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- The Wings Over Jordan Choir was an African-American a cappella spiritual choir founded and based in Cleveland, Ohio. The choir is also known for a weekly religious radio series, Wings Over Jordan, which was created to showcase the group. Debuting over Cleveland radio station WGAR in 1937 as The Negro Hour, the radio program was broadcast on the Columbia Broadcasting System from 1938 to 1947 and the Mutual Broadcasting System through 1949. Wings Over Jordan broke the color barrier as the first radio program produced and hosted by African-Americans to be nationally broadcast over a network. The program was the first of its kind which was easily accessible to audiences in the Deep South, featuring distinguished black church and civic leaders, scholars and artists as guest speakers. One of the highest-rated religious radio programs in the United States, it also had an international shortwave audience on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Voice of America (VOA), and Armed Forces Radio. The program has been credited with WGAR and CBS receiving inaugural Peabody Awards in 1941. Founded in Cleveland by Baptist minister Glynn Thomas Settle (born Glenn Thomas Settle; October 10, 1894 – July 16, 1967), the choir performed concerts throughout the country during its height (often defying Jim Crow laws) and toured with the USO in support of the American war effort during World War II and the Korean War. Billed as one of the world's greatest Negro choirs, the Wings Over Jordan Choir is regarded as a forerunner of the civil rights movement and a driving force in the development of choral music helping to both preserve by introducing traditional spirituals to a mainstream audience. Other versions of the group began to emerge during the 1950s, and a Cleveland-based tribute choir of the same name name has performed since 1988. (en)
- Wings Over Jordan Choir (WOJC) was in de jaren dertig tot vijftig een Afro-Amerikaans gospelkoor in Cleveland. Het koor maakte geschiedenis door hun vroege radio-uitzendingen en bracht als eerste de klassieker Amen uit die later vaak gecoverd werd. (nl)
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- 40.0
- If today's children knew how much was invested, and the things that they are enjoying today ... rock-and-roll ... everything has its base in that music. And they should learn to cherish the source. And we should tell them the source. The source is those early pioneers of music who did it not only for entertainment, but as a source of nourishment to the human soul and body. (en)
- My only knowledge of Dr. Suttle is derived from his relation to . I am thoroughly convinced, however, that he is a man of sound intelligence, deep seated piety and of earnest consecration and devotion to the welfare of his race. His conduct of the Sunday morning program is characterized by a reverent and devout spirit which is deeper than the requirement of a broadcast program ... Of all the Sunday morning broadcast which bombarded the throne of Heaven, none are more intense with spiritual meaning, and power than those conveyed in the jubilee melodies, which sprung out of the soul of unsophisticated black folk. (en)
- I was planning to leave the choir soon, to accept a position as head of the music department at Albany State College ... when I told Rev. Settle of my feelings regarding his treatment of choir members, he denounced me bitterly. He told me that I was the worst conductor he had ever had. This, in spite of the fact that out of the 14 conductors he has had in ten years, I am the only one who was ever recognized by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. (en)
- The fame of Wings Over Jordan has not been confined to this musical organization, but has reflected favorably upon the city of Cleveland, and upon Gethsemane Baptist Church itself. Few churches in the nation are better known than this one ... Any church would be proud of the honor to have its pastor on a USO tour, bringing joy and inspiration to millions of soldiers lonely for home and peace. (en)
- Now, almost twenty years later, there is no Wings Over Jordan. From national and international tours, world recognition and musical artistry, the singers that were integral parts of this choir have gone their separate ways—some to fame and fortune, some to death, to prison; some to routine living and all to reminiscing. (en)
- We Negros shall face tyranny where ever it exists ... and when we have finished assisting America in the battles for human freedom , we shall be no less vigilant, no less determined, in breaking off the shackles of oppression form the oppressed here at home. For this is our mission, our destiny, throughout the world. We are the measurements of freedom, the storm troopers of the Rights of Man. (en)
- If I could hear singing like that every morning, my day would be a lot happier. (en)
- Well, we've bounced all over Italy, North Africa, Sicily, France, Belgium and Germany in a six by six truck and now these cushions are so soft, I'm afraid to sit down for fear I'll sink through one. (en)
- Members of the "Wings Over Jordan" choir, prior to the organization of the group, were mainly members of the Gethsemane Church choir. Few of the vocalists have had any formal musical training. Men in the group were house painters, garage attendants, chauffeurs, WPA workers and elevator operators, while women were employed as maids, cooks and seamstresses. (en)
- When this war is over, there shall be no North or South, white or colored, but just all united loyal citizens of the United States. (en)
- The best contributions radio can make to meeting the entire problem is by remembering Negroes whenever a program is being worked out on which they or their contributions can be included—and included unostentatiously. Many programs are already doing a constructive job in this direction. Some, on the war, have included mention of Negro heroes. Some, on production, have included Negro workers. Others have drawn attention to outstanding Negro cultural contributions to our civilization. All this is a good start—but only a start. (en)
- ... how well has succeeded in bringing closer understanding between black and while has been demonstrated by the Wings' work both in the United States and abroad. Their radio broadcasts were eagerly awaited each week by an integrated public moved by the power and beauty of true American music and the deep richness of faith with permeates the Negro's love for God and their country ... The basis of the gospel repertoire remains these hymns, just as the essence of the gospel style is a wordless moan. Through the years, they all played their part. (en)
- We didn’t like Bob Hope with the pretty girls. We were a foxhole unit, because we had to try to talk to ordinary soldiers who were fighting. We had to go to the hospitals where they were injured. (en)
- Choral groups have always been my hobby, and I saw in this group an opportunity to preserve America's finest contribution to the music world—the Negro spiritual. (en)
- The messages that they sang gave the black people hope. We still sing those songs, written by black writers, because we're still in that hope that one day we will be ... just ... people. (en)
- And to the men and women of the "Wings Over Jordan" chorus, I found myself saying over and over again: "that crying, your music. It's crying, way down inside. It's crying thousands of years back. It's crying for a God to lead a puzzled and distressed world of men to higher things and things more of the spirit and less of the material ... And it will come because underneath it all is a foundation, the foundation of a human spirit which some day, sometime, somewhere will prevail over all else." (en)
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