The students gathered on the stage, 40 strong, ready to reach back in time beyond their grandparents' generation.
As part of the African American Choral Ensemble, a group of Evansville students in grades six through 12, they sang the kind of music you hear in many black churches on Sunday morning, the kind of music civil rights leaders sang when things looked bleak. They sang songs of hope, songs of encouragement. Singing high; swinging low.
Gospel music, though not unique to blacks, was especially important because of the roles it played in society. First, slaves sang coded messages of escape; then, the uneducated learned Bible verses through call-and-response choruses; later, it gave hope to a people fighting a way of life.
"I remember my grandmother saying, 'God gives me a song during the night season,'" said James Hamler, music minister at Nazarene Missionary Baptist Church in Evansville, who grew up in Purvis, Miss., a small town near Hattiesburg.
- 2.4 million Number of black military veterans in the United States in 2005. (More military veterans are black than any other minority group.)
- 2.3 million Number of black college students in fall 2004. (This was an increase of roughly 1 million from 15 years earlier.)
- $88.6 billion Revenues for black-owned businesses in 2002, up 24 percent from 1997. (The number of black-owned businesses totaled 1.2 million in 2002, up by 45 percent since 1997. Black-owned firms accounted for 5 percent of all nonfarm businesses in the United States.)
- $30,858 The annual median income of black households in 2005. (In constant dollars, this is up from $25,642 in 1985.)
- $33,077 The 2005 median earnings of black men 15 years old and older who worked full time, year-round. (This compares with the median earnings of $29,672 for corresponding black women.)
- 24.9 percent Poverty rate in 2005 for those reporting black as their only race. (The rate in 1985 was 31.3 percent.)
- 19.6 percent The percentage of blacks (who reported no other race) lacking health insurance in 2005. (The rate was unchanged from 2004.)
- 39.7 million As of July 1, 2005, the estimated population of black residents in the United States, including those of more than one race. (They made up 13.4 percent of the total U.S. population. This figure represents an increase of half a million residents from one year earlier.)
- 61.4 million The projected single-race black population of the United States as of July 1, 2050. (On that date, according to the projection, blacks would constitute 15 percent of the nation's total population.)
- 31 percent The proportion of the black population younger than 18 as of July 1, 2005. (At the other end of the spectrum, 8 percent of the black population was 65 or older.)
- 44 percent Nationally, the percentage of black families containing a married-couple family. (Source: 2005 American Community Survey)
- 46 percent Nationally, the percentage of black households who lived in owner-occupied homes. (The rate was higher in certain states, such as Mississippi, where it reached 56 percent.)
- 26 percent The percentage of blacks age 16 and older who work in management, professional and related occupations. (There are 44,000 black physicians and surgeons, 79,400 postsecondary teachers, 45,200 lawyers, and 49,300 chief executives.)
- Source: U.S. Census Bureau
"She was talking about the hard times, the dark times in her life, when she was sad, or depressed, or lonely. 'Whenever I'm experiencing a night season, God always gives me a song of hope.'"
Evansville community leaders make January and February a time to celebrate Black History Month, starting with the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Service in early January and continuing - with close to 20 readings, concerts and observances - through the end of this month (some museum exhibits even spill over into March and April). A common thread for at least half of these celebrations is gospel music, performed by church and community choirs and school choral ensembles.
The African American Chorale Ensemble is an after-school program run by Ira Neal, consultant for the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corp. It has more than 70 members, not all of whom play at every show. Most are black, but, Neal says, anyone with good grades and a love of gospel is welcome.
They perform several in-school programs throughout the year, and part of what they sing is Christian gospel. The purpose is educational, Neal said, not evangelical, and though he can't recall any students' complaints, anyone who would be uncomfortable wouldn't have to stay and listen. The concerts are just one of many programs given at the schools, Neal said.
The last show the ensemble played in January was at Harper School, and it was a history lesson of sorts. Among the first songs was "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," which Neal told the audience was a tribute to Abraham Lincoln.
They also did "Shake the Foundation," a fast, loud number.
Neal encouraged the audience to stand and clap. Churches with gospel choirs aren't passive places, he said.
"Gospel music can not only be spiritually uplifting, it can also be really entertaining," Hamler said.
"You can't just sing there with no feeling and emotion. It is part of what we do as gospel singers; it is entertaining.
"They want to see you move, they want you to throw up your hands, they want you to jump. It excites the people."
Gospel music began to take on a more urban feel in the 1920s when artists such as Thomas A. Dorsey changed the rhythms and added instrumentation.
The music was popularized in the 1950s and 1960s in part by singers and groups such as the Caravans, who traveled the country performing in cities where they weren't allowed to stay in hotels or eat in restaurants.
The contemporary gospel period in the late 1960s began with the crossover success of Edwin Hawkins' funked-up version of "Oh, Happy Day."
It has since split into an urban contemporary category that sounds almost like rhythm and blues, and even a gospel hip hop category.
Some songs turn up in churches year-round; others are performed mostly in February, Hamler said.
"Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" is performed at every King or black history event. He said most people don't consider it a religious song, but it's in the Baptist hymnal.
"It really is a song of encouragement," Hamler said.
"This was the song that our people could hold onto. It made us a proud people."
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