MAHALIA JACKSON

No quiero dejar pasar en estos recuerdos infantiles, mi admiración por la gran cantante de Gospel, Mahalia Jackson. En aquellos años que en Estados Unidos había tanta separación racial y tanto Ku Klux Klan en el sur, tanta persecución xenófoba, me admiraba que cuando acababan las retransmisiones televisivas (a eso de las 24:00) siempre lo hacían con un Gospel de esa gran cantante. Era una figura imponente, vestida de negro, con sus manos entrelazadas, cantando con tanto sentimiento que me conmovía muchisimo. A menudo me quedaba despierta hasta el final solo para oirla. Era fantástica.

I don't want to forget in these childhood memories my great admiration for the greatest Gospel singer that ever was, Mahalia Jackson. In those years that in the U.S. there was such racial prejudice, the Ku Klux Klan in the south and so much persecution of blacks, there SHE was closing American television at about midnight with a wonderful song. I can still see her impressive figure, dressed in black, her hands intertwined, singing with such feeling that it moved me deeply. Often I stayed up just to hear her. She was fantastic!