The Great Depression and Religious Apocalypses in Country and Blues

The Great Depression was one of the darkest moments in American history, as economic despair and agricultural collapse spread throughout the land. Desertification of the Midwest, bread lines, rampant poverty and suicide were easy to interpret as signs of the complete collapse of Western society and the end of the world. Despite the fact that the scenes of urban poverty and Dust Bowl despair mirror the kind of imagery used in apocalyptic movies and narratives later in the century, there was not a widespread belief amongst the American populace that they were living near the End Times, at least not until trouble started in Europe. By and large, millennial beliefs had been discredited since the failure of William Miller's widely publicized apocalyptic predictions in 1844. Millennialism as a valid part of American religious belief had only just recuperated by the 1920s. 7 A few religious books were published during the 30s though, explaining that, "With assets frozen and banks in abeyance … nothing is amiss with us save 'the birthpains of a new order,'" promising a joyous new world after the suffering of the Depression. 8

Religious fundamentalism was dealt another blow in 1925 in the form of the John Scopes trial on evolution, which allowed evolution to be taught in public schools. "It put a spotlight on the beliefs of fundamentalists, holding them up to public ridicule - and indeed, there was widespread rejection of their anti-science stance." 9 Writing in 1925 for none other than The Christian Century, Rollin Lynde Hartt linked the fundamentalists behind the trial to the prohibitionists and the Ku Klux Klan, claiming they all sprang from the same low-intellect ideology. He recommended 'Christianizing' the fundamentalists and reminded them "that Jesus of Nazareth … never persecuted his fellow men for seeking enjoyments different from his own, and never sought to obtain from the Roman government the power to do so. He conceived as religion as a persuasive, not coercive, force. He believed the separation of church and state." 10

Religion was still recovering from numerous black eyes and the Great Depression was not widely regarded in the American mainstream as an apocalyptic event or sign. It was a fairly common, regular idea among the common folks and lower classes though. As in almost all cases of economic despair-most notably during the Middle Ages-millennialism flourished amongst the poor and underprivileged because of the promise that, "those who had suffered would receive justice, and the poor and powerless would gain what had formerly been withheld from them." 11 Thus, the disenfranchised would sudden find themselves at the center of a brand new order. In many cases, apocalypticism is a primitive and paranoid response to material deprivation, political persecution and the social dislocation of modern industrial life, all of which were rampant during the Depression.12

A real reflection of the thoughts and feelings of the 'common man' in the Depression was found in folk music and traveling singers like Woody Guthrie. "One could argue that swing, with its infectious, happy beat and carefree attitude, was quite opposite to the somber mood gripping the struggling nation throughout the Depression and that therefore Gurthie's raw, American folk sound was more the voice of a nation and a social class than swing was." 13 Though not explicitly apocalyptic, Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads from 1940 paints a picture of a decaying landscape with a striking resemblance to the post-apocalyptic settings found in nuclear disaster movies from the 1970s and '80s.

Another group to address the suffering of the Great Depression was the Carter Family with their tune "No Depression (In Heaven)". They look at the Depression as a sure sign of the apocalypse, but view the coming end of the world in millennial terms, as a relief from the pain and suffering. " … These are latter days we know / The Great Depression now is spreading / God's word declared it would be so … In that bright land, there'll be no hunger / No orphan children cryin' for bread … No shrouds, no coffins, and no death." 14 The group knew personally the pains of the Depression, by the end of the '20s the group had become a well-known national country act but their income was hurt so much that they were forced to play schoolhouses and, in some cases, move away from home to find other work.15 Alvin and Sara Carter divorced in 1939, retiring the group for the first time in 1941.

