Explore the riches of African American gospel songs, hymns, and spirituals in this landmark collection of 89 songs, arranged to follow the liturgical Church year, with historical and devotional commentary by songwriters, pastors, and scholars, from 1760 to the present. Devotional reflections from the likes of Absalom Jones, W.E.B. Du Bois, Howard Thurman, and Martin Luther King Jr. are nestled alongside personal testimonies from the songwriters themselves, from Charles Tindley and Charles Price Jones to Margaret Douroux, Richard Smallwood, and Kirk Franklin. Includes new interviews with living composers and descendants, newly commissioned tunes for historic hymn texts, and some early Black poets who have never before been included in hymnals. Discover more about the writers and composers through short biographies and musicological notes. These pages represent a treasure trove of musical and spiritual history from the African American Christian diaspora.
