Slavery and the eclipse of the African Gods, 1760-1860
The crucible of the Anglo-African conscience, 1861-1893
The vale of tears, 1894-1919
The Civil Rights ethos, 1956-1980
Postmodern African-American worlds, 1981-1994.
PART 1. SLAVERY AND THE ECLIPSE OF THE AFRICAN GODS, 1760-1860 : Penitential cries to God (1760) / Jupiter Hammon
A prayer for new birth (1776) / Lemuel Haynes
A mother's prayer fo the child in her womb (1779) / Phillis Wheatley
A prayer for faith (1787-1830) / Richard Allen
A prayer for hope (1787-1830) / Richard Allen
A prayer for love (1787-1830) / Richard Allen
A Thanksgiving prayer for the abolition of the African slave trade (1808) / Absalom Jones
A prayer for sanctification (1808?) / Jarena Lee
A prayer for Africa's children (1808) / Peter Williams, Jr.
A prayer for trust (1817) / Peter Williams, Jr.
A prayer for the abolition of slavery (1813) / George Lawrence
A slave woman's prayer (1816) / (Stephen Hays)
A desire to know our characters (1816) / John Jea
For the morning (1816) / John Jea
Prayers from a pilgrim's journal (1820) / Daniel Coker
A prophet's plea to God (1829) / David Walker
And now what wait we for? (1835) / Maria W. Stewart
A prayer for divine companionship (1835) / Maria W. Stewart
A prayer for holy zeal (1835) / Maria W. Stewart
A prayer for the children of Africa in America (1835) / Maria W. Stewart
A prayer for purification (1835) / Maria W. Stewart
A prayer for vision (1835) / Maria W. Stewart
O God, this great work is thine (1835) / Maria W. Stewart
Purge us from all our dross (1835) / Maria W. Stewart
The hour of prayer (1837) / Daniel Alexander Payne
Prayer for dedication of a church edifice (1848) / Daniel Alexander Payne
A teacher's prayer (1841) / Ann Plato
Instructions in the midst of prayer (1843) / Rebecca Cox Jackson
A pastor's last prayer for his people (1854) / London Ferrill
A slave mother's doleful prayer (1858?) / Fannie Woods.
PART 2. THE CRUCIBLE OF THE ANGLO-AFRICAN CONSCIENCE, 1861-1893 : A piteous prayer to a hidden God (1861) / (Harriet A. Jacobs)
A poor Negro's prayer (1864) / (Anonymous)
A sacred ode: a prayer for the consecration of a pulpit (1866) / Daniel Alexander Payne
A prayer for the mourner's bench (1867) / An anonymous "colored" woman
Poetic prayer for a new day (1870) / Charles Henry Phillips
A prayer at Westminster Abbey (1878) / James Theodore Holly
Always pray (1878) / Sojourner Truth
We bless God (1888) / Alexander Crummell
A benediction for a peaceful soul (1889) / Anthony Binga, Jr.
A prayer for power (1889) / Orrin Stone
Doxology (1890) / Josephine Delphine Henderson Heard
I will look up (1890) / Josephine Delphine Henderson Heard
Matin hymn (1890) / Josephine Delphine Henderson Heard
Thou lovest me (1890) / Josephine Delphine Henderson Heard
Unuttered prayer (1890) / Josephine Delphine Henderson Heard
A slave mother's prayer (1890) / Sallie Smith
Some prayers of slave children (1890) / Sallie Smith
A bishop's benediction (1892) / Singleton Thomas Jones
O God, save me (1893) / Frederick Douglass
A conversation with the Lord (1893) / Amanda Smith.
PART 3. THE VALE OF TEARS, 1894-1919 : A prayer for spiritual assurance (1894) / Charles Price Jones
As I am running (1906) / Charles Price Jones
Lord, rebuke thy servant not (1906) / Charles Price Jones
Prayer for consecration (1906) / Charles Price Jones
Our plea (1894) / Benjamin Tucker Tanner
Hidden grief (1895) / Benjamin Tucker Tanner
Who? (1895) / Benjamin Tucker Tanner
Ah, tender soul (1899) / Benjamin Tucker Tanner
Again and one more time (1895) / (Anonymous)
The sun done rose (1895) / (Anonymous)
An offering (1895) / Eloise Alberta Veronica Bibb
Lead gently, Lord (1895) / Paul Laurence Dunbar
The warrior's prayer (1895) / Paul Laurence Dunbar
When storms arise (1895) / Paul Laurence Dunbar
The soul's thirst (1895) / Lewis Ruffin Nichols
A psalm of the soul (1896) / Katherine Davis Chapman Tillman
A hymn of praise (1902) / Katherine Davis Chapman Tillman
Elijah's stay (1898) / John B. Smalls
A prayer for the human heart (1898) / John B. Smalls
A slave father's prayer (1898) / Jacob Stroyer
Lord God, to whom our fathers pray'd (1899) / Benjamin Griffith Brawley
A hymn (1900) / Priscilla Jane Thompson
A prayer (1907) / Priscilla Jane Thompson
The century prayer (1901) / James Ephraim McGirt
Stand by me (1905) / Charles Albert Tindley
A litany of Atlanta (1906) / William Edward Burghardt Du Bois
Give us grace (1909-1910) / William Edward Burghardt Du Bois
A prayer for endurance (1909-1910) / William Edward Burghardt Du Bois
A prayer for vision and thought (1909-1910) / William Edward Burghardt Du Bois
The prayers of God (1914) / William Edward Burghardt Du Bois
A vision at the great Azusa prayer meetings (1907) / Charles Harrison Mason
An exhortative invocation (1919) / Charles Harrison Mason
I'll follow thee (1908) / Clara Ann Thompson
Out of the deep: a prayer (1908) / Clara Ann Thompson
Storm-beaten (1908) / Clara Ann Thompson
Appeal to heaven (1914) / Maurice N. Corbett
Lord, your weak servants bow (1914) / Maurice N. Corbett
Thou hast supplied my every need (1916-1918) / Theodore Henry Shackelford
A prayer for the nations (1918) / Walter Henderson Brooks.
