The Negro Hour: The Precursor to the Wings over Jordan Choir

By Sam Barber

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669840992

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Copyright © 2022 by Sam Barber.

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Rev. date: 08/30/2022

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The

genealogy of the Wings Over Jordan Choir grew out of the Negro Hour, a local Cleveland program started by the Rev. Glen T. Settle in 1937 to reveal to Clevelanders and to the public the aspirations and contributions of Negroes. A lack of written documents precludes a precise accounting of the development of the Negro Hour but there is enough documented evidence along with impressionistic memories to render a good representation of the Negro Hour’s origin.

The following context will give the reader a guide to understanding Rev. Settle’s thinking and experience as to how he conceived the Negro Hour and The Wings Over Jordan concept.

The story of The Negro Hour and The Wings Over Jordan is deeply rooted in black folklore and legend, in theology, and in the personal experiences in the life of the founder, the Reverend Glen Tom Settle.

To illuminate the beginning and the aesthetic character of the names and thus the programs The Negro Hour and Wings Over Jordan, one must first examine the personal history, experiences and environment of the young Reverend Glen Tom Settle. The story begins as Glenn was lying flat on his back in a pea patch anesthetized by the beautiful singing of his mother as she sang her favorite song, I Got as Home in That Rock, Don’t You See.¹

As a lover of music and youth possessed with a visionary and messianic mind, Glenn eclipsed into a heavenly dream atop a downy dandelion-top chariot from which he surveyed the landscape to discover disorder and chaos among a divided people. Later, Glen became more acutely aware of the calming and therapeutic qualities of music. Recognizing the mystical qualities of music as a unifying instrument, Glen committed himself to the singular cause of bringing together a divided people through music.²

A recorded account of Glen’s childhood dream follows:

In his dreamin,

he was floating

high in the sky

upon a dandelion-top

that

had gone to seed,

and then

been strung like a bead

upon a silver thread of melody

which

held the song together

as it drifted onward

ever onward

through the sky.

Far beneath him

he could see

thousands of men and women,

working in the soil,

or planting seeds

in the long rows

that lined

two great plantations.

"Mo’ people even

than ah knowed they wuz

in all de lan’,"

he said to himself.

"Mo’ even, ah betcha,

dan wus in all dem multitudes

what Jesus fed."

Now

all these things,

the lazy little lad

on the dandelion-top,

could look down

upon the world and see,

and the earth of the one plantation

was white,

while

the earth of the other

was black.

Between them,

someone

had built a fence.

It looked

to the little boy

like an old fence,

because

some of the posts were rotted

and were leaning,

while

in many places

the slackened wires

were hanging low,

as if

people had been crossing

and travelling

to and fro.

Even though

he was high in the sky

and riding swiftly along

on an upflung strain

in the music’s call;

he could not help but see

that the gesturing

of the workmen

in the divided fields,

sometimes,

was not friendly.

One or two

stooped and three

clods of earth

at their comrades,

and that

made the little boy sad,

for he felt

that when something

like his mother’s song

was abroad in the sky,

everyone

should hear and be happy

like him.

. . . . .

Then the melody

began to sway and swing,

instead of climbing high

and gliding down;

and as the dandelion-top swayed,

the little boy could look down

upon the workmen in the field

that was white;

and when it swung,

he could look down upon those

who worked in the earth,

which was black.

. . . . .

Thus,

the boy

was drifting now,

o’re all who worked

in both the fields;

and the soft coolness

of the dandelion-top’s shadow,

followed him like a tail,

making cheerful

and refreshing all

who took notice

of its passing.

. . . . .

Because

he was slowly turning

while descending,

the lad could see the fields

where

had labored all the workmen,

over whom

he had been drifting,

but

none were working now.

