Organizing Black America
by Nina Mjagkij
Organizing Black America: An Encyclopedia of African American Associations purports to be "the most comprehensive reference work illustrating the rich history of these associations.

The Preacher King
by Richard Lischer
Martin Luther King, Jr., the minister of a small black Baptist church, was able to accomplish the impossible: he transposed the themes of love, suffering, and justice from the sacred shelter of the pulpit into the arena of public policy.

If You Don't Go, Don't Hinder Me
by Bernice Johnson Reagon
Reagon, founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock, an award-winning African American female a cappella group, writes eloquently of gospel music and the migration of black people in the U.S.

The Pilgrim Jubilees
by Alan Young
This very candid yet sincere look at the trials and tribulations of the Jubes makes it that much more amazing that the group still sings with conviction.

African Americans Who Were First
by Joan Potter
Read these stories of African Americans who were first in a variety of fields from medicine to politics, to sports and the entertainment world.

Gospel Among the Slaves: A Short Account of Missionary Operations Among the African Slaves of the Southern States
by William P. Harrison

Afro-American Religious Music
by Irene V. Jackson
This work lists sources for the following areas in Afro-American culture: general history, culture, anthropology, and sociology; ethnomusicology, dance, and folklore; African and Afro-American folksongs; religious folksongs; black religion; and the Caribbean.

Blues & Gospel Records: 1890-1943
by Robert M. W. Dixon
This book provides an exhaustive listing of all recordings of the period, from the earliest cylinders up to the end of 1943, with full details on singers, accompanists, place and date of recording, titles, issue numbers.

How Sweet the Sound: My Life With God and Gospel
by Cissy Houston, Whitney Houston
Cissy Houston, mother of pop singer Whitney Houston, tells her life story with simple candor.Houston describes her own experiences as a Gospel performer as good preparation for guiding her own daughter into the fierce and often fickle world of music stardom.

Dark Midnight When I Rise
by Andrew Ward
Dark Midnight When I Rise tells the story of a troupe of young ex-slaves and freedmen whose odyssey from cotton field and auction block to concert stage and throne room is one of the most remarkable trajectories in American history.

Mahalia Jackson (Melrose Square Black American Series)
by Darlene Donloe
A biography of the renowned gospel singer who hoped, through her art, to break down some of the barriers between people of different races.

The Hum
by Evans E. Crawford
Firmly rooted in the black experience, this approach to homiletics helps readers understand preaching as an oral event.

Defending Black Faith
by Craig S. Keener
This book responds to the difficult questions detractors ask of black men and women who are committed to Christianity, questions about the "whiteness" of the faith, its perceived intolerance, and the often-spotted history of Christians.

Encyclopedia of African and African-American Religions
Stephen D. Glazier
This important new reference covers African and African-American religion in sub-Saharan Africa, North America, South America, and the Caribbean, and provides vital insights into its growing worldwide influence in Europe, Asia and the South Pacific.

The Southern Gospel Music Cookbook
by Bethni Hamphill
Southern gospel music and delicious home-cooked food have gone hand in hand since the first all-day sings and week-long brush arbor meetings in the 1800s. THE SOUTHERN GOSPEL MUSIC COOKBOOK is a collection of more than 200 recipes from those who know the music best--the groups and artists.

Say Amen
by Chestina Mitchell Archibald
This collection of prayers for all occasions features traditional prayers alongside those of Jesse Jackson, Langston Hughes, and W.E.B. Du Bois, among others.

An Index to African-American Spirituals for the Solo Voice
by Kathleen A. Abromeit
Spirituals were an intrinsic part of the African-American plantation life and were sung at all important occasions and events. This volume is the first index of spirituals to be compiled in more than half a century.

Mahalia Jackson: Born to Sing Gospel Music
by Evelyn Witter
A biography of the renowned gospel singer who hoped, through her art, to break down some of the barriers between black and white people.

Touched by God: Black Gospel Greats Share Their Stories of Finding God
by Bobby Jones
In a soul-lifting collection that resounds with joy, today's black gospel superstars tell how the Lord has changed their lives and shaped their music.

Black Gospel: An Illustrated History of the Gospel Sound
by Viv Broughton


Church Planting in the African-American Context
by Hozell C. Francis
Specified for the particular needs of the black community, this is a handbook on planting churches.

Heart and Head: Black Theology--Past, Present, and Future
by Dwight N. Hopkins
In this intimate and compelling look at black theology, Dwight N. Hopkins asserts that in order to calm the raging waters of a "me-first" way of life and growing racial intolerance, we need to embrace the values of both the heart and the head.

Daughters of Thunder
by Bettye Collier-Thomas
Though religion and the church have always played an important role in the lives of black Americans, the role that black women have played in the church is not as well known. Daughters of Thunder, a collection of 38 sermons by 14 black women preachers from the 1850s to the 1970s.

Biblical Counseling with African-Americans
by Clarence Earl Walker
Taking the apostle Phillip's encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch as a springboard, the author sets forth the challenges and techniques employed by the apostle as principles still useful for those who counsel black Americans today.

God Don't Like Ugly
by Teresa L. Fry Brown
Rev. Dr. Teresa Fry Brown has written an excellent historical perspective that recalls her own upbringing and affirms the role of mothers, aunties, grandmothers and othermothers in the transmission of spiritual and behavioral values.

