American Prophets: The Platinum Age of Gospel

About this event

Minister, gospel artist, and scholar Charrise Barron visits the American Writers Museum to discuss her new book The Platinum Age of Gospel: The Years When Crossover Music Changed Everything, which tells the story of how Black gospel music crossed over, reshaped American popular music, and transformed the culture at large. Books will be available for purchase and Barron will sign them following the program. This is an in person program at the American Writers Museum. This program will also be livestreamed, and you can register for the link to the online broadcast here. This program is presented in conjunction with the AWM’s special exhibit American Prophets: Writers, Religion, and Culture, a powerful new exhibit that takes you on the ultimate exploration through spirituality and storytelling. American Prophets is supported by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative. More about The Platinum Age of Gospel: Gospel music is the soundtrack of Black Christian history, a soulful expression of faith, endurance, and hope. From the mid-twentieth-century Golden Age of gospel—when artists like Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward helped make church music a national force—to today, gospel has evolved from images of energetic choirs belting and clapping in rhythm into a sound as innovative and pervasive as chart-topping pop. Ethnomusicologist, minister, and gospel singer Charrise Barron calls 1993 to 2013 the Platinum Age of Gospel, when new artists and industry executives pushed gospel beyond the church and into a commercial, show-driven, crossover era. While traditional and early contemporary gospel arose from church life, Platinum Age gospel often emerged from outside it, stretching the boundaries of worship and religiosity and helping to reshape Black churches—especially megachurches—and what it means to be a Black Christian. Crossover music and Christian entertainment transformed gospel and amplified shifts in Black…