Our treasured hymnals: a revered publishing tradition in black religious music, started in 1801, continues today

Black Issues Book Review, Nov-Dec, 2004 by Kathryn V. Stanley

A few years ago, GIA Publications, Inc. released a nondenominational, Protestant black hymnal entitled the African American Heritage Hymnal: 575 Hymnals, Spirituals and Gospel Songs, edited by Dr. Delores Carpenter and Rev. Nolan E. williams, Jr. (GIA September 2001). The hymnal strives to reflect the unique style and performance practices of hymn singing in many African American churches. In the hymnal's Foreword, the Reverend Wyatt Tee Walker, civil rights activist and Baptist minister, stales, "The African American Heritage Hymnal is probably the most important addition to Protestant hymnody within the past century."

According to GIA, Lead Me Guide Me, the Roman Catholic hymnal for African American music, has sold 200,000 copies since 1987. This is considered substantial given that it was a hymnal marketed to African American Catholics who are a comparatively small subset when compared to other African American Christians. The Heritage Hymnal has sold 200,000 copies since its release.

Since 1801, African American church folk have sought to assure that the transmission of our rich cultural heritage through the singing of hymns of all types has been codified through hymnals. This way, the next generation will learn, as the young man in Cape Town has, that there are times in one's life when Fred Hammond and Kirk Franklin won't get it! At those times, it's good to know "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God!"

Kathryn V. Stanley, an Atlanta-based writer is the FAITH editor for BIBR.