Voices of Black Folk

The Sermons of Reverend A. W. Nix

Terri Brinegar

• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781496839251
• eBook ISBN: 9781496839268
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

Recipient of a 2023 Certificate of Merit for Best Historical Research in Recorded Blues, R&B, Gospel, Hip Hop, or Soul Music from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections In the late 1920s, Reverend A. W. Nix (1880–1949), an African American Baptist minister born in Texas, made fifty-four commercial recordings of his sermons on phonographs in Chicago. On these recordings, Nix presented vocal traditions and styles long associated with the southern, rural Black church as he preached about self-help, racial uplift, thrift, and Christian values. As southerners like Nix fled into cities in the North to escape the rampant racism in the South, they contested whether or not African American vocal styles of singing and preaching that had emerged during the slavery era were appropriate for uplifting the race. Specific vocal characteristics, like those on Nix's recordings, were linked to the image of the "Old Negro" by many African American leaders who favored adopting Europeanized vocal characteristics and musical repertoires into African American churches in order to uplift the modern "New Negro" citizen. Through interviews with family members, musical analyses of the sounds on Nix's recordings, and examination of historical documents and relevant scholarship, Terri Brinegar argues that the development of the phonograph in the 1920s afforded preachers like Nix the opportunity to present traditional Black vocal styles of the southern Black church as modern Black voices. These vocal styles also influenced musical styles. The "moaning voice" used by Nix and other ministers was a direct connection to the "blues moan" employed by many blues singers including Blind Willie, Blind Lemon, and Ma Rainey. Both Reverend A. W. Nix and his brother, W. M. Nix, were an influence on the "Father of Gospel Music, " Thomas A. Dorsey. The success of Nix's recorded sermons demonstrates the enduring values African Americans placed on traditional vocal practices.

Chapter 1

REV. A. W. NIX HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Rev. Andrew William (A. W.) Nix was an African American Baptist minister who recorded fifty-four sermons on the Vocalion label in Chicago between 1927 and 1931. His history is significant because it illuminates issues important to so many who migrated from the rural South to urban cities in the North in the early part of the twentieth century. Born in a farming community in Texas and schooled in Kentucky, Nix eventually migrated north to New York, Chicago, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh before finally settling in Philadelphia. Nix’s recorded sermons offer primary source evidence of the expressive traditions of southern Black Baptists—Black folk whose vocal traditions were frequently dismissed by many educated African Americans who viewed these traditions not only as a reminder of the slavery past, but also as an example of uncontrolled emotionalism, backwardness, and ignorance.

A review of the life of Reverend Nix provides not only genealogical and census data on his family’s history, but also illuminates Nix’s involvement with and knowledge of contemporary ideas about racial uplift or “advancement of the race,” as it was sometimes called. As the son of a formerly enslaved man and farmer from Texas, Nix eventually settled in northern metropolises and in many ways paralleled the experience of the thousands of African Americans who ventured north in search of more favorable conditions and opportunities. However, as an educated man and college graduate, he broke the mold of the stereotypical southern, rural preacher. His life became a contradiction of sorts, in that he continued the vocal traditions of the rural South while simultaneously adopting practical solutions for his congregants to overcome racial and self-imposed barriers and advocated standards identified with racial uplift philosophies. He can be described as a “middle-man” in that he never abandoned his traditional southern roots, but sought to uplift his fellow African Americans through his practical sermons, which he recorded on modern, cutting-edge technologies of the 1920s.

