Gospel Titans, Divas, and Dynasties

The course will explore some of contemporary black gospel music’s most celebrated artists, as a lens into gospel music history and the challenges of commercializing religious folk music. This course will explore gospel music performance and commerce as defined by artists such as The Clark Sisters, who were recently celebrated in the biopic The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel, which first aired on the Lifetime network Sunday, April 12, 2020. The course will also explore other gospel music-making families, such as The Winans, The Staples Singers, Mary Mary, and The Crouches.