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The Golden Age of Gospel

GOSPEL, the latest history series from Henry Louis Gates, Jr., digs deep into the origin story of Black spirituality through sermon and song.

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The Golden Age of Gospel

GOSPEL Episode 2 | 52m 26s | CC

Starting in the 1940s, GOSPEL’s hour 2 explores the Golden Age of Gospel — the dramatic explosion of Black sacred music and the segregated highways of the American South — through the successful careers of Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin. As the lines between the sacred and secular blur, gospel music becomes the powerful soundtrack of the freedom struggle.

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Corporate support for GOSPEL was provided by Bank of America. Major funding support was provided by the Lilly Endowment Inc., Gilead Sciences, Inc., the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Emerson Collective and the Ford Foundation. Funding was also provided by members of The Inkwell Society and by public television viewers like you.