The year is 1939. The New York World's Fair unveils "Lift Every Voice and Sing," a sixteen-foot-tall sculpture of a harp depicted by twelve Black singers representing the twelve tribes of Israel, standing on the right arm of God and a kneeling man reading a music tablet. This noble tribute would stand to honor the indelible influence of African American music throughout the world.

The artist commissioned for the job, Augusta Savage, served as the first Director of The Harlem Community of Arts Center. Prior to creating the harp, she was quoted saying, "I have created nothing really beautiful, really lasting, but if I can inspire one of these youngsters to develop the talent I know they possess, then my monument will be in their work." Just as slaves used biblical references in many of the spirituals, it is apparent that savages are calling the captivity of the Israelites in Babylon.

Psalm 137 records: For there, those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, and those who plundered us requested mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" Their reply: "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?"

Unlike the Israelites who went by the rivers of Babylon, their harps hanging beneath the willows, Africans from the western and central regions of the continent were plucked from the banks of the Congo. However, their harps could not hang. No! For as the strings are too hard so are the souls of the African people to a song, even in a strange land.

This unit will explore specific characteristics and a certain degree of mysticism found in traditional Western and Central African customs of religion, music, dance, and rhythm. We will examine both the sacred and secular traditions that enslaved Africans retained in the American colonies.