A multimedia phenomenon captures American pop culture
The Wide Awakes become a cultural phenomenon. It is not only scrappy organizers who spread Wide Awake chapters, it is also America’s top entertainers who write and perform political anthems which many Wide Awake chapters sing at rallies and their own nighttime parades. Before radio, audiences learned popular tunes thanks to the phenomenon of the “singing family” troupes. By the 1850s, over fifty troupes traveled America performing concerts. When the most famous singing family in America befriends Frederick Douglass, the rest follow suit. They all sing solely about the Republicans, about the Wide Awakes, and in favor of abolition. Sing-along concerts are the popular culture of the day and The Wide Awakes dominate. Many Wide Awake chapters form traveling Glee Clubs of their own to spread the gospel. Large Wide Awake chapters commission song lyrics from New York City’s top lyricists, the chapters print collections of their rally songs and fight songs. These printed booklets, called “songsters,” are distributed and sold in store racks that in 100 years would sell records.