View source for Kumbaya

{{Short description|African-American spiritual song}}
{{For|the 2009 Pee Wee song|Cumbayá (song)}}
{{For|the town in Ecuador|Cumbayá}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2011}}
{{Infobox song
| name           = Kum ba yah
| type           = song
| genre          = Gospel, spiritual
| recorded       = 1926, H. Wylie
| image          = Come By Here Kumbaya Transcription of 1926 recording.jpg
| alt            = Transcription of the song "Come By Here" from a 1926 recording by H. Wylie
| caption        = "Come By Here", transcribed by J. Cutting from the singing of H. Wylie, 1926
| misc           = {{Listen
| type = music
| filename    = Kumbaya - earliest known recording (1926).flac
| title       = Come By Here / Kum Ba Ya / Kumbaya
| description = Earliest known recording (1926)
| pos         =
}}
}}

"'''Kum ba yah'''" ("Come by here") is an [[African-American spiritual]] of disputed origin, known to have been sung in the [[Gullah]] culture of the [[Sea Islands|islands off South Carolina and Georgia]], with ties to enslaved [[Central Africans in the United States|Central Africans]]. Originally an appeal to [[God]] to come to the aid of those in need,<ref name="winick-folknews">{{cite web| last = Winick | first = Stephen | title = The World's First 'Kumbaya' Moment: New Evidence about an Old Song | publisher = Folklife Center News, [[Library of Congress]] | date = Summer–Fall 2010 | url = https://www.loc.gov/folklife/news/pdf/FCNews32_3-4_opt.pdf | access-date = March 1, 2014}}</ref> the song is thought to have spread from the islands to other Southern states and the North, as well as to other places outside the United States.

The first known recording was made by the folklorist [[Robert Winslow Gordon]] in 1926. It features an unaccompanied [[tenor]] voice identified only as "H. Wylie" singing in the [[Gullah language]]. The piece became a standard [[campfire song]] in [[Scouting]] and [[summer camp]]s and enjoyed broader popularity during the [[folk revival]] of the 1950s and 1960s. In [[American politics]], the song title gave rise to the phrase "[[wikt:sing Kumbaya|sing Kumbaya]]", a [[thought-terminating cliché]] depicting peaceful goals as [[compromise]]s that leave other concerns ignored.

==Origins==
According to the [[Library of Congress]] editor Stephen Winick, the song almost certainly originated among [[African Americans]] in the [[Southeastern United States]]. A [[Gullah language|Gullah]] version emerged early in its history, even if the song did not originate in that dialect.<ref name="winick-folknews"/> The two oldest versions whose year of origin is known for certain were both collected in 1926, and both reside in the Library's [[American Folklife Center]]. No precise month or day was recorded for either version, so either may be the earliest known version of the song. One was submitted as a high-school collecting project by a student named Minnie Lee to her teacher, [[Julian P. Boyd]], later a professor of history at [[Princeton University]] and president of the [[American Historical Association]]. This version, collected in [[Alliance, North Carolina]], is a manuscript featuring lyrics but no music. The other 1926 version was recorded on a [[Phonograph cylinder|wax cylinder]] by [[Robert Winslow Gordon]], founder of what began as the Library of Congress [[Archive of Folk Song]], which became the [[American Folklife Center]]. The singer's name was H. Wylie, and the song was recorded within a few hours' drive of [[Darien, Georgia]], although Gordon did not note the exact location. Between 1926 and 1928, Gordon recorded three more versions of traditional [[Spiritual (music)|spirituals]] with the refrain "come by here" or "come by heah". One of these is a different song concerning the story of [[Daniel in the lions' den]]. Of the other two, one has been lost, and one cylinder was broken, so it cannot be determined if they are versions of "Kumbaya".<ref name="winick-folknews"/>

According to an article in ''Kodaly Envoy'' by Lum Chee-Hoo, some time between 1922 and 1931, members of the Society for the Preservation of Spirituals<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gullahspirituals.org/ |website=The Society for the Preservation of Spirituals |title=Gullah Spirituals |access-date=23 December 2018}}</ref> collected a version from the South Carolina coast.<ref name="weiss-dallasnews">{{cite web
  | last = Jeffery
  | first = Weiss
  | title = 'Kumbaya': How did a sweet simple song become a mocking metaphor?
  | publisher = [[The Dallas Morning News]]
  | date = November 12, 2006
  | url = http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/DN-kumbaya_11rel.ART0.State.Edition1.3e6da2d.html
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080914095037/http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/DN-kumbaya_11rel.ART0.State.Edition1.3e6da2d.html
  | archive-date = September 14, 2008
  | access-date = July 17, 2008}}</ref> "Come by Yuh", as they called it, was sung in [[Gullah language|Gullah]], the [[creole language]] spoken by the formerly enslaved Africans and their descendants living on the [[Sea Islands]] of [[South Carolina]] and [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], as well as [[the Bahamas]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Mama Lisa'a World-Kumbaya |url=http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=108&c=23 |access-date=November 1, 2008}}</ref> It is possible this is the earliest version, if it was collected before 1926. Because the individual songs in this society's publications are not dated, however, it cannot be dated with certainty to before 1931.<ref name="winick-folknews"/>

In May 1936, [[John Lomax]], Gordon's successor as head of the Archive of Folk Song, discovered a woman named Ethel Best singing "Come by Here" with a group in [[Raiford, Florida]].<ref name="stern-journalnews">{{cite web
  | last = Stern
  | first = Gary
  | title = "Kumbaya, My Lord:" Why we sing it; why we hate it.
  | publisher = The Journal News
  | date = June 27, 2009
  | url = http://www.lohud.com/article/20090627/COLUMNIST/906270343/%5C-Kumbaya--My-Lord-%5C--Why-we-sing-it--why-we-hate-it
  | access-date = February 1, 2010}}</ref>

These facts contradict the longstanding [[copyright]] and authorship attribution to the white [[Anglo-Americans|Anglo-American]] songwriter Reverend Marvin V. Frey (1918–1992),<ref name="weiss-dallasnews"/> who claimed to have written the song circa 1936 under the title "Come By Here", inspired, he said, by a prayer he heard delivered by "Mother Duffin", a storefront evangelist in [[Portland, Oregon]]. It first appeared in this version in ''Revival Choruses of Marvin V. Frey'', a lyric sheet printed in that city in 1939. In an interview at the Library of Congress quoted by Winick,<ref name="winick-folknews"/> Frey said the change of the title to "Kum Ba Yah" came about in 1946, when a missionary family named Cunningham returned from Africa. where they had sung Frey's version. According to Frey, they brought back a partly translated version, and "Kum Ba Yah" was an African phrase from [[Angola]] (specifically in [[Luvale]]). Frey said the Cunninghams then toured America singing the song with the text "Kum Ba Yah".<ref name="winick-folknews"/>

The story of an African origin for the phrase circulated in several versions, spread also by the revival group the Folksmiths, whose liner notes for the song stated that "Kum Ba Yah" was brought to America from Angola.<ref name="winick-folknews"/> As Winick points out, however:

{{quote|According to Frey, then, the pronunciation "Kum Ba Yah" originated when Luvale-speaking people in Angola and Zaire translated "Come by Here" into their language. That strains credibility on several levels, primarily that "Come by Here" translated into Luvale would not be "Kum Ba Yah"; indeed, for "Come by Here" to translate to "Kum Ba Yah," the target language would have to be a creole with English as one of its main components, and no such language was common in Angola (then still a Portuguese colony) or [[Zaire]] (a country formerly colonized by Belgium, whose primary colonial language was French) in the 1930s. Moreover, the AFC's cylinder recording of H. Wylie shows that we have no need of such a story. In Wylie's dialect, which is most likely a form of Gullah, the word "here" is pronounced as "yah," rendering the song's most repeated line "come by yah," a phrase that can be phonetically rendered as either "Kum Ba Yah" or "Kumbaya."<ref name="winick-folknews"/>}}

Although it is often said that the song originated in Gullah, Winick further points out that the Boyd manuscript, which may be the earliest version of the song, was probably not collected from a Gullah speaker.<ref name="winick-folknews"/>

A [[single (music)|45-rpm]] recording in a contemporary [[Gospel music|gospel]] style was released in 1958 by Little Sugar and the Hightower Brothers as "Come by Here", on the [[Savoy Records|Savoy]] label (backed with "At the Golden Gate").<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=The Billboard |title=Reviews of New Pop Records |date=December 8, 1958 |page=41 |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/50s/1958/Billboard%201958-12-08.pdf |access-date=July 19, 2025}}</ref>

