The Anthem of 1865: The Musical Response to the Violence or the Civil War and Birth of Shaw Universtiy.
Hymnody and religious music within the Christian church has often overlooked the wide array of genres related to the African American experience. Violence imposed upon people of African descent has birthed a very specific subset of Christian music, negro spirituals and anthems written by African American composers. This paper seeks to explore the "back story" of the Anthem of 1865, written by an alumnus of Shaw University, the one of the oldest Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the South. The musical score was written to the tune of Nun danket alle Gott (Now Thank We All Our God), by a fellow alumnus of the same institution. The verses tell a specific story of the pain and violence the students of this institution had to endure, yet the anthem speaks to the hope and "bright future" of all who have been educated within it's sacred walls. A review of literature in hymnody, sacred texts, African American history, and violence during the period of Reconstruction will ground this research.