No Man Can Hinder Me: The Journey from Slavery to Emancipation Through Song

by Velma Maia Thomas

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0609607197
• ISBN13: 9780609607190
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 10.1" x 10.2"

Customer Reviews

excellent

I bought this on sale at Borders years ago and play the CD over and over. The CD is incredibly moving, the voices touch my heart every time I listen to it. The book and CD tell a story, our story, an uniquely American story, that all of us should know regardless of our ethnicity

A Jem of a Book

Don't let the sparseness of 40 pages fool you. This book is choke full of slave narratives, historical facts, song lyrics, and just plain impassioned writing. I'm using this book with a group of Japanese university students for whom knowledge of the African-American experience is very limited, and they have found this book to be very exciting. The CD is good, too, although I augment it with a lot of Folkways/Smithsonian, Rounder, and Arhoolie CDs.

If you love spirituals...

I recently acquired this book after viewing Roots in its entirety for the first time and although I had learned a decent amount about slavery before coming in to contact with both of these fascinating, moving works, Ms. Thomas' book, despite its relative brevity, is a valuable addition to any library of African American history. I feel it shares many parallels with Roots, as it starts where Roots does--in Africa, introducing one to lovely African rhythms with the accompaning CD. The CD is worth the price of the book alone and contains wonderful performances in its 18 tracks including Kumbaya, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, John Brown's Body and many more, all performed as they would have been performed originally, a capella. A beautiful book filled with intriguing photographs, documents, facts & anecdotes which surprise and enlighten you. Well worth the time & money!