Links + Resources
Listening Forum
[http://speakingoffaith.org/programs/joecarter/gallery.shtml]
Contains some of Carter's comments on the songs discussed in this On Being program, his performances of these songs, and performances by various artists.
Sweet Chariot: The Story of the Spirituals
[http://ctl.du.edu/spirituals/]
A comprehensive multimedia Web site at the University of Denver that outlines the cultural and historical influences of the spirituals. It includes selected samples of interviews conducted with performing artists, community workers and composers along with information about its origins in literary and cultural forums.
The History of Gospel Music
[http://afgen.com/gospel1.html]
An essay by Phil Petrie focusing its attention on the music that sprung from the early African-American church and modern urban music.
Jubilee Singers: Sacrifice and Glory
[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/singers/]
A site from PBS' The American Experience documenting a group of ex-slaves quest to save their school by introducing American and European audiences to the spiritual.
Negro Spirituals
[http://www.negrospirituals.com/]
Provides a historical backdrop and lists of spiritual singers, composers, and songs.
The Atlantic Monthly Article
[http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/1867jun/spirit.htm]
An essay "Negro Spirituals" written by Thomas Wentworth Higginson published in June 1867.
"Sorrow Songs"
[http://www.bartleby.com/114/14.html]
Chapter from W.E.B. Du Bois 1903 book The Souls of Black Folk dealing with "the rhythmic cry of the slave, the most beautiful expression of human experience, the siftings of centuries, the voice of exile."
"How We Open Our Hearts to God"
[http://www.beliefnet.com/story/137/story_13797_1.html]
An excerpt from the book "Standing in the Need of Prayer" in which Corretta Scott King writes about how prayer and song of African-American slaves became a spiritual lifeline for her and other civil rights advocates in the 1960s and on.
James Weldon Johnson
[http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/amlit/johnson/johnson.html]
A site from the University of South Carolina dedicated to the great African-American writer and statesman who first compiled and published The Book of American Negro Spirituals in 1925.
