Judge J. Jackson (March 12, 1883,

Montgomery County, Alabama Montgomery County is located in the State of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, its population was 228,954, making it the fifth-most populous county in Alabama. Its county seat is Montgomery, the state capital. Montgomery County is included in th ...

- April 7, 1958,

Ozark, Alabama Ozark is a city in and the county seat of Dale County, Alabama. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 14,907. Ozark is the principal city of the Ozark Micropolitan Statistical Area, as well as a part of the Dothan-Ozark Combi ...

) was an American

sacred harp Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that originated in New England and was later perpetuated and carried on in the American South. The name is derived from ''The Sacred Harp'', a ubiquitous and historically important tune ...

composer, songwriter, and educator. His 1934 publication ''The Colored Sacred Harp'' was later recognized by scholars such as Doris DyenDoris Dyen, ''The Role of Shape-Note Singing in the Musical Culture of Black Communities in Southeast Alabama''. Ph.D. thesis, University of Illinois, 1977. and ''

New Grove ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theor ...

'' writer Joe Dan BoydJoe Dan Boyd, "Judge Jackson". ''

The New Grove Dictionary of American Music ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'', 2nd edition. as an important document of early twentieth-century

shape note Shape notes are a musical notation designed to facilitate congregational and social singing. The notation, introduced in late 18th century England, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools. Shapes were added to the noteh ...

singing practice. Jackson was raised in a family of

sharecroppers Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

and obtained little formal education as a child. When he was sixteen years old, he left home and took work as a farmhand in

Dale County, Alabama Dale County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census the population was 49,326. Its county seat and largest city is Ozark. Its name is in honor of General Samuel Dale. Dale County compris ...

, where he settled and eventually earned enough to become a farmer and landowner on his own. He took an interest in the Sacred Harp tradition around the time he moved to Dale County, but his new employer would not allow him to attend the local singing schools, so he learned the technique from his peers instead. He was baptized into Christianity in 1902 and also married that year, and in 1904 began composing lyrics to shape note songs. By the early 1920s, he had moved on to teaching and composing Sacred Harp music, in addition to organizing conventions for the music in the southeast United States. In 1934, in the midst of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, Jackson self-published a 77-song compilation titled ''The Colored Sacred Harp'', which included 18 of his own compositions (17 both words and music, and one music only) and 24 pieces he altered or arranged. Among the pieces in this collection is the Jackson composition "My Mother's Gone," which was eventually adopted into the Cooper revision in the late twentieth century. To finance the publication of ''The Colored Sacred Harp'', Jackson and an associate, Bishop J.D. Walker, paid out of pocket to print 1,000 copies of the text; Jackson then sold the book door-to-door and via singing conventions and educational programs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Judge 1883 births 1958 deaths 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians African-American composers African-American male composers African-American songwriters American male songwriters Composers of Christian music Musicians from Alabama People from Dale County, Alabama People from Montgomery County, Alabama Sacred Harp Shape note 20th-century African-American musicians