Church Music Of African-americans

One of the richest contributions to church music in America has undoubtedly come from the heritage of the African-Americans who came to America as slaves. Their hymns and spirituals, which are sung today across the world, give evidence of both the extreme hardships and the fervent faith that was a part of their experience in America. Africans in America A glance down the "for sale" columns of eighteenth-century American newspapers would reveal dozens of small ads such as this: TO BE SOLD a valuable young handsome Negro Fellow about 18 or 20 years of age; has every qualification of a genteel and sensible servant and has been in many different parts of the world. He lately came from London, and has with him two suits of new clothes, and his French horn, which the purchaser may have with him. Slavery had begun two centuries earlier-the first slaves were brought to America by Sir John Hawkins in 1563. The plantations that developed in America's middle colonies in the eighteenth centu…