The Virginia Female Jubilee Singers - Oh Mary, Don't You Weep/Lover of the Lord (Okeh 4430, 1921)

The Virginia Female Jubilee Singers recorded these songs in September 1921 in New York according to "Discography of Okeh Records, 1918-1934". About the group, it was a "colored female quartette" and due to their vocal style, they are believed to be from the Tidewater region in Virginia. The most famous group to emerge from this tradition is probably the Golden Gate Quartet.
"Oh Mary, Don't You Weep, Don't You Mourn", is a Negro spiritual that originates from before the American Civil War -- thus it is what scholars call a "slave song," "a label that describes their origins among the enslaved," and it contains "coded messages of hope and resistance." It is one of the most important of Negro spirituals.

[@bonnieinla]

Thanks so much for posting this. I hadn't heard of the Virginia Female Jubilee Singers before. What a find!

[@blackbrownbeige55]

Rare recording. One of the earliest sound recordings of an all Black female ensemble. Predecessors a half century before of the 1980s-90s "Sweet Honey and The Rock"

[@teborshawlawllc7415]

I love this as a reminder of home in Virginia and all the amazing singers of spirituals!