==Folk music revival and the civil rights movement==
The Folksmiths, including [[Joe Hickerson]], recorded the song in 1957,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://media.smithsonianfolkways.org/liner_notes/folkways/FW02407.pdf |title=Smithsonian Folkways, ''We've Got Some Singing to Do'', FW02407 |access-date=January 4, 2015 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303192403/http://media.smithsonianfolkways.org/liner_notes/folkways/FW02407.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> as did [[Pete Seeger]] in 1958.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ruhlmann |first1=William |title=Pete Seeger and Sonny Terry at Carnegie Hall (1958) |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/pete-seeger-and-sonny-terry-at-carnegie-hall-mw0000861879 |website=AllMusic |publisher=Netaktion, LLC |access-date=31 January 2021}}</ref> Hickerson credited [[Tony Saletan]], a Boston-based singer, songfinder, teacher, and children's educational television pioneer, for introducing him to "Kumbaya".<ref name="winick-folknews"/> (Hickerson later succeeded Gordon and Lomax at the [[American Folklife Center]], successor to the Archive of Folk Song.)<ref>{{cite news |last=Zorn |first=Eric |title=Someone's dissin', Lord, kumbaya |publisher=[[Chicago Tribune]] |url = http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2006/08/someones_dissin.html |access-date=January 11, 2008 |date = August 31, 2006}}</ref> Saletan had learned it from Lynn Rohrbough, co-proprietor with his wife Katherine of the camp songbook and hymnal publisher Cooperative Recreation Service, predecessor to World Around Songs.<ref name="weiss-dallasnews"/><ref name="stern-journalnews"/><ref>Amy, Ernest F. (1957). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4317679 Cooperative Recreation Service: A unique project]. Midwest Folklore 7 (4, Winter): 202–6. ISSN 0737-7037. OCLC 51288821.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.worldaroundsongs.com/pages/Our-History.html |title=World Around Songs: Our History |access-date=July 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208212749/http://www.worldaroundsongs.com/pages/Our-History.html |archive-date=December 8, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Cooperate Recreation Service first published "Kumbaya" in its January 1956 pamphlet ''Song Sampler'' as well as the 1956 edition of ''Hymns of Universal Praise'' (for the North East Ohio Conference of the Methodist Church)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Averill |first1=Patricia |title=Kumbaya Copyrights |url=https://kumbayacomebyhere.blogspot.com/2023/10/kumbaya-copyrights.html |website=Kum Ba Yah - Come By Here |publisher=Blogspot.com |access-date=8 September 2025 |date=October 15, 2023}}</ref> and then in many others of its collections.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Averill |first1=Patricia |title=Bliss Wiant - Kum Ba Yah |url=https://kumbayacomebyhere.blogspot.com/2022/10/bliss-wiant-kum-ba-yah.html |website=Kum Ba Yah - Come By Here |publisher=Blogspot.com |access-date=8 September 2025 |date=October 2, 2022}}</ref>  Saletan performed the song on April 14, 1957, at the [[Swarthmore College |Swarthmore]] Folk Festival,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Averill |first1=Patricia |title=Tony Saletan - Kumbayah |url=https://kumbayacomebyhere.blogspot.com/search/label/Saletan |website=Kum Ba Yah - Come By Here |publisher=Blogspot.com |access-date=8 September 2025 |date=March 26, 2023}}</ref> but never recorded it; however, he can be heard singing and discussing "Kumbaya" in a 2017 podcast interview.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wilhelm |first1=Dorothy |title=Tony Saletan |url=https://pod.co/swimming-upstream-radio-show?search=saletan |website=Swimming Upstream Radio Show |publisher=Its Never Too Late |access-date=29 November 2024 |date=September 17, 2017}}</ref>
The song enjoyed newfound popularity during the [[American folk music revival]] of the early to mid-1960s, largely due to [[Joan Baez]]'s 1962 recording of the song,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Semioli |first1=Tom |title=Joan Baez in Concert, Pt. 1 (1962) |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/joan-baez-in-concert-pt-1-mw0000309384 |website=AllMusic |publisher=Netaktion, LLC |access-date=31 January 2021}}</ref> and became associated with the [[civil rights movement]] of that decade. For example, there is a recording of marchers singing the song as "Come By Here" during the [[Selma to Montgomery marches|1965 Selma-to-Montgomery (Alabama) march]] for voting rights.<ref>{{cite web |title=Freedom Songs: Selma, Alabama |url=https://folkways.si.edu/marchers/come-by-here/african-american-music-american-history-struggle-protest/music/track/smithsonian |website=Smithsonian Folkways Recordings |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=10 July 2020}}</ref>

== Political usage ==
The title of the song is often used [[Sarcasm|sarcastically]] in [[English-speaking world|English-speaking countries]], either to make fun of [[spirituality]] and [[interpersonal relationships]] or to criticize their superficiality.

