Signed Promotional brochure for Glynn [Glenn] T. Settle's 'World Renowned Negro Choir' Wings Over Jordan

St. Louis: Religious Artists Service , 1950. Pamphlet. Good. 8pp., including printed wraps. featuring signatures of twelve choir members including director Glynn Settle, with their vocal part noted under signature. Vertical creaseline, toning to front foreedge and rear half-panel. Interior notes past winners of Wings of Jordan scholarships, testimonials from pastors of churches where the choir has performed for 'interracial audiences', biographical notes on Settle, and a copy of a letter from Supreme Court Justice Harold H. Burton, accepting Settle's invitation to be a member of the choir's advisory council.

Wings Over Jordan was a choral ensemble (truncated) dedicated to the performance of spirituals and literature by black composers. Settle began Wings as a touring church choir in 1936, and soon after became pastor of Gethsemane Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1937, the choir auditioned for Cleveland Radio Station WGAR, landing a show with a new format: The Negro Hour, featuring performances, spiritual and civil rights talks, insight and related guests.The show quickly became a success, with a first CBS broadcast in the months following. By March 1938, one estimate put radio listenership at 10 million. CBS chose the choir to perform on its School of the Air series broadcast via shortwave in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres and The British Broadcasting Corp [BBC] aired the choir on its Friendship Bridge program, with listeners in Africa. Wings Over Jordan was the first Black-run radio production company, and notably the choirs contracts insisted that concerts would be held before mixed audiences, even in the segregated South, where choir members were often lodged in private homes. Their first major tour outside of the Midwest was in the fall of 1938, and by December of that year First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt had invited them to the White House. (Inventory #: 30606)