“I am a musician whose ambition in life is the advancement of my people, and who believes absolutely in equality of opportunity for all peoples, regardless of race, creed, or color, or previous condition of servitude.”

Expressing a lifelong commitment to racial equality through music and education · Annual Report to Dr. Gregg, 1918

• Advocacy
• Ambition
• Equality

“Suddenly it seemed I heard again the frail voice of my long departed grandmother calling across the years; and in a rush of emotion which stirred my spirit to its very center, the meaning of the songs which had given her soul such peace was revealed to me.”

Describing the pivotal moment when spirituals became the foundation of his compositional mission · Recollection of hearing Dvořák at Oberlin

• Heritage
• Inspiration
• Memory

“There was poured into the astonished and delighted ears of the world an indigenous music, sung by its own creators, a music as fresh as the morning, as intimate as the breath and as vital as the heartbeat.”

Celebrating the vitality and authenticity of the spiritual as a distinctive cultural contribution · On African American spirituals

• Heritage
• Music
• Vitality