Beginning in the 1990s and increasing in the following decades, references to "Kumbaya" or "singing 'Kumbaya{{'"}} entered [[idiom]]atic usage in the [[politics of the United States]], often to suggest that someone other than the speaker is too conciliatory or eager to compromise.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2012/01/13/145059502/when-did-kumbaya-become-such-a-bad-thing |title=When Did 'Kumbaya' Become Such A Bad Thing? |last=Weeks |first=Linton |date=2012-01-13 |website=NPR.org |language=en |access-date=2019-07-19}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2016/03/how-kumbaya-went-from-american-songbook-staple-to-a-symbol-of-naive-smug-utopianism.html |title=How "Kumbaya" Went From Sincere Protest Song to Drippy Punch Line |last=Waldman |first=Katy |date=2016-03-29 |website=Slate Magazine |language=en |access-date=2019-07-19}}</ref> [[Richard Vatz]] has characterized these references to the song as sarcastic criticism of consensus "that allegedly does not examine the issues or is revelatory of cockeyed optimism."<ref name=":0" />

For example, in discussing the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]], [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Barack Obama]] commented that the substantive disagreements between the parties "can't be reduced to somehow a matter of let's all hold hands and sing 'Kumbaya.{{'"}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/03/24/obama-news-conference/70383912/ |title=Obama says Netanyahu differences go beyond 'Kumbaya' |website=USA TODAY |language=en|access-date=2019-07-19}}</ref> Many other high-profile political figures have similarly referred derisively to the singing of the song as a way of expressing doubt or disparagement for potential compromise.<ref name=":1" /> Former [[List of governors of Arkansas|Arkansas Governor]] [[Mike Huckabee]] explained his skepticism that ideologically aligned candidates in the [[2012 Republican Party presidential primaries]] would unite around a single individual by saying, "there's not going to be some magic moment at which three or four of these people sit around a campfire toasting marshmallows, singing 'Kumbaya' and giving the nod to one of their competitors."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/01/mike-huckabee-says-mitt-romney-may-run-table-to-nomination |title=Mike Huckabee Says Mitt Romney May Run Table to Nomination |last=Stephanopoulos |first=George |date=2012-01-08 |website=ABC News |language=en |access-date=2019-07-19}}</ref> Businessman and political candidate [[Herman Cain]], speaking to a rally in 2011, said, "Singing ‘Kumbaya’ is not a foreign policy strategy."<ref name=":0" />

