Adele Hall Ward, best known as Vera Hall is considered by many to be the foremost singer of the blues and African American spirituals. She recorded a large body of work with the help of Livingston, Alabama, folklorist Ruby Pickens Tartt and John Lomax of the Library of Congress. Hall’s voice and renditions of traditional songs such as “Trouble So Hard” are a defining part of Southern Black Culture.

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Encyclopedia of Alabama

Photos courtesy of: Library of Congress, Alamy, Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame