Description

Click here to view an introduction excerpt from the book (PDF).

Publisher

Temple University Press
1900 N. 13th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122

Reviews

“You have your religion, we’ve got ours. You go to your church, we go to church too, but we also go to our clubhouses. That’s part of our religion. That’s our culture.” —Francis “Frannie” McIntyre, who has been a Mummer for 73 of his 78 years

“Our clubhouse is like a church; it becomes spiritual. There’s a lot of love here. A lot of guys don’t have family. We’re their family.” —Bill Murtha age 55, a retired UPS truck driver

“At first glance, Kennedy’s appears to be a picture book—a large format collection of color photographs from four years of mumming. Examined more closely, however, Kennedy’s words prove as insightful as his photographs…. Kennedy has assembled a body of images and an informed commentary that gives form and color to these forces of continuity and change.” —Western Folklore

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction
2. The Mummers
3. The Comics
4. The Wenches
5. The String Bands
6. The Fancies
7. The Fancy Brigades
8. The Pursuit of Happiness Sources

About the Author

E.A. Kennedy, III, is an accomplished editorial photographer whose work has appeared in Time magazine, the New York Times, Business Week, the Dallas Morning News, and other publications nationwide. His photographs have been recognized with numerous awards and in 2004, he was chosen as one of the ninety most important African American photographers in the U.S. to participate in a historic celebration of Gordon Parks’ 90th birthday. Kennedy has been a contributing photographer for seven photography books, including the internationally acclaimed Songs of My People: An African American Self-Portrait (and the accompanying exhibit which opened at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC) and America 24/7.