More Than Equals
by Spencer Perkins
Spencer Perkins and Chris Rice set out a bold, practical plan for racial reconciliation which has as its motivation more than harmonious living--namely, a witness to the truth and power of the Gospel.

This Far By Faith
by Judith Weisenfeld
This Far By Faith brings together a collection of essays on the religious identities and experiences of African-American women. Spanning from the period of slavery to the present.

Black Gospel/White Church
by John Burgess


Them Gospel Songs: Lore of the Black Church Experience
by Big Mama


Spirits That Dwell in Deep Woods
by Wyatt Tee Walker
Revealing the fascinating body of hymnal work that flourished in Southern communities populated by the children of slaves between 1885 and 1925, this stirring collection of spiritual songs sheds light on a vanished era.

Collected Works of Langston Hughes, Vol 6
by Leslie Catherine Sanders


Happy in the Service of the Lord
by Kip Lornell
Drawing on interviews and field research, the author traces the evolution of groups from the 1920s to the 1980s, describing the world of quartet unions, gospel radio personalities, fans, promoters, and singing teachers.

Black Religious Intellectuals
by Clarence Taylor
Professor Clarence Taylor sheds some much-needed light on the rich intellectual and political tradition that lies in the black religious community. From the Pentecostalism of Bishop Smallwood Williams and the flamboyant leadership of the Reverend Al Sharpton, to the radical Presbyterianism of Milton Arthur Galamison.

The Gospel in Black & White
by Dennis L. Okholm
Some of the church's most exciting black and white thinkers here address issues of theological method, hermeneutics, soteriology, ecclesiology, and social ethics with an eye to closing the gaping wounds of racism and serving God's kingdom across color lines.

Black Man's Religion
by Glenn Usry
Glenn Usry and Craig Keener contend that Christianity can be Afrocentric, and show that racism is not inherent in the true faith.

My Soul's Been Anchored
by H. Beecher Hicks
H. Beecher Hicks Jr. knows that great preaching and great storytelling go hand in hand. He believes in the power of imagination to teach us about God and about life.

Best-Loved Negro Spirituals Complete Lyrics to 178 Songs of Faith
by Nicole Beaulieu Herder


One Body, One Spirit
by George A. Yancey
George Yancey (Ph.D., University of Texas) is associate professor of sociology at the University of North Texas, specializing in race/ethnicity and biracial families.

The Bible and African Americans
by Vincent L. Wimbush
Vincent L. Wimbush is Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Union Theological Seminary, New York City. Author of Paul the Worldly Ascetic (1987).

Mighty Like a River
by Andrew Billingsley
Billingsley (sociology/African American studies, Univ. of South Carolina) has written a short book on a mighty theme: the black church as a major influencing factor in the black community for promoting the general good and a driving force for equality and righteousness.

United by Faith
by Curtiss Paul Deyoung
Now comes a major new call for multiracial congregations in every possible setting--a call that is surprisingly controversial, even in the twenty-first century.

One New People
by Manuel Ortiz
In One New People manual Ortiz persuades us of the benefits in fellowship and outreach that we can experience by crossing racial, ethnic and cultural lines.

An Ethnomusicological Study With Special Emphasis on the Gospel Tradition
by George Robinson Ricks


The Gospel Sound
by Anthony Heilbut
Here is the definitive history of gospel einging. Includes a detailed discography.

In Spirit and in Truth: The Music of African American Worship
by Melva Wilson Costen


African American Musicians
by Eleanora E. Tate
Meet the black musicians who created Americaís greatest music —from the early years to modern times.

Beyond Liberation: The Gospel in the Black American Experience
Carl F. Ellis


African-American Religion
by Albert J. Raboteau
An in-depth examination of African-American history and religion, this comprehensive and lively book provides panoramic coverage of the black religious and social experience in America.

African-American Holiness Pentecostal Movement: An Annotated Bibliography
by Sherry Sherrod Dupree
A valuable resource of african-american churches!

Black Itinerants of the Gospel: The Narratives of John Jea and George White
by George White
These autobiographical narratives of two free African Americans--itinerant preachers in the post-Revolutionary era--offer the reader a rare glimpse into the liberating theology of freed Northern slaves.

Canaan Land
by Albert J. Raboteau
Princeton religion professor Raboteau (Slave Religion and A Fire in the Bones) offers this wonderfully informative and brief introduction to African-American religious traditions.

Diverse Worship
by Pedrito U. Maynard-Reid
His book is an excellent place to start thinking about worship fusion in our diverse culture.

Africana
by Kwame Anthony Appiah
Legendary scholar-activist W.E.B. Du Bois labored to complete an "Encyclopedia Africana" before his death in 1963. Just over 35 years later, two Harvard educators, Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Ghanaian-born Kwame Anthony Appiah, have brought Du Bois' intellectual dream to life in Africana.

Black Magic
by Yvonne Patricia Chireau
Yvonne P. Chireau is Associate Professor of Religion at Swarthmore College and coeditor, with N. Deutsch, of Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism (2000).

Reviving the Spirit: A Generation of African Americans Goes Home to Church
by Beverly Hall Lawrence
Beverly Hall Lawrence gives a wonderful and truthful account of young adults returning to our roots. This book can serve as an aid to understanding the obstacles that confront churches in their recruitment efforts of young men and women under the age of 40.

Evangelism and Discipleship in African-American Churches
by Lee N. June
The church is the crucial center of the African-American community. Yet, while countless books have addressed individual aspects of church life, no comprehensive resource has existed that expertly explores the full scope of African-American church ministry.