Andrew William (A. W.) Nix was born on November 30, 1880, in Harmony Hill, Texas, in Rusk County,¹ later moving with his family to Longview, Texas, in Gregg County.² His father, William Sr. (1853–1927), was a farmer and a preacher, who married Ida Peterson (1854–1929) in Rusk County, Texas, on April 28, 1876. William Sr. was born in Georgia, and his mother was from Georgia; however, census reports from 1880 to 1920 provide conflicting information about the birthplace of William Sr.’s father: South Carolina (1880), Georgia (1900), Virginia (1910), and Georgia (1920). It is possible that William Sr.’s parents were Albert Nix (b. 1820) and Charlotte Nix (b. 1830), who with their children including William were born into slavery in South Carolina.³ William Nix Sr. died on January 22, 1927. A brief article in the Longview News-Journal stated, “Wm. Nix, the old negro preacher, who lived at Nix’s station on the Port Bolivar railroad, died Saturday. He was a good humble, negro having a great many white friends.”⁴ William and Ida had three children together: William Jr. (1878–1941), Andrew William (1880–1949), and Emma (1883–?).

After abolition, William Nix Sr. moved to Rusk County, Texas, later moving to the adjacent Gregg County. On December 17, 1898, he purchased ninety-nine and a half acres of land for $477.50 in Gregg County,⁵ which was an enclave for freedmen’s settlements. These settlements, also called freedom colonies, provided newly freed African Americans with not only land, but also autonomy away from the control of racist white society in Texas. Between 1870 and 1890, the rates at which African American farmers acquired land in Texas rose from 1.8 percent to 26 percent.⁶ Many formerly enslaved people acquired cheap or neglected land, and it was during this time that William Sr. probably settled in the area called “The Ridge.” The Ridge, also known as “Freedman’s Ridge,” was located at the intersections of farm roads 449 and 2751. Farm Road 2751 (also named Airline Road) was the exact location of William Sr.’s address in 1910.⁷ Thus, the evidence suggests that he probably did choose to settle in The Ridge as a freedman.

The county seat of Gregg County is Longview, Texas, established in 1871, in which both cotton and railroads were thriving businesses. The Texas and Pacific (later named the Southern Pacific) railroad’s terminus was in Longview, destined to extend to Dallas; the International and Great Northern Railroad reached the adjacent community of Longview Junction.⁸ According to the Longview Chamber of Commerce, passengers could “board the Sunshine Special at Longview at 6:40 p.m. and be in St. Louis at 10:30 the next day, in Chicago at 7:25 and in New York the following day at noon, with only a few stops in between at the larger places.”⁹ William Sr. likely chose to settle in Longview for its Freedmen Settlements, inexpensive land, and accessibility to railroad lines. The rail system gave the booming cotton industry access to nearby markets that were previously difficult and time-consuming for farmers, such as William Sr., to access via wagons.¹⁰ Because William Sr. was a farmer and had migrated as a formerly enslaved individual from South Carolina, he possibly farmed cotton.

Figure 1.1. School Building, 1888. Used by permission of Gregg County Historical Museum.

William Nix Sr. was a minister in addition to being a farmer, but little is known as to which denomination he belonged or in what capacity he practiced his ministry.¹¹ He is listed in the “1890 Marriages in Rusk County” report as officiating a marriage, with his denomination recorded as “N. R.” for “no record.” The Pleasant Hill Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, founded in 1870, was the main cultural artery for African Americans living in Gregg County and may have been the church where William Sr. attended and/or preached.

The first inhabitants of the area that would become Gregg County were American Indians from the Caddo and Cherokee tribes. According to Andrew Nix’s daughter Genester, Ida Nix was Native American, which could explain Ida’s relatively light complexion.¹² William Sr. probably met Ida in Rusk County and married her there. The Rusk County census of 1880 lists William Sr. and Ida along with their children William Jr. and Andrew as “mulatto” probably due to Ida’s light complexion. This same census lists both William Sr. and Ida as not being able to write; however, by the 1900 census both were listed as being able to read and write. It is possible that upon William Sr.’s arrival to Texas and acquiring his freedom, he seized the opportunity to become educated and encouraged his wife to do the same. The Nix children most likely attended the local school for African American children on East Marshall Avenue in Gregg County, which had been constructed in 1888. They may be included in a photograph (Figure 1.1) from the same year. Andrew Nix would have been eight years old at the time of the photograph.

