The Spirituals Project - Sankofa - Lead Me, Guide Me

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Lead Me, Guide Me

By Doris Akers; Arrangement by Robert Morris

The Minnesota-based contemporary composer Robert Morris is intimately knowledgeable about all Black sacred music, from spirituals to gospel, and he enjoys blending the sounds of different genres. Gospel music emerged, beginning in the 1920s, as the voice of African Americans arriving in Northern cities as part of the Great Migration of families seeking refuge from the harsh conditions of the Jim Crow South. But when they arrived, they often found life to be as difficult as, and sometimes more difficult than, their life in the South. Doris Akers' gospel hymn "Lead Me, Guide Me" is a classic offering from that time period. Like the old spirituals, sing- ers of this song sought sacred guidance in their quest for meaningful life in a barren land. Morris provides a vibrant new sound for this perennial favor- ite hymn in varied dominations of contemporary Black Christian churches.
Videography: Ethan Crawford
Editing: Jaceson Cole

Filmed on location at Craig Hall, University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work on February 18, 2011

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.