MOVIN' ON UP

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 21, 1966

I look back and see where I came from, and I rejoice,"" says Mahalia Jackson. She has been movin' on up ever since she was a small girl in New Orleans, being raised after her mother's death by Aunt Duke, ""a power."" A Baptist who found the Sanctified and Holiness churches beautiful, Mahalia listened to Cousin Fred's Bessie Smith records, took off for Chicago in the Twenties. The Depression hit the South Side hard; she joined and travelled with the Johnson Gospel Singers, working as a maid between times, and began earning a reputation. She sang at the Inauguration Gala for JFK, who made her feel as if she was ""a part of his life and time,"" toured the world and made her own spiritual journey in Jerusalem, joined the March on Washington in 1963. She has recently married for the second time, looks forward to becoming an evangelist. When asked what white people get from her music, she replied: ""Well, honey, maybe they tried drink and they tried psychoanalysis and now they are going to try to rejoice with me a bit."" Hallelujah!

Pub Date: Nov. 21, 1966

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Hawthorn

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1966

Categories: NONFICTION