About the Work

I find that African American spirituals hold one of the most important musically expressive artifacts of our nation, and perhaps the world over. I believe these spirituals based upon histories of wrongful enslavement and inhumane abuses encapsulate the tremendous and powerful parallels between these historical events and one’s faith in God. I chose to arrange these spirituals and hymns because of their important messages and contexts.

I have ordered these selections in such a way that shows the progression of the lives of slaves and connects similarities these messages hold for people of Christian faith: first to long for the escape from the bondage of sin, to await true freedom, and to see Christ, and finally, to look towards the hope of a better day and eternal morning.

-Blake