CHARIOT IN THE SKY: A Story of the Jubilee Singers

A revised edition of Ama Bontemps' 1951 chronicle of the Jubilee Singers who first introduced spirituals to white audiences and thereby provided financial security for the newly founded Fisk University. Caleb Willows, the self-educated slave whose experiences provide the fictional framework, remains an engagingly admirable hero, and, despite the pre-militant tone, the depiction of the freedmen's debate over the significance and proper use of their musical heritage is still relevantly informative.