==Lyrics==
{| class="wikitable" width="800
!align="center" width="270"|Version No. 1<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/1w3Lm_gu-ZY Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20120616082032/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w3Lm_gu-ZY&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w3Lm_gu-ZY |title=Kumbaya |author=Mitra |date=September 6, 2009 |publisher=YouTube |language=en, fa}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
!align="center" width="260"|Version No. 2<ref>{{cite web |url=http://evangeliser.nu/Lovsange/Kumbaya_my_Lord.pdf |title=Kumbaya, my Lord |website=evangeliser.nu |access-date=2 December 2015 }}</ref>
!align="center" width="320"|Version No. 3
!align="center" width="260"|Version No. 4<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/1jjcxFGEysE Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20101019160342/http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=1jjcxFGEysE Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jjcxFGEysE |title=Kumbaya my Lord |author=Sacro Capo |date=March 11, 2009 |publisher=YouTube }}{{cbignore}}</ref>
|-
|align="center" |
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya,<br />
O Lord, kum bay ya.
|align="center" |
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya,<br />
O Lord, kum bay ya.
|align="center" |
Someone need you, Lord, come by here<br />
Someone need you, Lord, come by here<br />
Someone need you, Lord, come by here<br />
Oh, Lord, come by here.
|align="center" |
For the sun, that rises in the sky<br />
For the rhythm of the falling rain<br />
For all life, great or small<br />
For all that's true, for all you do.
|-
|align="center" |
Someone's laughing, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Someone's laughing, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Someone's laughing, my Lord, kum bay ya,<br />
O Lord, kum bay ya.
|align="center" |
Hear me crying, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Hear me crying, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Hear me crying, my Lord, kum bay ya,<br />
O Lord, kum bay ya.
|align="center" |
Now I need you, Lord, come by here<br />
Sinners need you, Lord, come by here<br />
Sinners need you, Lord, come by here<br />
Oh, Lord, come by here.
|align="center" |
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya,<br />
O Lord, kum bay ya.
|-
|align="center" |
Someone's crying, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Someone's crying, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Someone's crying, my Lord, kum bay ya,<br />
O Lord, kum bay ya.
|align="center" |
Hear me singing, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Hear me singing, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Hear me singing, my Lord, kum bay ya,<br />
O Lord, kum bay ya.
|align="center" |
Come by here, my Lord, come by here,<br />
Come by here, my Lord, come by here,<br />
Come by here, my Lord, come by here,<br />
Oh, Lord, come by here.
|align="center" |
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya,<br />
O Lord, kum bay ya.
|-
|align="center" |
Someone's praying, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Someone's praying, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Someone's praying, my Lord, kum bay ya,<br />
O Lord, kum bay ya.
|align="center" |
Hear me praying, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Hear me praying, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Hear me praying, my Lord, kum bay ya,<br />
O Lord, kum bay ya.
|align="center" |
In the mornin' see, Lord, come by here,<br />
In the mornin' see, Lord, come by here,<br />
In the mornin' see, Lord, come by here,<br />
Oh, Lord, come by here.
|align="center" |
For the second on this world you made,<br />
For the love that will never fade,<br />
For a heart beating with joy,<br />
For all that's real, for all we feel.
|-
|align="center" |
Someone's singing, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Someone's singing, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Someone's singing, my Lord, kum bay ya,<br />
O Lord, kum bay ya.
|align="center" |
Oh, I need you, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Oh, I need you, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Oh, I need you, my Lord, kum bay ya,<br />
O Lord, kum bay ya.
|align="center" |
I gon' need you, Lord, come by here,<br />
I gon' need you, Lord, come by here,<br />
I gon' need you, Lord, come by here,<br />
Oh, Lord, come by here.
|align="center" |
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya,<br />
O Lord, kum bay ya.
|-
|align="center" |

|align="center" |

|align="center" |
Oh, Sinners need you, Lord, come by here,<br />
Sinners need you, Lord, come by here,<br />
Sinners need you, Lord, come by here,<br />
Oh my Lord, won't you come by here.
|align="center" |
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;<br />
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya,<br />
O Lord, kum bay ya.
|-
|
|
|align="center" |
In the morning - morning, won't you come by here<br />
Mornin' - morning, won't you come by here<br />
In the Mornin' - morning, won't you come by here<br />
Oh, Lord, come by here.
|
|}

Additional stanzas by Barry Moore (1973), in the songbook ''Sing and Rejoice'', Herald Press (1979):

{{Poem quote|In Your Body, Lord, we are one.
In Your Body, Lord, we are one.
In Your Body, Lord, we are one.
O Lord, we are one.

In his banquet, Lord, we find strength.
In his banquet, Lord, we find strength.
In his banquet, Lord, we find strength.
O Lord, we find strength.

Draw us nearer, Lord, each to each.
Draw us nearer, Lord, each to each.
Draw us nearer, Lord, each to each.
O Lord, each to each.

Fill our mind, Lord, with Your peace.
Fill our mind, Lord, with Your peace.
Fill our mind, Lord, with Your peace.
O Lord, with Your peace.

Undivided, Lord, we shall stand.
Undivided, Lord, we shall stand.
Undivided, Lord, we shall stand.
O Lord, we shall stand.}}

== See also ==
* [[Christian child's prayer#Spirituals|Christian child's prayer § Spirituals]]
* [[Civil rights movement in popular culture]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* Winick, Stephen. [https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2018/02/kumbaya-history-of-an-old-song/ ''Kumbaya: History of an Old Song''] at ''Folklife Today'', [[Library of Congress]] blog. February 6, 2018
* Winick, Stephen. [https://web.archive.org/web/20221208002411/https://www.loc.gov/folklife/news/pdf/FCNews32_3-4_opt.pdf ''The World's First "Kumbaya" Moment: New Evidence about an Old Song'']. Earlier version of ''Kumbaya: History of an Old Song''. Folklife Center News, Volume 32, Nos. 3-4, Summer/Fall 2010, pp. 3-10. Washington, D.C., [[American Folklife Center]], [[Library of Congress]], 2010
   
{{Civil rights movement|state=collapsed}}
{{Gullah topics|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:African-American spiritual songs]]
[[Category:American Christian hymns]]
[[Category:Gullah culture]]
[[Category:Songs of the civil rights movement]]