In 1889, Chris Rutt started using the name “Aunt Jemima” to market his pancake flour after he heard the song “Old Aunt Jemima” in a minstrel show. The shows usually featured white actors in blackface, but African American comedian Billy Kersands wrote and performed “Old Aunt Jemima.”
The opening sequence of the long-running reality show Cops used to call up images of men and women in badges going after criminals as a reggae group sang, “Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you?” Now, in the wake of several high-profile deaths of African Americans involving police officers, activists are coming for shows that focus on law enforcement.
From Aretha Franklin to Justin Timberlake, it’s not uncommon for singers to get their start performing in front of congregations. A church background isn’t unusual on TV singing competitions either. Kris Allen, the 2009 winner of American Idol, served as worship leader of a nondenominational church in Arkansas, and Chris Blue, a 2017 finalist on The Voice, served in the same capacity at a Methodist church in eastern Tennessee. What’s a little more out of the ordinary is for any singer to score his big break in his fifth decade of life.
Marriage | Even minor issues can become important marriage lessons
