His Prayers Became America’s First Negro Spirituals
Black History Year
PushBlack
4.6 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 October 2025
⏱️ 3 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We can all agree that singing is sometimes the best way to lift our spirits. That was also true for our ancestors when it came to spirituals. And this makes sense, as so many of them were composed by an enslaved man. Here’s why we need to know who he was.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Wallace Willis was toiling under the blistering heat when he noticed the beauty of sunlight glimmering on a nearby river. |
| 0:12.0 | He started humming, and the melody became a song we all know today. |
| 0:17.6 | I'm Len, and this is Two-Minute black history. What You Didn't Learn in School. |
| 0:47.5 | Willis was known across the plantation for composing and singing songs while he did the grueling field labor. |
| 0:56.2 | Singing helped pass the time and raise his spirits. His singing offered his community some reprieve, and they too sang along. |
| 1:00.8 | Willis was periodically hired out to Spencer Academy. |
| 1:07.7 | One day, the Reverend Alexander Reed overheard Willis's singing and was impressed by his compositions. |
| 1:13.9 | So in 1871, Reed attended a performance by the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University, an all-black singing group. Reed shared Willis's songs with them. Among them were |
| 1:21.3 | swing low, sweet chariot, and steal away to Jesus. The Jubilee singers sang Willis's song as they toured |
| 1:30.2 | the United States and Europe. In 1883, Reed requested that Fisk University credit Willis |
| 1:37.6 | for his musical contributions to their history. Many of our beloved Negro spirituals started as a sung prayer on a plantation. |
| 1:48.0 | Despite living in deplorable conditions, Willis sang the truth that lived inside of him. |
| 1:54.7 | Liberation. |
| 1:55.3 | Liberation. Black liberation is when we each cultivate liberation from within. |
| 2:21.6 | So tell me, what's your freedom song? |
| 2:25.4 | In order to move towards the future, you've got to look to the past. |
| 2:29.5 | This has been two-minute black history. |
| 2:32.1 | A podcast by Push Black. |
| 2:33.9 | If you enjoyed this episode and |
| 2:35.2 | want to show your support, please rate and subscribe to our podcast. Together, let's celebrate |
| 2:40.0 | and honor the legacy of black history. You know, |
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