They had gathered

at the fence row,

and they were singing songs,

and they were laughing,

and they were tearing down the fence.³

Constantly reminded by his mother that, If white and colored folks just got to know each other better, everything would work out all right.⁴

Directed by Divine Guidance, he committed himself to fulfill the revelations of his dream. His commitment to prepare for this all important mission is evidence in such early activities as a strong religious background and ethnic, a high regard for motherhood, a great respect for the elderly, a belief in the equality of womanhood, an insatiable quest for knowledge, a love of mankind, and a humanitarian concern for all people. This ideology was pervasive in all stages of Reverend Glen T. Settle’s development.

The correlation between Black folklore and legend and theology is interrelated, thus each incorporates elements which traverse and interact within both disciplines.

The Bible is replete with paradigms and references to angles and the Jordan River. According to Evangelist Billy Graham, there are over three hundred references made to angels in the Bible.⁵ It is universally acknowledged that man has always dreamed of possessing magical powers and angelic wings with which he might transcend his spiritual body and rise beyond the travails of human existence into the Celestial City. In the Black experience, the pre-eminence of a triumphant entry into the Celestial City and the death themes concomitant with that victory are all-encompassing and are evidenced in the examples to follow.

First among them is the death legend, which consumed slave life from birth to death, is probably more deeply rooted in folklore than theology but with theological nuances. The legend gained currency during slavery with the deprivation and prohibition of verbal communication. Although communicating with Supernatural Beings was not uncommon in the African heritage, restricted verbal communication forced slaves to communicate with invisible spirits. Unlike most musical expressions, these experiences were both personal and voluntary. Endowed with a genuine love of and a natural proclivity for the spoken word, restricted verbal communication enabled slaves to transcend the relationship between man and man and to communicate directly to God the torrents of dehumanizing and demoralizing sufferings they encountered. Of all the themes communicated, the death theme was probably the most omnipresent. With regularity, slaves would call out to God in despair in a loud and clear voice for a band of angels to come and carry them safely across the River Jordan and subsequently, home. In all the suffering, the supreme sacrifice, then as now, during the earthly pilgrimage was the preparation of the human soul during life to receive the ultimate reward after death -- the Promised Land.

Another example of folklore representing the consummate death motive revealed winged angels transporting departed souls across the Jordan River. Again, the obsession of the death theme assumed special importance and significance as it determined the conduct and actions of one’s earthly activities.

A theological reference that may indeed reflect Reverend Glen T. Settle’s views on the genesis of the name Wings Over Jordan may be seen in the following statement:

When a Negro dies, it is said that he has crossed the River Jordan. This famed stream is thought of as the dividing line between this earth and promised eternal reward. In days of slavery, freedom could be obtained only through death, and around the Biblical promises of an eternal reward, songs were sung in plantation cabins, denoting faith in eternity--a place of music, happiness, and enjoyment of the Lord’s presence. One passed from this earth into eternity. It was his hope that he would hear the winged chorus of angels, singing the praises of the Most High, calling the earth-worn traveler to his place of rest. Hence, Wings Over Jordan, the choir of angels God’s children will hear as they cross from earth to heaven.⁶

Preoccupation with the death motive as an accompanying theme to angels and the Jordan River is further reflected in many song texts of the slaves. Selected examples are I Want Two Wings; Give Away Jordan; Roll Jordan Roll; March Down to Jordan; Hallelujah, Now Let Me Fly; In The River of Jordan; Get Away Jordan; Go Wash in the Jordan Seven Times; Just Beyond Jordan; Goin’ on De Uddah Side of Jordan; Rollin’ Down to Jordan; and You Got to Cross Jordan.

Not only did song texts reflect the predilection of Blacks for the Supernatural Being, they crystallized, shaped, and revealed the foundations for Negro spirituals along with their concomitant theological, folklore, and philosophical attitudes.

For years, the belief in Supernatural Powers proclaimed and practiced by Blacks was treated contemptuously and considered heathenish. Further, it was viewed as a betrayal of the Christian ethnic. In recent years, however, the Supernatural myths have eroded considerably and in the book,