"The
African American Heritage Hymnal is probably the most important
addition to Protestant hymnody within the past century."
- Wyatt Tee Walker, Senior Pastor,
Canaan Baptist Church, New York.
From the Hymnal Introduction.
A African American Heritage Hymnal for Protestant African American Churches that has endeavored to preserve the
rich oral tradition of African American sacred song in print form.
The unique style and performance practice of the African American Church-heretofore handed
down from generation to generation by oral tradition-has now been codified in print. A
highly qualified committee of more than thirty Black pastors and church musicians has
worked for eight years to compile and edit this collection, taking great care to notate
traditional hymns the way they are actually sung in African American churches. This
project has been eight years in the making!
While created especially for African American Protestant churches, this historic hymnal is
destined to find its way into the personal library of each and every church musician,
hymnologist, and ethnomusicologist active throughout the world today.
Because of GIA's landmark publication, Lead Me, Guide Me-a hymnal for Black Catholics, GIA
was approached by a group of African American pastors and musicians, led by the Rev. Dr.
Delores Carpenter and the Rev. Nolan E. Williams, Jr., about the possibility of producing
a similar book for Protestants. Eight years and countless meetings later, this 1100-page
hymnal of historic proportions is the result.
The African American Heritage Hymnal
Contains 52 Sundays of responsive readings, 52 Sundays of litanies developed around the
concept of a Black liturgical year, 586 hymns and songs, and extensive indices.
