Shape Note Singing in Florida

Southeast Alabama and Florida Union Sacred Harp Singing Convention

The Southeast Alabama and Florida Union Sacred Harp Singing Convention was one of the largest annual African-American shape note singing conventions in the region. Founded in 1893, it was held in different locations near the Florida-Alabama border on the fourth Sunday of August and the Saturday before.

On August 24, 1980, the convention was held at the New Bethel C.M.E. Church in Campbellton, Florida, where it was documented by folklorists Peggy Bulger, Dwight DeVane and Doris Dyen from the Florida Folklife Program. In addition to the Cooper revision of The Sacred Harp, which served as the primary shape note book for African-American singers in the region, The Colored Sacred Harp, a 1934 collection of original compositions by black singers in the area compiled by Judge Jackson (1883-1958) of Ozark, Alabama, was also used.

Many luminaries in the African-American four-shape tradition were present at the 1980 convention, including Judge Jackson’s son, Japheth (1916-2010), National Heritage Fellowship recipient Dewey P. Williams (1898-1995), and Williams’ daughter, Bernice Harvey (1924-2016). Japheth Jackson, as the chief custodian of his father’s legacy, was especially crucial to the tradition of black four-shape note singing. He taught singing schools, performed on recordings, and attended singings and other cultural events around the country.

At this particular singing, Jackson led “Service of the Lord,” “Farewell to All” and “Florida Storm.” The first of the three is a march-like hymn that originated in the religious camp meetings of the Second Great Awakening. E. J. King, co-compiler of the original 1844 edition of The Sacred Harp, arranged the tune, incorporating the recurring refrain “I am bound to die in the army,” a typical feature of many folk hymns. The song also has several variations in the African-American folk music tradition and is popular among black shape note singers.

Another religious camp meeting spiritual, “The Old Ship of Zion” is common in both white and black song traditions. The repetition of exclamatory phrases like “O glory, hallelujah” made these hymns easy to learn and remember for illiterate attendees. Here, the song is led by Pauline Griggs, a dynamic leader and mainstay in the Wiregrass shape note community of southeast Alabama and northwest Florida.

“Farewell to All” is a dirge-like rumination of death and the afterlife in which Jackson urges the group to “listen to what the words say.”

Dewey P. Williams of Dale County, Alabama, a significant figure in the Wiregrass shape note community, led “Exhilaration.” The performance is an excellent example of many characteristic traits of African-American shape note singing: melodic ornamentation, rhythmic flexibility and responsorial interjections. The final repeat of the chorus, “I never shall forget the day…,” features some of the most passionate and exclamatory singing of the convention.

“I Will Shout and Sing in Glory” is one of the original compositions introduced in the 1902 Cooper revision of The Sacred Harp. Unique to that revision, the tune is popular among African-American singers. Its feel harkens back to the folk hymns of the 1844 edition of The Sacred Harp, but with a slightly more modern compositional style.

Folklorist Doris Dyen requested that Jackson lead “Florida Storm,” a composition by his father featured in The Colored Sacred Harp. Its staccato rhythms and melodic style have more in common with the gospel hymns popular at the time of its composition in 1928 than the shape note hymns of the mid-19th century. The song is a lament for the victims of the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926, and at 3:15 he explains the tragedy of the event and his relationship to the song.

A complete record of the 1980 Southeast Alabama and Florida Union Sacred Harp Singing Convention can be found in the Florida Folklife Collection (S1576, T80-89 through T80-93).