm, Rounder 4013, 1982; Nobody Knows My Name, 33rpm, Heritage HT 304, 1984. 22. Gellert, interview by Reuss, 11 Sept. 1969. 23. “Me and My Captain” (Chain Gangs): Negro Songs of Protest (New York: Hours, 1939). 24. United States, North and South Carolina, Georgia, African Americans, 1920s-1940s, collected by Lawrence Gellert. Archives of Traditional Music, Indiana University, Bloomington; Papers, 1927-1978, Gellert Manuscripts, Manuscripts Department, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington. 25. See Richard A. Reuss with JoAnne C. Reuss, American Folk Music and Left-Wing Politics, 1927-1957 (Lanham: Scarecrow, 2000). 26. Gellert, interview by Reuss, 28 Mar. 1968; 11 Sept. 1969; 31 Aug. 1966; 7 May 1968; and 25 June 1969. 27. See Conforth xvi, xii, 71-72, 15, 30, 39, 53, 231-34. 28. Gellert, interview by Reuss, 26 Mar. 1968, and 11 Sept. 1969. 29. 10-17803, Side A4; 10-17802, Side B1; 10-17809, Side B1; 7-2222, Side A1; 7-2237, Side B1; 10-17853, Side A1. United States, North and South Carolina. Archives of Traditional Music. 30. Gellert, interview by Brown, 22 Oct. 1976. Although Alice Walker’s rediscovery article, “Looking for Zora,” came out in Ms. magazine in 1975, Robert Hemenway’s landmark monograph, Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography, was not published until 1977. Gellert, in 1976, enthuses about Hurston: “[S]he should have been head of the [Federal Theatre] Project. . . . she was an organizer. She was a dynamic human being. She could have handled anybody. She’s really a fighter. . . . She was a better writer than any Negro on our entire project there. . . . her books are marvelous.” 31. See Gellert, “Negro Songs” 7, 9, 13, 5, 6.

Brown, Sterling A. “Negro Folk Expression: Spirituals, Seculars, Ballads and Work Songs.” Phylon 14 Works (1953): 45-61. cited —-. Negro Poetry and Drama. Washington, D.C.: Associates in Negro Folk Education, 1937. Buttitta, Tony. After the Good Gay Times. New York: Viking, 1974. Charters, Samuel. Walking a Blues Road: A Selection of Blues Writing, 1956-2004. New York: Marion Boyars, 2004. Conforth, Bruce M. African American Folksong and American Cultural Politics: The Lawrence Gellert Story. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2013. Davis, Benjamin, Jr. Letter to Lawrence Gellert. 27 Nov. 1934. Papers, 1927-1978, Gellert Manuscripts. Manuscripts Department, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington. Filene, Benjamin. Romancing the Folk: Public Memory and American Roots Music. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 2000. Garon, Paul. Blues and the Poetic Spirit. 1975; San Francisco: City Lights, 1996. Gellert, Lawrence. Letter to the Editor. New Masses 11 Dec. 1934: 22. —-. Letter to Bill Nowlin. 22 Mar. 1973. —-. “Negro Songs of Protest in America.” Music Vanguard (March/April 1935): 3-14. Johnson, Hall. “Songs of Protest: A Review.” Opportunity 14 (August 1936): 241-44. “Lawrence Gellert.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2015. Lomax, John A. “Self-Pity in Negro Folk-Songs.” The Nation 105 (9 Aug. 1917): 141-45. “Objector’s Family Think He Was Slain.” New York Times 12 Apr. 1918: 8. “Songs of Protest.” Time 27.24 (1936): 59. Spingarn, Arthur B. “Books by Negro Authors in 1936.” The Crisis (February 1937): 47-48. Thomas, Lorenzo. “Authenticity and Elevation: Sterling Brown’s Theory of the Blues.” African American Review 31.3 (1997): 409-16. What Happened, Miss Simone? Dir. Liz Garbus. Netflix, 2015. Film.

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