Unit 3 Introduction

Imagine this. Under the cover of night, a group of slaves are on the move, heading North to find a better life for themselves. The slaves are humming a spiritual in low tones. A child asks one of the elders, “How do we know where we are going?” The elder replies, “We just follow the North Star. Let me show you. Look over there.”

After some time, the child asks another question, “Why do they throw us away like that?” The elder does not say anything for a while. Even though they are moving stealthily through the dark brush, the elder spokesman is clearly thinking. When he surfaces from his thought, he says, “Son, those they throw away are diamonds, yes, d-i-a-m-o-n-d-s! We are diamonds! We all want a better life! Some day you will go to school and be whatever you want to be, you hear?” The child nods his head, satisfied, and thinks to himself, “Hmm, I want to be a great musician.”

The spiritual they are humming takes on a more decisive tone, though still only loud enough to be heard by the group. They sing, “We’ll run and never tire / We’ll run and never tire / We’ll run and never tire / Jesus sets poor sinners free.”

Years have gone by. Generations of the descendants of this group are free, have made improvements to their lives, and are following their dreams—they are diamonds!

On the eve of the Civil War spirituals were being performed by slaves, as they apparently had been for decades, in both hidden churches and brush arbor services and the ‘‘authorized’’ or sanctioned African American churches on Southern plantations, in various towns and cities, and—occasionally—in small independent Black communities. During the Civil War, spirituals began to find a wider audience.

Slave Songs of the United States, the first published collection of spirituals, was published in 1867. Another notable collection of spirituals, The Jubilee Singers and Their Campaign for Twenty Thousand Dollars, published in 1873. Concurrently, the American Missionary Association, which was established in 1846 by the Congregational Church, founded Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, which opened its doors to students in January of 1866. Along with many other Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that were founded soon after Fisk, this opportunity was the beginning of how many African Americas came to get a first-class education in music and other fields and to fulfill their dreams.

The dream became a reality by graduates at HBCUs who are descendants of the early dreamers who paved the way for others. Some notables Fisk University music alumni include:

• Roland Hayes
• Robert Keith McFerrin Sr.
• William McLeish Smith
• Ronald Edward "Rahn" Coleman
• Lillian Hardin Armstrong

Oakwood University Choral Organization notable alumni include:

• Take Six (multi–Grammy-award-winning group that had its start at Oakwood College)
• Mervyn Warren
• Angela Brown
• Wintley Phipps
• Little Richard

William L. Dawson is a notable Tuskegee University music alumni. There are many, many more notable music alumni from HBCUs.

This unit will cover the music of important and often neglected composers, conductors, and performers under the broad subjects of concertized spirituals, blues, ragtime and brass bands, and classical traditions. As you listen and explore the music, pay attention to how the music intersects with cultural history.