A family photo from c. 1898 (Figure 1.2) shows the entire Nix family dressed in fine clothing: William Sr. is sporting a gold chain; Ida is wearing an elegant gown. Although William Sr. was a farmer, the family has the appearance of wealth. In the 1900 census, a young boy of fourteen named Tim Taylor is listed as a “servant” in the Nix home. If Tim Taylor were indeed a servant, this could suggest that the Nix farm was a successful one and required the help of additional farm workers and/or a servant. In addition, both of Nix’s sons attended college, which would have required substantial financial resources from their parents.

Figure 1.2. Nix Family Photo. Standing from left: William Jr., Emma, Andrew; seated from left: William Sr., Ida. Used by permission of Genester Nix.

EMMA NIX

Daughter Emma Nix, at the age of sixteen, chose married life over college (if she even had that choice) and married Colonel Baker (his real name) in Gregg County, Texas, on January 5, 1899. The 1900 census lists Emma and Colonel with one son, Oddie, living in the same precinct in which Colonel was born. Colonel is listed as a farmer who rented his land, thus implying that he was probably a tenant farmer. Little is known of Emma Nix, except that she was reported to have been a singer.¹³ Emma likely sang in the local church but did not have a professional career as a singer.

WILLIAM NIX JR.

William Nix Jr. (1878–1941) was a singer, minister, and choral director who was born in Harmony Hill (Rusk County), Texas (Figure 1.3).¹⁴ By 1909, he was living in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and was serving at the First Baptist Church. An article in the Baptist Rival, a Black newspaper, mentioned William Jr. leading the choir and traveling to nearby towns to perform “sweet music” at local churches.¹⁵ Between 1915 and 1919 he lived in Chicago and travelled to other cities to sing or deliver sermons. He was mentioned in the New York Age in 1917 for presenting a sermon in Florence, South Carolina, and in the same paper in 1919 he was named as “an Evangelist gospel singer.”¹⁶ The 1920 census lists him living at 719 42nd Street in Chicago, in the heart of the Black community nicknamed “Bronzeville.”¹⁷ He was married to Emma Nix and had two children, William and Emma, named after their parents.¹⁸

Figure 1.3. William Nix Jr. From The New York Age, September 27, 1919, 7.

In 1921, he sang at the National Baptist Convention where he “thrilled” both the convention attendees and future gospel composer Thomas A. Dorsey with his rendering of “I Do, Don’t You?” as a promotion for the newly published Gospel Pearls.¹⁹ Nix travelled to Longview, Texas, in 1926, apparently to visit his parents, where he gave a concert at the Bethel Baptist church. He was named in the Longview News-Journal as “Evangelist Singer and Chorus Director Prof. W. M. Nix, Jr.”²⁰ By 1930, he was living in Dallas at 1719 Ball Street, and the census lists him as a “minister” in the business of “gospel,” remarried to a woman named Pauline, at least eleven years his junior.²¹ They lived in Dallas as boarders with six other people in the same house. Boarding was common for African Americans in the early twentieth century, often a necessary means for both accommodations and affordability. By 1934, William and Pauline were living in California. In January of that year, Nix provided “inspirational worship” at the Second Baptist Church in Monrovia with Pauline directing the choir.²² As reported in the California Eagle on June 5, 1936, William sang at the Second Baptist Church on Griffith Avenue in Los Angeles, a prominent Black church with a long legacy of Black empowerment. The 1940 census lists William and Pauline as living alone in a rented house on 924 E. 25th Street in Los Angeles; however, William was not employed, while Pauline worked as a seamstress but claimed zero income. It is likely that William was ill and possibly bedridden because he died the following year on September 1, 1941, in Los Angeles. His illustrious contributions at the 1921 National Baptist Convention and as a committee member of the Sunday School Publishing Board, which published Gospel Pearls and The Baptist Standard Hymnal, may have been his great successes. After 1921, his lack of prominence in the gospel musi...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments and Research Methodology
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Rev. A. W. Nix Historical Background
• Chapter 2: Class Divisions during the Modern Era
• Chapter 3: The Sermons
• Chapter 4: Vocal and Musical Analysis
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author