From the soul-lifting messages of 19th-century spirituals to the lyrical revolution of 21st-century hip-hop, the African-American musical canon has always served as a powerful force capable of inspiring minds, lifting spirits, uniting communities, and fortifying the resolve of communities facing challenges. This exploration of African-American musical heritage provides a gateway to appreciate the diverse artistic achievements that have shaped American society and resonated globally.

Ways to Study & Appreciate the African-American Musical Canon

The best way to appreciate the African-American musical canon, of course, is to listen. Buy the whole album, stream, or download (I provide some links). Next, incorporate the music while you clean your home, prepare for the day, and during car rides. Watch performances on YouTube. Dance. Move your hands as if you are conducting the band. Imagine the visuals. Learn about the performers’ backgrounds and accomplishments. Understand the conditions and historical events in which the composers created the music. Consider the purpose — uplift, mobilize, tell a story, unite, educate, entertain, bear witness, and send a message. Consider the audience. 

Additionally, to enhance your appreciation of the music, see if there are movies about the artists to watch and learn more about their lives. Here are a few examples: United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021) is an American biographical drama film about singer Billie Holiday, available to stream on Hulu. Clint Eastwood directed and produced the movie “Bird (1988) on the life of Jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker.  The award-winning film Ray (2004) followed the life and times of musician Ray Charles. Without further ado, the African-American musical cannon:

Negro Spirituals (Antebellum-Civil War)

In his first autobiography, Fredrick Douglas described Negro Spirituals like this:

 “Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains…”

Enslaved Africans in the United States drew upon the oral traditions of West Africans, singing to survive the trauma of slavery. After emancipation, recognizing the significant heritage of the songs, individuals worked to document the lyrics. Different groups, like opera singer Marian Anderson and The Fisk University Jubilee Singers, provided some of the first recordings. These songs became the foundation of the African-American musical canon.

The spirituals, disguised as church songs, often had hidden messages. For example, if the enslaved heard someone singing, “Steal Away, steal away, steal away home, I ain’t got long to stay,” they understood it was an alert that this may be the last time around loved ones because an escape was imminent. “Follow The Drinking Gourd” was a message telling those planning an escape to follow the North Star to freedom. “Wade In The Water” gave instructions to travel through water to avoid being tracked by hound dogs. The song “Go Down Moses” alerted everyone that Moses (as Harriet Tubman was called) was on the way.

Negro Spirituals in the African-American Musical Cannon 

1. Go Down, Moses   
2. Steal Away
3. Swing Low Sweet Chariot 
4. Follow the Drinking Gourd
5. Wade in the Water 
6. Swing Low Sweet Chariot
7. I Got My Ticket
8. Jesus Leads Me All the Way
9. All God’s Children Got Shoes
10. Balm in Gilead
11. He’s Got the Whole World in his hands
12. Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child 
13. Trampin’ Trampin’

The Harlem Renaissance 1918–1937

By the late 1910s, African-Americans from the Deep South, Afro-Caribbean expatriates, and Puerto Ricans found their home in the former Jewish neighborhood of Harlem. Harlem flourished as the epicenter of a new cultural movement. The Harlem Renaissance was an African-American intellectual, artistic, and cultural renaissance during the build-up and aftermath of WWI; due to the beginnings of The Great Migration, African Americans from the South and Caribbean immigrants settled in Harlem. Musicians born during the Reconstruction Era had grown up, matured, and experienced their musical heyday. 

Song List of the Harlem Renaissance Cannon

1. James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) & his brother, John Rosamond Johnson (1873–1954) – Lift Every Voice And Sing. 
2. WC Handy (1873- 1958)- (1)Memphis Blues, (2)St. Louis Blues, (3)Muscle Shoals Blues, and (4) Beale Street Blues.
3. Ma Rainy (1886-1939)- (1)Prove It On Me Blues, (2)C.C. Rider, (3)Black Bottom, and (4)Moonshine Blues.
4. Jelly Roll Morton (1890- 1941) – King Porter Stomp and Black Bottom Stomp. 
5. Bessie Smith (1894 -1937) – “Backwater Blues” and “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.” “Empty Bed Blues” and “St. Louis Blues” were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. “Down Hearted Blues” was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Grammy Hall of Fame.
6. Ethel Waters (1894-1977)- Her impact expanded through much of the 20th century, from segregated vaudeville to Broadway, television, and movies. She integrated Broadway when Irving Berlin cast her in the starring role of ‘As Thousands Cheer.’ She was the first African-American nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. She was the first woman to sing “St. Louis Blues,” making her a national icon. She had a role in Cabin in the Sky with Lena Horne. Some of her most known songs are “Stormy Weather,” “Miss Otis Regrets,” and “Cabin in the Sky.”  
7. Duke Ellington (1899-1974) – It Don’t Mean Thing if It Aint Got That Swing,” “East St. Louis Toodle,” “Black Brown and Beige,” and “In a Sentimental Mood.”
8. Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong (1901- 1971)- “What a Wonderful World,” “La vie en Rose,” Hello, Dolly! Dream a Little Dream of Me,” “Mack The Knife,” “A Kiss To Build A Dream On,” “Blueberry Hill.” ‘When the Saints Go Marching In,” “Summertime,” “Can’t Take That Away From Me,” “Aint Misbevain.’
9. Cab Calloway (1907-1994) Band leader best remembered for his “Hidy Hidy Hidy Ho.” 

