On My Journey Now: Looking at African-American History Through the Spirituals

Consistently brilliant thought provoking with mercy grace and compassion

Filled with history of African American music. It was a gift to a five years old.

As a Black Woman, growing up the spirituals was something that was apart of African American life. It brought joy and togetherness when partaking in singing the spirituals. Interestingly enough, I hadn't known some songs were actually spirituals. BOTTOM LINE.. this book teaches you a lot more than you bargained for in a short amount of time. Nikki Giovanni STRIKES AGAIN!! Well done.

With her opening words, author Nikki Giovanni imparts truth needed by all readers as a context for the spirituals. "We say that the slavers went to Africa to get the slaves, which is far from true. The slavers went to Africa to get Africans to make them slaves."How did free people, with their own cultures, their own families, their own everything survive and remain sane when overpowered and raped of everything? Captured and ruptured, how did they survive and even thrive?Giovanni, award-winning author of "Rosa," and University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech, provides a core answer. It was through the co-created, spontaneous spirituals by which African Americans proclaimed, "I'm a child of God!"As her aptly chosen subtitle suggests, "On My Journey Home" looks at African American history through the spirituals. Giovanni takes her readers on a journey from capture, to auction block, to daily hardships, escape, community building, the Invisible Institution, Sunday worship, heavenly hope, Emancipation, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, the present, and even to the future.Giovanni makes the vital point that we sing the slave spirituals as "cute children's songs," forgetting the depth, the pain, the passion, and the meaning that drove their creation and their singing. Build through the blending of Old Testament deliverance themes, New Testament redemption themes, and the pressing need for shared hope, these songs of Christian faith were anything but cute, though they did evidence the trusting faith of a child in a good Father.Nor were these songs "polite." Often, subtly so, they challenged the hypocrisy of their Christian masters with words such as "Everybody talkin' `bout heaven ain't going there."Giovanni has it right. The African American Christians "didn't just write the songs, they lived them." To understand African American history is to understand the slave spirituals and to understand the slave spirituals is to understand African American history. This is the gift of "On my Journey Now."Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction," "Soul Physicians," and "Spiritual Friends."

While researching the 'Spirituals' I came across this book at the library. This is a recent publication (2007). It contains lyrics to some truly beautiful worship songs sung by African slaves in the US. The accounts of the lives of slaves written here help us today to grasp the magnitude of this part of history. Slavery still exists in many parts of the world. Why humans turn against other humans can only be explained by the Bible's teaching of sinful human nature. We need to stretch to empathize with these people and their recovery process.Unfortunately, some things in this book are not accurate.Ms. Giovanni states that the God of the Bible is not just, but merciful. This is untrue. If you read the Bible you learn that this God is just AND merciful. He is not more merciful than he is just. Also, He is not more just than he is merciful. He is perfectly merciful and perfectly just; equally. This is a common false teaching. God's justice was satisfied with Jesus' sacrifice of himself as a substitue. He paid the cost for people. It's not like God said, "Oh, never mind, forget it." His mercy is evidenced by his own provision for a substitute when people did not deserve it by their own doing. That's what grace is; love that is undeserved. The Gospel story is the perfect combination of God's mercy AND justice.Also, history teaches us that Africans learned about the God of the Holy Bible from their captors. This author suggests Africans held to Christian beliefs before contact with white people, as evidenced by the content of their songs. Was the Gospel spread throughout Africa and already a cultivated belief? Are our textbooks wrong? I know there was a man from Ethiopia mentioned in the book of Acts. Could this be true? Please share.My desire to learn Negro Spirituals and understand more about lives as slaves was unsatisfied with this account. It was too tainted with inaccuracies. I will keep looking for accounts that reflect a more honest rendering.

I am planning a church-based course on Black theology in African American spirituals. Nikki Giovanni's unique treatment will be enriching for participants.

No issues.

Very interesting. I used it to prepare some lessons for my Gospel choir.