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Prior to reading this book, why did I know nothing, basically, about the Hutchinson family? And, dear reader, why (in all likelihood) don't you? I'm a historian of social movements, including the anti-slavery movement; I study and love American musical history; and just about anything that involves the history of religion, race, and reform or civil rights will draw my attention. The Hutchinsons provide the perfect vehicle to weave together all those stories. Somehow, though, their history had escaped my attention.
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Let us be thankful, then, that it caught Scott Gac's eye. A double bassist as well as a historian (so the book jacket tells us), Gac sheds fresh light on the well-worn topics of the culture and politics of the anti-slavery movement—and utopian reform sentiment more generally—in antebellum America. He details the history of an antebellum northern Baptist family who "sang for freedom" in the anti-slavery movement of the 1840s, gaining some wealth and fame in the process. Like all good modern musical groups, they stirred listeners, counted their box-office take, slept around, quarreled, broke up, ventured on some ill-advised solo engagements (at one of which Lincoln slumbered), and then staged too many nostalgic reunion tours. Whatever their foibles and internal conflicts—of which there were certainly many—they played their modest part in emotionally invigorating the most important social reform movement of American history; and beyond that, they were about as close to being true racial egalitarians as it was possible to be in the antebellum era. They refused to play segregated halls, and their message was radical enough that they were never able to sing south of Baltimore. (Even Philadelphia proved dicey.)
I learned something on nearly every page of this book, no small praise given the familiarity of the larger topics Gac explores as he follows the saga of the large and extended Hutchinson family. The older brothers stayed at home on the New Hampshire farm, but they envied the success of Asa, John, and little sister Abby (known as "Angel"), the musical stars who got to tour northern cities and hang with the celebrities of abolitionism. The Hutchinson singers played on their image as wholesome farmers to further their professional opportunities and hype their singing engagements. Gac also tells us about the market revolution in antebellum New Hampshire, whose motto—"The Old Granite State"—provided inspiration for one of the Hutchinsons' signature tunes. We learn much, moreover, about what it was like to be a professional musician in antebellum America. And we see how the Hutchinsons both coopted and resisted the rising racist culture of minstrelsy—to the extent that one minstrel group worked up a Hutchinson family parody in their act. Minstrelsy and anti-slavery (and anti-racist) musical acts battled in antebellum culture. I would have assumed minstrelsy won hands down, but the contest seems to have been closer than that, thanks in large part to the Hutchinsons. (That being said, I think Gac ultimately understates the vast and insidious influence of minstrelsy in antebellum northern cities. On the minstrel stage, even Uncle Tom, symbol of Christ-like suffering in the best-selling novel, was transformed into a happy darky).
The Hutchinsons took tunes from many traditions, religious and secular. Even the most seemingly apolitical of antebellum religious movements—the Millerites, soon to be gathering to await the return of Jesus—inadvertently contributed a tune ("The Old Church Yard") that the Hutchinsons converted to antislavery purposes, to enormously popular effect. Whatever their Baptist theology, the Hutchinsons were not much interested in faith without works. They were obsessed with cleansing the body, personal and political: "Enslavement by calomel, rum, southerners, and every other abusive element demanded an immediate purge." The Hutchinsons sang of resistance to all forms of slavery: "'Let us, the Hutchinsons family, tune our voices for the cause of freedom, for the overthrow of slavery, for the promotion of Teetotalism and every moral and Christian act,'" Asa Hutchinson said. The last remaining singing Hutchinson even contributed an anti-cigarette tune in the early 20th century, decrying the "little white slaver." Purification was a constant struggle.
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