Since the turn of the twentieth century, barbershop quartet singing, a four-part, a cappella singing tradition, has been known largely for its ringing harmonies and camaraderie. Yet this bonhomie had its limits: barbershop’s history was deeply influenced by Jim Crow–era legislation, particularly racial segregation policies seeking to exclude Black Americans. It is because of racism prevalent during the Jim Crow era that Black Americans were largely erased from the historiography of barbershop music. A growing number of white practitioners believed that “Negroes don’t sing barbershop harmony” (1946) and that the style was “not instinctive or natural” (1963) to Black Americans, whose musical talents were supposedly limited to spirituals and jazz. However, even faced with this racial and stylistic gatekeeping, Black barbershop thrived and played a significant role in the American musical landscape.
In this talk I foreground the musical contributions of Black barbershoppers, both professional and amateur, to recast the whitewashed history of American barbershop music. I pay particular attention to role that music theory played in creating, enforcing, and challenging the racial boundaries of the style: while the Barbershop Harmony Society, the (then) all-white fraternal organization, published arranging manuals and contest judging handbooks to define and institutionalize barbershop, I argue that Black barbershoppers articulated an alternative music theory of barbershop through their musical practice. I close by considering more broadly the role of music theory in the age of Jim Crow, and its resonances with music theory’s recent antiracist turn and our current political moment.