Artful Lives: Almeta Ingram-Miller, Leader of the Gospel Group and 2022 National Heritage Fellows the Legendary Ingramettes.

Almeta Ingram-Miller is the leader of the powerhouse gospel group and 2022 National Heritage Fellows the Legendary Ingramettes. The National Heritage Awardees epitomize what it means to live an artful life. The recipients all have deep ties to their communities and are often voices for those communities, working to keep their traditional arts alive and vibrant and sharing them whenever and wherever possible–often while working day-jobs. The Legendary Ingramettes are a case in point. The Legendary Ingramettes are a case in point. In this musical podcast, Ingram-Miller, a born storyteller, talks about the group’s six-decade-long journey and the vison and legacy of her mother Maggie Ingram, who began the group when she was left with five children to raise on her own. Her goal was to keep her family together. So, she taught them to sing gospel, and Maggie Ingram and the Ingramettes were born—singing in churches in South Florida until the family moved to Richmond, Virginia in 1961. Ingram-Miller talks about living and traveling in the Deep South during that time, the way gospel music reflects the struggles and the joys of the Black community, how the Ingramettes began performing at folk festivals that expanded their audiences, and the group’s work with correctional facilities. She also discusses the matriarch of the group, Maggie Ingram, and how her songwriting reflected her experiences, Maggie’s passing that led to Almeta taking on the leadership of the group and making the recording Take a Look in the Book, and the legacy of service begun by Maggie that remains at the heart of the Legendary Ingramettes.