African American Spiritual Historical Resources

1. Introduction

2. The Sound of the Spirituals in Their Original Context

3. The First Tours of the Fisk Jubilee Singers

4. Countering the images of black-face minstrelsy

5. The Fisk Jubilee Singers sing for the world

6. The Popularity of Early Recordings of the Fisk Jubilee Quartet

7. Performance Characteristics of the Early Recordings

8. Musical and Social Upheaval in the Jazz Age

9. Harry T. Burleigh and the Solo Spiritual

10. Hall Johnson and the Emergence of Larger Mixed Professional Vocal Ensembles

11. Dawson and the Emergence of Large Mixed Choirs in the Historical Black Colleges

12. The Spiritual as Freedom Song

13. Performing the Spirituals Today

W.E.B.DuBois on the Spiritual, from "The Souls of Black Folk" (1903)

The Underground Railroad in Bucks County

Lourin Plant Article on Racial Barriers in Classical Vocal Music

Additional Links

Lourin Plant Article

Singing African-American Spirituals:
A Reflection on Racial Barriers in Classical Vocal Music

The following article, written by one of our concert's soloists, appeared in the May / June 2005 edition of Journal of Singing published by the National Association of Teachers of Singing. We hope you enjoy the fascinating and insightful words from one of the areas foremost singers.

Posted with permission from the National Association of Teachers of Singing