Donald McNair interview with Reverend Pearly Brown

The John Burrison Georgia Folklore Archive recordings contains unedited versions of all interviews. Some material may contain descriptions of violence, offensive language, or negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. There are instances of racist language and description, particularly in regards to African Americans. These items are presented as part of the historical record. This project is a repository for the stories, accounts, and memories of those who chose to share their experiences for educational purposes. The viewpoints expressed in this project do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the Atlanta History Center or any of its officers, agents, employees, or volunteers. The Atlanta History Center makes no warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of any information contained in the interviews and expressly disclaims any liability therefore. If you believe you are the copyright holder of any of the content published in this collection and do not want it publicly available, please contact the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center at 404-814-4040 or reference@atlantahistorycenter.com. In this recording, Reverend Pearly Brown plays folk songs and remembers living on the streets of Macon as a street singer. He starts by listing some of his favorite songs to play. Then he recalls his spotlight in the Macon newspaper Great Speckled Bird, and his grandmother, a former enslaved person sold in Atlanta, from whom he learned most of his songs. At 5:07 he begins singing an untitled song, followed by Keep Your Lamp Trimming and Burning at 9:00. At 11:19 he sings Mother This Sure is a Hard Time, which is about mothers separated from their children during slavery. At 15:03 he sings There Will Be Peace in the Valley. Then he recalls getting arrested in Tampa, Florida, for street singing; shortly after the arrest, law enforcement released him after he played his guitar for them. At 17:50 he plays Mean Old World to Live In, a song Brown wrote in Tampa. Next, he talks about working as a street singer for 40 years. At the end of the recording, he states his desire to perform and record his music with Georgia State University. Reverend Pearly Brown (1915-1986), also known as Blind Pearly Brown, was born in Abbeville, Georgia. After his parents abandoned him as an infant, he lived with another family and later his maternal grandparents, David and Jennie Brown, in Americus. His grandmother was a formerly enslaved person in Virginia and a gospel singer. Brown attended the Georgia Academy of the Blind in Macon in the early 1930s, where he began playing guitar. After graduating, he returned to Americus and became an ordained minister. He served at the Friendship Baptist Church in Atlanta for three years. Brown left the church to become a street singer, moving between cities in Georgia, Florida, and Canada. In his later years, he participated in traveling folk and blues music festivals and played the bottleneck guitar in Macon and Atlanta. Jim Pettigrew and Fred Burger filmed a story about Brown's life story in which he starred, entitled Its A Mean Old World. No transcript exists for this recording. Professor John Burrison founded the Atlanta Folklore Archive Project in 1967 at Georgia State University. He trained undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in his folklore curriculum to conduct oral history interviews. Students interviewed men, women, and children of various demographics in Georgia and across the southeast on crafts, storytelling, music, religion, rural life, and traditions. As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information, which places us inaposition to choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, andbias isreflected in our descriptions, whichmay not convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materialsaccurately.Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment.We often re-use language used by the former owners and creators, which provides context but also includes bias and prejudices of the time it was created.Additionally,our work to use reparative languagewhereLibrary of Congress subject termsareinaccurate and obsolete isongoing. Kenan Research Center welcomes feedback and questions regarding our archival descriptions. If you encounter harmful, offensive, or insensitive terminology or description please let us know by emailingreference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.