More thoughts...

I happened to bump into Jared Runck, a theology instructor here at Gateway. He has done some writing on my blog topic. I asked him why Black Gospel disappeared then reappeared in our movement. That was a loaded question! Here' s what I learned:

1. Many former slaves left their religious/musical traditions because they didn't want the stigma or the memory of their former lives, and thus many went into mainstream religion, thus the disappearance of the style.

2. Maybe Black Gospel is a big part of our movement because William Seymour and key members of the Azusa revival were black.

3. I asked Jared why the style seemed to disappear during the 40's, 50's, 60's. He theorized it was because when the UPC merger took place, the black chuch split away, leaving the UPC a primarily white organization.

4. The resurgence of Black Gospel occured almost simultaneously with the Civil Rights movement - makes complete sense! Also, Jared and I both thought that today's resurgence of this style comes with the fact that the black community is embracing their heritage and roots mroe than ever in the last fourty or so years.

Just some more thoughts. Sorry to bore everyone with this! I've just always wondered and wanted to throw it out there to see if I could learn so more! Let me know what you think!