Additional Listening

1. Noble Sissle (1889- 1975) – composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer, and playwright famous for the song “I’m just wild about Harry” used in the 1921 Broadway Musical, Shuffle Along.
2. Lester Young (1909-1959) tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist
3. Sidney Bechet (1897-1959) Clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer.
4. John “King” Oliver (1881- ) Cornetist
5. Count Basie (1904-1984) led his orchestra for 50 years. He popularized the lindy hop.
6. Fats Waller ( )
7. Johnny Dodd (1892- 1940) Clarinet
8. Fletcher “Smack” Henderson (1897- 1952) was a Prolific Composer. Most compositions were performed by others.  Shanghai Shuffle is one of his most famous compositions.

Depression Era & Jazz Age of African-American Musical Canon 

1. Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) debuted during the early days of the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Nights in 1934. After singing “A Tisket-A-Tasket” in 1938, composers and bandleaders like Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, and Benny Goodman couldn’t resist collaborating with her. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. She popularized the musical style “Skat.”  Her best-known songs are from Gershwin’s songbook and duets with Louis Armstrong, like “Puttin’ On the Ritz.” 
2. Billie Holiday (1915-1949) is a songstress best remembered for her performance of “Strange Fruit” — a song so controversial it made her a target of the CIA. She also sang the Gershwin songbook.
3. Charlie “Yardbird” Parker (1920-1955) helped develop bebop. His best-received albums include Savoy (1944), Bird At Roost (1949), An Evening at Home with Charlie Parker Sextet (1950), and Jam Session (1952)
4. Miles Davis (1926 -1991) is one of the most (if not THE MOST) prolific jazz composers of the 20th century, playing the trumpet on over 60 albums from 1951 to 1985. He’s known for his long jam sessions (we’re talking 13-minute songs). His best-received albums are Kind of Blue (1959), Porgy and Bess (1959), Birth of Cool (1957), and Sketches of Spain (1959).
5. John Coltrane (1926-1967) –played tenor and soprano sax in big bands with Dizzy Gillespie. His most notable album is Blue Train. Naima, a ballad written for his wife, is one of his most loved songs. His song, “Giant Steps,” is still studied by jazz musicians. The song “Alabama” from his Live At Birdland album was written in response to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. His rendition of Favorite Things from the Sound of Music…is just…wow!
6. Ray Charles (1930–2004) – Most famous songs: I Got A Woman & Georgia On My Mind.

Additional Listening

1. Dizzy Gillespie (1917- ) trumpet player. Best known song -Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac,
2. Herbie Handcock (1940- 
3. Fats Waller
4. Fats Domino – The Fat Man
5. Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton (1926 –1984)- Hound dog 

Civil Rights Music in the African-American Musical Canon

The Civil Rights Era ushered in a new genre of freedom music. In the soul-crushing times of Jim Crow, African-Americans used music to strengthen, resolve, uplift, empower, unite, and inspire. These are the songs that Freedom Fighters sang during freedom rides, during sit-ins, while unjustly jailed, and in churches. Fannie Lou Hamer and Mahalia Jackson are just among the voices that characterized the movement.   Freedom fighters adapted some of these songs from classic church hymns; others were originals. Written Lyrics can be found on the PBS site. Additonally, you can purchase the soundtrack to the movement here (I own this album). Another good option is this collection.

 “The freedom songs are playing a strong and vital role in our struggle..They give the people new courage and a sense of unity.”  – – Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Civil Rights Song List

1. Lift Every Voice and Sing
2. Woke Up This Morning. Additionally, John Legend also does a modern edition of this classic.
3. We Shall Overcome  
4. Keep Your Eyes on the Prize 
5. We Shall Not Be Moved (March on Washington) 
6. Ninety-Nine and a Half Won’t Do
7. Go Tell It on the Mountain (Fannie Lou Hamer, 1963) 
8. This Little Light of Mine (Sam Cooke 1964) 
9. Strange Fruit – (1939)
10. Take My Hand, Precious Lord (Mahalia Jackson, 1956) At his request, Mahalia sang this song at MLK’s funeral in 1969.
11. We Are Soldiers in the Army
12. I’m Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table
13. Mississippi Goddam (Nina Simone, 1964)
14. Long Walk To D.C. (The Staple Singers 1968) 
15. Change Gone Come – Same Cooke
16. People Get Ready – Curtis Mayfield
17. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Black Power/Black is Beautiful Movement (late 60s-1990s)

In the late 1960s through 1970s, the Black Power/Black is Beautiful Movement was a cultural revolution that encouraged African-Americans to regain connections to the African continent. After centuries of struggle, this was the period in which African-Americans started forming and celebrating a national, ethnic, and cultural identity. From Afro-centric names, African-centric aesthetics (afros & dashikis), art, literature, scholarship, and music, Black people in America unapologetically embraced all aspects of Blackness. For example, Maulana Karenga developed Kwanza during this Black empowerment period. Muhammad Ali made sure everyone knew how pretty he was. “Five on the Black Hand Side” became a popular phrase of endearment.  Additionally, the Black people of Brazil and Jamacia also had parallel movements.

1. James Brown, ‘Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud’ (1968) 
2. The Staple Singers, ‘I’ll Take You There’ (1972)
3. Nina Simone, ‘To Be Young, Gifted and Black’ (1970)
4. Stevie Wonder, ‘Living For the City’ (1973)
5. Gil Scott-Heron, ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ (1971)
6. Bob Marley, ‘Redemption Song’ (1981)
7. James Brown – I Feel Good 
8. Marvin Gaye – “What’s Going on?”  
9. Jimi Hendrix- Star Spangled Banner
10. B.B. King – How Blue Can You Get?  

In summation, familiarity of these songs is so essential to knowing the culture. These are critical songs that each generation should know. This is just the foundation of the African-American musical canon. Continue to Part II to learn the modern classics. Don’t forget to follow up for part II.

Also, while you’re in African-American heritage mode, check out these 28 books I compiled for a Black History Month reading list and this Black History Month Reading List for Young Readers.