Vera Hall, born as Adell Hall Ward, was born in Livingston, Alabama, during the early 1900s. Hall was inspired to become a folk singer by learning traditional spirituals from both of her parents. Though she never had a professional singing career, given her jobs as a washerwoman and cook, she gained public attention by publishing Folkway Records, the Library of Congress, and many more. Also, in her adolescence, she was known as a singer in her community. Given the political climate of the early 1900s, such as pervasive racism in the deep south, the great migration, and ultimately the founding of the NAACP (National Advancement Association for Colored People) in 1909, this context sets the scene for the tune “Another Man Done Gone.” The melody of this song is haunting, memorable, and soulful. The repetition of the lyric, “another man done gone,” informs our audience that a man, more than likely a Black man, has been murdered. The death and demise of “another one,” meaning someone part of our culture, can be a mourning for the community.
The tempo of this song is slow and solemn, likely to have been used to garner the attention of many and to inform them of the pains of being a Black person during the 1900s in Alabama. Words like “gone,” “killed,” and the phrase “didn’t know his name” over the soft dynamic let us know that this is a very vulnerable and sad topic that requires some thought to process. The form of this song, defined as the arrangement of music, can be identified in verses one and five in the lines, changing from “another man done gone” to “I don’t know why he’s gone.” The repetition of this line highlights the significance of his passing and brings awareness to his death. Hall states that another one of us has died but then follows up by saying that she does not know why he is deceased. Overall, this folk song is best portrayed by its narration of the killing of a Black male, possibly one who lived as a sharecropper due to the mentioning of a farm, by a racist mob of some sort. His disappearance has deeply impacted Hall, and now she is going to “walk the log” and unpack the killing of this man and find some answers, and if not that, bring forth the importance of the matter to raise awareness.