Family life in the Depression suffered greatly as men became unable to provide for their families, losing their confidence and sure position as head of the family. 16 Southern sharecropper families were no better off then their white counterparts. According to Nicholas Lemann's The Promised Land--which follows one woman's account of life during the Great Black Migration, from sharecropping in the '30s to urban projects in '80s--sharecropper family life was already quite tumultuous: matriarchal and elastic with a large illegitimate population and high divorce rates due to almost--casual marriages, rampant poverty and legacy of slavery. 17 Things only worsened when the sharecropping system nearly collapsed with the Depression. It became harder for black families to come out on top at the end of each season. Often when their debts piled up too high they fled to a new plantation to start over, often splitting up their family amongst friends and relatives until things were safe enough that they could all be together again. 18

Much of the folk music of the '20s and '30s--especially blues--was preserved thanks to the Library of Congress, which sent folklorists out into the American hinterland to archive the art and sounds of the populace. Robert Johnson's fiery blues lament, "If I Had Possession over Judgement Day" addresses these concerns about the black family. He imagines himself in the roles of Moses--receiving enlightenment on the mountain--and Saint Peter, the judger of souls after the general resurrection of the dead following the apocalypse. Johnson castigates his unfaithful woman, and the harm she caused him, by casting the traditional blues lament of the "cheatin' baby" against a loose apocalyptic background. "If I had possession over judgement day … Lord the little woman I'm lovin' wouldn't have no right to pray. And I went to the mountain lookin' far as my eyes could see …Some other man got my woman and a lonesome blues got me." 19 He howls and shrieks as if in pain, conveying through his voice images of the fires and destruction of the end. Robert Johnson was doubly disenfranchised: he was both poor and black in a racist, segregated society and although Judgement Day is only mentioned at one point in the song, it seems clear that the pain Johnson feels is greater than even the coming suffering of the apocalypse. In fact, Judgement Day will offer a reprieve from Johnson's painful, lonely life and a punishment for his tormentors, traditionally the one positive outcome found in apocalyptic beliefs. The breakdown of his family life during the Depression was the source of Johnson's pain, but paradoxically the total economic collapse of society seems also to point toward the apocalypse and thus his salvation.

In all cases these apocalyptic scenarios are described in starkly religious terms, and seem to be offered not just as a consolation for people suffering the same poverty and indignity as the artists themselves, but also as the sincere wish for redemption for the performer. The apocalyptic tradition continued in country music even after the Depression, influencing two of its most famous musicians: Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, both of whom quote directly from Revelation in their songs. Williams recorded "The Battle of Armageddon" in 1946, and Cash recorded "The Man Comes Around" in 2002. But even while the rest of the music world was rapidly becoming secular, Cash and Williams continued the religious tradition of apocalyptic fantasies in country music that emerged during the Great Depression. Both artists touch on the redemption and peace they expect will emerge after the destruction. Both musicians reference a return to Eden, although the primary narratives of their songs are focused on armies, disruption and death.

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7 O'Leary, Stephen. D. Arguing the Apocalypse: A Theory of Millennial Rhetoric, 135. NY: Oxford University Press, 1994.

8 From a book review in The New York Times, 26 March 1933: BR9. The book was: Miller, Herbert Adolphus, The Beginnings of Tomorrow as reviewed by Wilson, P.W., "Our Troubles as the Birthpains of a New Order," The New York Times, 26 March 1933: BR9.

8 Anonymous. "The Scopes Monkey Trial: The Aftermath: Who really won - evolutionists or creationists?", <link>.

10 Hartt, Rollin Lynde. "What Lies Beyond Dayton," The Christian Century, 30 July, 1925. As reprinted in Monkey Trial: The State of Tennessee Vs. John Thomas Scopes, edited by Sheldon Norman Grebstein. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1960.

11 O'Leary, 16.

12 O'Leary, 8.
O'Leary disputes these claims in reference to modern apocalyptic movements but the analysis works quite well in the case of the Great Depression.

13 Ausk, Erin. "Music", Encyclopedia of the Great Depression, Vol. 1, 188. NY: Sharpe Reference, 2001.

14 Carter, A.P. "No Depression (In Heaven)", 1936.

15 Anonymous, All Music Guide. "The Carter Family" <link>.

16 Anonymous. "Great Depression Effects". <link>.

17 Lemann, Nicholas. The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How it Changed America, 28-33. NY: Vintage Books, 1991.

18 Lemann, 18.

19 Johnson, Robert. "If I Had Possession over Judgement Day", 1936.