The roots of Black gospel music can be ultimately traced to the hymnals of the 19th century. A collection of spiritual songs and hymns selected from various authors (1801) was the first hymnal intended for use in Black worship. It contained texts written mostly by 18th-century British clergymen, such as Issac watts and Charles Wesley., but also included a number of poems by Black American Richard Allen-the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal church-and his parishioners. The volume contained no music, however,leaving the congregation to sing the texts to well-known hymn tunes . After the Civil war Black hymnals began to include music, but most of the arrangements employed the rhythmically and melodically straight-foward, unembellished style of white hymnody.
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