Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly's Truths from Jim Crow's Lies [Hardcover]

A stunning rebuttal of the mythology surrounding American music legend Lead Belly that reveals painful details about America's racial history.This deeply researched book explores the life and music of folk legend Lead Belly within the context of the Jim Crow era. The work will appeal to a range of audiences, from Lead Belly fans and historians to readers interested in civil rights, mass incarceration, and the power of narrative.This deeply researched book explores the life and music of folk legend Lead Belly within the context of the Jim Crow era. The work will appeal to a range of audiences, from Lead Belly fans and historians to readers interested in civil rights, mass incarceration, and the power of narrative.Known worldwide as Lead Belly, Huddie Ledbetter (18891949) is an American icon whose influence on modern music was tremendous  as was, according to legend, the temper that landed him in two of the South's most brutal prisons, while his immense talent twice won him pardons. But, as this deeply researched book shows, these stories were shaped by the white folklorists who 'discovered' Lead Belly and, along with reporters, recording executives, and radio and film producers, introduced him to audiences beyond the South. Through a revelatory examination of arrest, trial, and prison records; sharecropping reports; oral histories; newspaper articles; and more, author Sheila Curran Bernard replaces myth with fact, offering a stunning indictment of systemic racism in the Jim Crow era of the United States and the power of narrative to erase and distort the past.Introduction; 1. Encounter at Angola; 2. Two men from Texas; 3. On the road; 4. 1915: The State of Texas v. Huddie Ledbetter; 5. Frayed nerves; 6. 1918: The State of Texas v. Walter Boyd; 7. Northern debut; 8. Contracts; 9. 1930: The State of Louisiana v. Huddie Ledbetter; 10. The end of the road; Epilogue.Sheila Curran Bernard rescues the legendary Lead Belly from a swirl of fabrication and racist presumptl“~