Shout, Sister, Shout

The spiritual life of Rosetta Tharpe was inextricably tied to the current and future status of how not only women and men are viewed in the gospel genre. The life and legacy of Sister Tharpe is of an artist who was tormented by and obsessed with attempting to balance the complexities of the spiritual and secular realms in her life which constituted her identity. Despite her musical genius, fame, and material success she was plagued with marital troubles, and dealing with many of the vicissitudes of life. While she was cognizant of the effects and realities of racism, institutionalized and personal she managed to have the self-valuation skills necessary for a black woman to successfully navigate in a racialized society.
The restrictive, prohibitive, isolationist and anxiety driven nature of COGIC, on the one hand, had a severe and negative impact on Tharpe. On the other hand Tharpe’s musical and philosophical roots remained in the Christian tradition and embodied the Christ centered ethic of love. Tharpe carried the Pentecostal legacy of “feeling the spirit” and imbued it into an expression of the sacred and profane in her music. Entry into the secular world of music and entertainment was forbidden but she was going into all the world to spread love and good will. Tharpe was a trailblazer for what many soul artists have had to wrestle with when leaving the confines of the church to embark on a musical career some examples of this would be Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Al Greene and others who begin to venture outside the four walls but what makes Tharpe is she took the “cross” over and managed to embody and imbue but still adhering to those roots but never to depart from it. She basically was the originator who would still take the gospel message without compromising her spiritual beliefs and this can best be described by the Edwin Hawkins Singers with Oh Happy Day, The Winans Family, Mary, Mary and Kirk Franklin with God’s Property. This also can be said of white contemporary Christian artists such as: Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Kathy Troccoli and Russ Taff.
The one negative thing that still has effect upon this industry and especially in` Christianity is reality being interpreted by images and the religious illusion that is put forth. This has been something that has plagued the black church and especially the gospel music genre. The artists such as Tharpe and others seem to live by a life script which begins to assert an emotional and mental distress because one can’t be true to who they really are. The rumors and speculation that have followed her in regards to sexuality is something that was present then and is still present in this industry as well as the church and no one seems to address this issue and many of the artists hide behind the mask in fear of retaliation and shame. If anything there has been an artist by the name of Tonex who was married and got divorced and basically came out and received nothing but hate and admonishment from the Christian community.
The life of Rosetta Tharpe was one of originality and authenticity. She allowed herself to have an identity and to not be trapped by family, culture, community and by doing so became the progenitor of another music genre and influenced all colors, creeds nationally and internationally she was universal and inclusive.