Second Baptist Male Chorus
American, 1976 - 2014
BiographyThe Second Baptist Male Chorus, who were actively singing during services on two Sundays each month at their church from 1976 to around 2014, sang traditional spirituals and hymns in a quartet gospel style with close harmonies. Founded in 1976, by Deacon Joseph Hudson, the original group included fourteen members, all of whom moved up north from southern states such as Alabama with their families when they were young men. The Second Baptist Male Chorus was part of a social and spiritual network of church-based choruses around the state called the Big Seven, meeting to sing together every other month for community congregations in one of the seven churches in the Greater Hartford area. Gospel singing for this chorus was not about performance - they sang to praise the Lord, they sang from a natural strong faith, they sang together as a way to remember and express common bonds. Singers included Deacon Willie Howard, Deacon Eddie Clemonts, Deacon Joseph Hudson Sr., Deacon Leon Peavy, and several other men over the years.
CCHAP presented the group along with the gospel singers Women of the Cross in 1998 at a concert at the Charter Oak Cultural Center, and recorded them at the studios of WNPR in Hartford for the CD project “Sounds Like Home” in 1998. Deacon Joseph Hudson, his daughter Linda, and the Women of the Cross sang and were interviewed on the WNPR radio program “Where We Live” in 2014 to highlight gospel music and the CCHAP exhibit “Warmth and Creativity: The Hudson Family Quilts” displayed at the Institute for Community Research in Hartford. Members of the Second Baptist Male Chorus performed at the exhibit opening event in October 2014.
CCHAP presented the group along with the gospel singers Women of the Cross in 1998 at a concert at the Charter Oak Cultural Center, and recorded them at the studios of WNPR in Hartford for the CD project “Sounds Like Home” in 1998. Deacon Joseph Hudson, his daughter Linda, and the Women of the Cross sang and were interviewed on the WNPR radio program “Where We Live” in 2014 to highlight gospel music and the CCHAP exhibit “Warmth and Creativity: The Hudson Family Quilts” displayed at the Institute for Community Research in Hartford. Members of the Second Baptist Male Chorus performed at the exhibit opening event in October 2014.
Person TypeSocial Group
Cape Verdean, 1924 - 2005
