Aminata: Abbey Lincoln's Song of Faith
Abbey Lincoln (1930–2010), one of the greatest jazz vocalists of the twentieth century, was also an acclaimed composer, poet, playwright, actress, and activist and a towering figure within the African American intellectual tradition. Through constant reinvention, she resisted easy stereotyping and helped open a space for Black women artists to invoke their whole selves. Here, with meticulous research and insightful analysis, Ada C. M. Thomas contemplates Lincoln’s music alongside her poetry, plays, and reflections, revealing a multifaceted artist whose philosophical inquiries resonate deeply with the Black experience.

Thomas places Lincoln's albums in the context of both the female jazz and blues singers who influenced her and the male composers she collaborated with, including John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, and Max Roach. Highlighting Lincoln’s central position within a vibrant global community of Black artists, activists, and writers, it also puts her work into conversation with that of contemporaries and close friends like Maya Angelou, Miriam Makeba, and Toni Morrison. Above all, it traces Lincoln’s extraordinary spiritual and intellectual journey, from her early life in Michigan to her rebirth in the 1970s as Aminata Moseka, meaning “faithful goddess of love,” and her ultimate resurgence in the 1990s as a critically acclaimed jazz artist and composer. With reverence and rigor, Thomas invites readers to rediscover Abbey Lincoln and embrace the transformative power of her words.

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Aminata: Abbey Lincoln's Song of Faith
Abbey Lincoln (1930–2010), one of the greatest jazz vocalists of the twentieth century, was also an acclaimed composer, poet, playwright, actress, and activist and a towering figure within the African American intellectual tradition. Through constant reinvention, she resisted easy stereotyping and helped open a space for Black women artists to invoke their whole selves. Here, with meticulous research and insightful analysis, Ada C. M. Thomas contemplates Lincoln’s music alongside her poetry, plays, and reflections, revealing a multifaceted artist whose philosophical inquiries resonate deeply with the Black experience.

Thomas places Lincoln's albums in the context of both the female jazz and blues singers who influenced her and the male composers she collaborated with, including John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, and Max Roach. Highlighting Lincoln’s central position within a vibrant global community of Black artists, activists, and writers, it also puts her work into conversation with that of contemporaries and close friends like Maya Angelou, Miriam Makeba, and Toni Morrison. Above all, it traces Lincoln’s extraordinary spiritual and intellectual journey, from her early life in Michigan to her rebirth in the 1970s as Aminata Moseka, meaning “faithful goddess of love,” and her ultimate resurgence in the 1990s as a critically acclaimed jazz artist and composer. With reverence and rigor, Thomas invites readers to rediscover Abbey Lincoln and embrace the transformative power of her words.

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Aminata: Abbey Lincoln's Song of Faith

Aminata: Abbey Lincoln's Song of Faith

by Ada C.M. Thomas
Aminata: Abbey Lincoln's Song of Faith

Aminata: Abbey Lincoln's Song of Faith

by Ada C.M. Thomas

Overview

Abbey Lincoln (1930–2010), one of the greatest jazz vocalists of the twentieth century, was also an acclaimed composer, poet, playwright, actress, and activist and a towering figure within the African American intellectual tradition. Through constant reinvention, she resisted easy stereotyping and helped open a space for Black women artists to invoke their whole selves. Here, with meticulous research and insightful analysis, Ada C. M. Thomas contemplates Lincoln’s music alongside her poetry, plays, and reflections, revealing a multifaceted artist whose philosophical inquiries resonate deeply with the Black experience.

Thomas places Lincoln's albums in the context of both the female jazz and blues singers who influenced her and the male composers she collaborated with, including John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, and Max Roach. Highlighting Lincoln’s central position within a vibrant global community of Black artists, activists, and writers, it also puts her work into conversation with that of contemporaries and close friends like Maya Angelou, Miriam Makeba, and Toni Morrison. Above all, it traces Lincoln’s extraordinary spiritual and intellectual journey, from her early life in Michigan to her rebirth in the 1970s as Aminata Moseka, meaning “faithful goddess of love,” and her ultimate resurgence in the 1990s as a critically acclaimed jazz artist and composer. With reverence and rigor, Thomas invites readers to rediscover Abbey Lincoln and embrace the transformative power of her words.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781978843356
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Publication date: 07/14/2026
Pages: 212
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range: 16 - 18 Years

About the Author

ADA C. M. THOMAS is an independent scholar. She has been an assistant professor of English at Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts, and a Public Scholar through the New Jersey Council for the Humanities’ Public Scholars Project.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Preface
Introduction: Caged Bird 
1    Song of Songs           
2    Vashti         
3    Black Nativity     
4    Lamentations       
5    Sun Salutations     
6    Revelation     
Postscript     
Acknowledgments    
Notes
Bibliography     
Index

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