Gospel Singers by Langston Hughes
"Gospel Singers" by Langston Hughes is a thought-provoking piece featuring Jesse B. Semple, often referred to as Simple, a character who embodies the voice of the everyday African American man in Harlem. This narrative, found in Hughes's collection *Simple's Uncle Sam* (1965), utilizes a conversational style to explore social themes relevant to the black community, particularly the intersection of faith and entertainment. Simple engages in a dialogue with his college-educated friend Boyd, discussing the transformation of theaters into churches in Harlem, where gospel music has taken a prominent role.
The piece cleverly critiques the commercialization of religion, as Simple humorously notes that gospel singing can be as profitable as nightclub performances. While Boyd represents conventional views against mixing profit with piety, Simple argues for the validity of gospel singers earning their keep. The conversation also touches on the arts, contrasting gospel music with opera, highlighting Simple's humorous perspective on cultural appreciation. Ultimately, the narrative reflects on the evolving nature of black artistic expression and the societal context in which it thrives, making it a rich commentary on both music and community identity.
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Gospel Singers by Langston Hughes
First published: 1965
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of work: The 1960's
Locale: Harlem
Principal Characters:
Jesse B. Semple , nicknamed Simple, the protagonist, a black EverymanBoyd , the narrator, a college-educated friend and companion in the bar
The Story
"Gospel Singers" is not really a short story in the usual sense, nor a chapter in a novel, although Langston Hughes's books featuring the character called Simple are listed in bibliographies as novels. The story is found in Simple's Uncle Sam (1965), the last of several books devoted to a presumably average, relatively uneducated black man who speaks with a certain folk wisdom about Harlem and its denizens. His relationship to the black community seems somewhat analogous to that of Will Rogers to Midwestern rural and small-town white people of limited means. Simple's social commentary is more confined, perhaps, to strictly local conditions, those that beset urban blacks, late immigrants from the South.
Sketches about Jesse B. Semple, barroom philosopher, first appeared in 1943 in the Chicago Defender, perhaps the most widely read weekly newspaper among urban blacks. Semple, or Simple, as he was dubbed, became a kind of folk hero, speaking directly to the relatively unlettered people he commemorated in language that they could understand. Each short piece is a dialogue between Simple and the narrator, a college-educated friend named Boyd, whose somewhat stilted language contrasts effectively with Simple's colloquial dialect and direct approach. "Gospel Singers" is a typical piece of approximately five pages that might appear in the newspaper as a half-comic, half-serious commentary on contemporary life.
Though it has no plot in the sense of a causally connected set of actions, it has a plan that broaches a topic of conversation in the opening lines, explores the topic in the course of its five pages, and signs off with a minor rhetorical flourish. In this case, the opener is an observation about how many theaters are closing down in Harlem, to be reopened as churches with the names of ministers up in lights like those of film stars. There used to be storefront churches in Harlem; now there are theater-front churches. As Simple points out, "the box office has turned into a collection plate, and the choir is swinging gospel songs."
What follows is a discussion of the relative merits of gospel singing as well-paid entertainment. Simple points out sagely that the gospel singers are doing better than many a nightclub act. Boyd expresses the conventional objections to making religion a means for profit. With his usual sly humor, Simple describes gospel "shows" he has attended and, in effect, defends the pursuit of God and Mammon simultaneously, concluding that "good singers deserve their just rewards both in this world and the other."
The talk moves on to the subject of opera, which Simple's wife, Joyce, appreciates but he does not. Boyd defends opera. Simple went with Joyce to one black opera at Carnegie Hall. The program said it was sung in English, but Simple says, "it sounded to me like it were sung in Yiddish," and he asks Joyce, "did she reckon all them colored singers had Jewish singing teachers?"
The conversation ends with a discussion of Marion Anderson at the Metropolitan Opera, and Boyd points out that Simple was sitting right there in the bar and cheering the loudest for Marion. Simple agrees heartily but adds that now that she has retired from opera, Marion ought to take up gospel singing.
Bibliography
Berry, Faith. Langston Hughes: Before and Beyond Harlem. New York: Wings Books, 1995.
Bloom, Harold, ed. Langston Hughes. New York: Chelsea House, 1989.
Chinitz, David. "Rejuvenation Through Joy: Langston Hughes, Primitivism, and Jazz." American Literary History 9 (Spring, 1997): 60-78.
Cooper, Floyd. Coming Home: From the Life of Langston Hughes. New York: Philomel Books, 1994.
Harper, Donna Sullivan. Not So Simple: The "Simple" Stories by Langston Hughes. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1995.
Haskins, James. Always Movin' On: The Life of Langston Hughes. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1993.
Hokanson, Robert O'Brien. "Jazzing It Up: The Be-bop Modernism of Langston Hughes." Mosaic 31 (December, 1998): 61-82.
Leach, Laurie F. Langston Hughes: A Biography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2004.
Mullen, Edward J., ed. Critical Essays on Langston Hughes. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1986.
Ostrum, Hans A. A Langston Hughes Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002.
Rampersad, Arnold. The Life of Langston Hughes. 2 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Tracy, Steven C., ed. A Historical Guide to Langston Hughes. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.