https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/9bf9fb1a-6632-4f57-a958-6d10e22582c9 Please note: this film contains a segment with blackface, and contains language and commentary that a modern audience will find offensive. This film has been age restricted as a result. Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCddem5RlB3bQe99wyY49g0g/join Join us on Patreon. Visit https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Visit our website www.PeriscopeFilm.com "Miracles Through Song / When Malindy Sings" features Homer Rodenheaver, the "Dean of Gospel Singers", and the Zion Travelers and Anne Nicholson performing famous gospel songs. The film likely dates from the early 1950s, and certainly predates 1955. Rodeheaver was an American evangelist, music director, music publisher, composer of gospel songs, and pioneer in the recording of sacred music who was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1973. 00:00 Rodenheaver introduces a program dedicated to "miracles through gospel songs," taking viewers on a journey to the pre-Civil War Deep South to explore the origins and beauty of Negro Spirituals, which in his opinion are presented as distinctly American music given by God for religious expression. Rodenheaver also introduces the "Negro spiritual" (:46) by painting a picture of the pre-Civil War South, with a heavily romanticized vision of magnolia blossoms and "happy people" The program features a rendition of "You Got Shoes" (2:11) and "It's Too High, You Can't Get Over It" (3:22), explaining the theological message of the latter. At (2:15), the Zion Travelers group of Black singers dressed in overalls and straw hats harmonizes two spirituals, with Rodenheaver providing commentary before and after. Rodenheaver then praises the Negro race for their contributions to music, referencing Dvořák's use of spirituals in his New World Symphony, and highlights the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, with a performance of his poem "When Melindy Sings" (6:48). This spiritual's lyrics are from Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem, which is a tribute to his mother's spontaneous outbursts of singing as she worked in the kitchen. This is a dialect poem written in the Black vernacular language. At (7:13) "Uncle Frank" performs "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". Rodenheaver insists that "Uncle Frank" is Black, but this appears to be a white man in blackface; he pretends to speak in vernacular language. The program concludes with a (11:42) farewell message from Omar Odhaver, promising more "miracles through song." It's not clear who the members of the Zion Travelers are who perform. In 1944 the group consisted of: L.C. Cohen (lead vocals), Bartha L. Watkins (lead vocals), L.W. Van (tenor vocals), Garland Fate Mason (tenor vocals), Wesley Sherman (baritone vocals), Felton Vernon (bass vocals), LLoyd Macklin (tenor vocals), William Robinson (tenor vocals), Joe Hughes (guitar) Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. For almost two decades, we've worked to collect, scan and preserve the world as it was captured on 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have endangered films you'd like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink below. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyoM0aHf9YY Mirrored from Periscope Film (https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm) Fri, 02 Oct 2026 17:11:13 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://video.barcelo.ynh.fr https://video.barcelo.ynh.fr/lazy-static/avatars/e33785ae-28f0-45d7-89f1-9bb8f4d41955.jpg https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/9bf9fb1a-6632-4f57-a958-6d10e22582c9 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://video.barcelo.ynh.fr/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.