No Man Can Hinder Me

Book excerpt: In an extraordinary book and CD package, the talented, charismatic author of Lest We Forget chronicles the harsh realities of slavery and brilliantly brings to life the spirit of a people determined to be free. A vibrant legacy of the past and an expression of hope for the future, African-American songs and spirituals formed an oral history during the perilous era of slavery. Illustrated with photographs, drawings, and reproductions of original documents, No Man Can Hinder Me traces the spiritual from its arrival in America to its importance as a mode of secret communication, to its role after Emancipation. Celebrated author and lecturer Velma Maia Thomas not only tells the story of these songs, she presents more than a dozen glorious examples-many of them never-before-recorded arrangements-on a CD specially created for this book. With performances by Thomas and other well-known vocalists, including members of the Morehouse College Glee Club as well some of Atlanta's foremost gospel singers, the CD evokes a sense of community and the dream of earthly and spiritual freedom that sustained African-Americans through the ordeal of slavery.