Examine the main strands of religious music in the United States. Among the many you'll look at are spirituals (both European and African variations); religious chants from Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim traditions; and ring shouts and shape-note singing. Also, spend time with popular compositions like "Northfield" and "Amazing Grace."

The popular spiritual, Standing in the need of prayer, has been reworked to chronicle the milestones, struggles, tragedies, and triumphs of African American people and their history. The text and illustrations of this inspirational book are informative reminders of yesterday, hopeful images for today, and aspirational dreams of tomorrow.

"At a sparrow's urging, a young girl feels a mysterious trembling in her arms, a lightness in her feet, a longing to be free. Her mother tells her that her Granny Liza experienced the same, as did many of their people before her. Perhaps it's time, Mama says, to slip the bonds of earth and join the journey started long ago. To hold each other tight and rise. Drawing on lyrics from the song "We Could Fly" by Rhiannon Giddens and Dirk Powell, which...

A young child is comforted by the thoughts of guardian angels through the words of this soothing spiritual lullaby.

A documentary presenting the live recording of Aretha Franklin's album 'Amazing grace' at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles, in January 1972.

"A "choral history" of African Americans covering 400 years of history in the voices of 80 writers, edited by the bestselling, National Book Award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain. Last year marked the four hundredth anniversary of the first African presence in the Americas--and also launched the Four Hundred Souls project, spearheaded by Ibram X. Kendi, director of the Antiracism Institute of American University, and Keisha Blain,...

“ALICE” is an intimate portrayal of composer, arranger and teacher Alice Parker whose collaboration with Shaw resulted in nearly 200 choral arrangements of folk songs, spirituals, hymns, and carols. These arrangements are still widely performed today and are popular choices for countless high school, college and community choirs. In this unique documentary, filmmaker Montes-Bradley meets the composer over several days during the winter of her...

The setting is simple, but the stories, songs, and poems of Osceola Mays are remarkable indeed. In them, the past is recounted with a reverent intensity that expresses the deeply felt emotions of three generations of black Texans. The harsh realities of segregation and discrimination are juxtaposed with the importance of family and community life in these spirituals and poems learned by Osceola Mays from her mother, Azalene Douglas, and her grandmother,...

Presents the history of hip-hop including how it evolved from folktales, spirituals, and poetry, to the showmanship of James Brown, to the culture of graffiti art and breakdancing that formed around the art form.