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Awards
OverviewWinner, Wayland D. Hand Prize, American Folklore Society, 2018 Originating in a homicide in St. Louis in 1899, the ballad of ""Frankie and Johnny"" became one of America's most familiar songs during the first half of the twentieth century. It crossed lines of race, class, and artistic genres, taking form in such varied expressions as a folk song performed by Huddie Ledbetter (Lead Belly); a ballet choreographed by Ruth Page and Bentley Stone under New Deal sponsorship; a mural in the Missouri State Capitol by Thomas Hart Benton; a play by John Huston; a motion picture, She Done Him Wrong, that made Mae West a national celebrity; and an anti-lynching poem by Sterling Brown. In this innovative book, Stacy I. Morgan explores why African American folklore-and ""Frankie and Johnny"" in particular-became prized source material for artists of diverse political and aesthetic sensibilities. He looks at a confluence of factors, including the Harlem Renaissance, the Great Depression, and resurgent nationalism, that led those creators to engage with this ubiquitous song. Morgan's research uncovers the wide range of work that artists called upon African American folklore to perform in the 1930s, as it alternately reinforced and challenged norms of race, gender, and appropriate subjects for artistic expression. He demonstrates that the folklorists and creative artists of that generation forged a new national culture in which African American folk songs featured centrally not only in folk and popular culture but in the fine arts as well. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Stacy I. MorganPublisher: University of Texas Press Imprint: University of Texas Press Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.454kg ISBN: 9781477312070ISBN 10: 1477312072 Pages: 272 Publication Date: 18 April 2017 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Chapter 1. Frankie and Johnny Take Center Stage: African American Folk Culture in 1930s America Chapter 2. Lead Belly's Ninth Symphony: Huddie Ledbetter and the Changing Contours of American Folk Music Chapter 3. Pistol Packin' Mama: Imperiled Masculinity in Thomas Hart Benton's A Social History of the State of Missouri Chapter 4. Whiteface Marionettes: John Huston's Comic Melodrama Chapter 5. The Finest Woman Ever to Walk the Streets: Mae West's Outlaw Exploits in She Done Him Wrong Chapter 6. The Lynching of Johnny: Sterling Brown's Social Realist Critique Epilogue. African American Women's Voices and the Tightrope of Respectability Notes IndexReviewsMorgan's brilliant examination of race and gender in creative appropriations of the 'Frankie and Johnny' ballad furthers the discourse on how African American folk culture contributed to the unique characteristics of American modernism during the 1930s. * Journal of Southern History * A well-researched analysis of the complex intersections between African American culture and folklore and mainstream popular music and film culture of the 1930s. * Journal of American Folklore * [A] masterpiece...Frankie and Johnny showcases the talents of performers, entertainers, composers, and artists while simultaneously telegraphing the tormented rawness of unrequited fidelity...Morgan's tireless, copious research yields rich rewards, allowing the reader an emotionally vicarious experience of a 'somebody done somebody wrong' theme. * Journal of African American History * A well-researched analysis of the complex intersections between African American culture and folklore and mainstream popular music and film culture of the 1930s. * Journal of American Folklore * Morgan's brilliant examination of race and gender in creative appropriations of the 'Frankie and Johnny' ballad furthers the discourse on how African American folk culture contributed to the unique characteristics of American modernism during the 1930s. * Journal of Southern History * Author InformationStacy I. Morgan is an associate professor of American studies at the University of Alabama. He is the author of Rethinking Social Realism: African American Art and Literature, 1930–1953. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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