PART 4. THE NEW NEGRO, 1920-1955 : Cleave us a way, O Lord (1920) / Raymond Garfield Dandridge
God of our weary years (1921) / James Weldon Johnson
A prayer for Good Friday (1923) / George Alexander McGuire
A prayer for the synod ... (1924) / George Alexander McGuire
We are fully in thy sight (1924) / Charles Albert Tindley
Pagan prayer (1925) / Countee Porter Cullen
The shroud of color (1925) / Countee Porter Cullen
Prayer for freedom from race prejudice (1925) / Robert C. Lawson
Keep me from sinkin' down (1927) / (Robert Nathaniel Dett)
A deacon's campmeeting prayer (1928) / (Anonymous)
De same God (1928?) / (Anonymous)
Draw me, dear Jesus (1928) / Garfield Thomas Haywood
A marriage prayer (1929) / Lewis Garnett Jordan
O Lord, have mercy! (1930) / (James Cameron)
The inward conflict (1932) / Walter Henderson Brooks
Holy Spirit, come! (1940) / Walter Henderson Brooks
In this hour (1941) / Walter Henderson Brooks
One thing I crave (1945) / Walter Henderson Brooks
Precious Lord, take my hand (1932) / Thomas Andrew Dorsey
Sunday School prayers (1933) / (Benjamin Elijah Mays and Joseph William Nicholson) {We thank thee
Grant me strength (1934) / Esther Popel
A Thanksgiving prayer (1935) / William Massie
A prayer of contrition (1935) / John Nathaniel Samuels-Belboder
A mother's desperate plea (1939) / (Richard Wright)
A familiar prayer (1940) / (J.G. St. Clair Drake)
Touch me, Lord Jesus (1941) / Lucie Mae Campbell
God speed the day (1941) / Ralph Mark Gilbert
Look thou with compassion upon every heart (1941) / Ralph Mark Gilbert
O shepard divine (1941) / Ralph Mark Gilbert
Our need for thee (1941) / Ralph Mark Gilbert
We need thy hand (1941) / Ralph Mark Gilbert
Return, O Lord (1944) / Charles Eric Lincoln
They would pray (1945) / (Benjamin Albert Botkin)
Dear God, thank you for the morning light (1945) / Elizabeth J. Dabney
O my God, please close this war (1945) / Elizabeth J. Dabney
Please send our boys back home (1945) / Elizabeth J. Dabney
What it means to pray through (1945) / Elizabeth J. Dabney
I ask you, Jesus, to take care of me (1949) / Diana Brown
Send it now, Lord (1951) / (William H. Pipes)
Thank thee for everything (1951) / (William H. Pipes)
Thou have widen the way for us (1951) / (William H. Pipes)
I let go of my accumulations (1951) / Howard Thurman
O God, I need thee (1951) / Howard Thurman
The prayer of Florence's mother (1952) / James Arthur Baldwin
Lead me, guide me (1953) / Doris Akers.
PART 5. THE CIVIL RIGHTS ETHOS, 1956-1980 : A prayer for a college woman (1956) / William Lloyd Imes
A pastoral prayer (1956) / Martin Luther King, Jr.
A prayer for freedom (1957) / Raphael Philemon Powell
Prayer for teacher (1958) / (James Mercer Langston Hughes and Arra Wendell Bontemps)
The eighth psalm (1958) / Charles Eric Lincoln
A prayer for love (1958) / Charles Eric Lincoln
Bless those who teach (1961) / John Malcus Ellison
Rekindle our sense of wonder (1961) / John Malcus Ellison
We cast ourselves upon thee (1961) / Jesse Jai McNeil
Brother Ezekiel prays besides Hetta's deathbed (1966) / (Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander)
Vyry's prayer in the wilderness of reconstruction (1966) / (Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander)
A child's prayer (1966) / (Otho B. Cobbins)
A prayer for African American peoplehood (1968) / Albert B. Cleage, Jr.
The hasty word (1969) / Howard Thurman
We don't know how (1969) / Howard Thurman
Give me a clean heart (1970) / Margaret Pleasant Douroux
Memorial prayer at Howard University in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King (1970) / Smallwood Edmond Williams
A prayer for a positive attitude (1972) / Leon H. Sullivan
Good Friday declarations of awareness (1972) / M. Moran Weston
Benediction (1973) / William Lee Ransome
Lord, help me to hold out (1974) / James Cleveland
Dear Jesus, I love you (1976) / Walter Hawkins
The prayers of our grandmothers (1977) / Jesse Louis Jackson
Help me, Lord, to stand for the kingdom (1978) / James Alexander Forbes, Jr.
Pray for the Christian family (1978) / Fred C. Lofton
You know the purpose of our gathering, Jesus (1980) / James Brown
A prayer before the everlasting fountain (1980) / Gardner Calvin Taylor.
PART 6. POSTMODERN AFRICAN-AMERICAN WORLDS, 1981-1994 : The classic African-American folk prayer (1981) / (Melva W. Costen)
The plea of a raped woman (1982) / (Alice Walker)
A prayer for healing (1983) / Richard Daniel Henton
O God, slow us down (1983) / George Thomas
Thank you for each one of them (1984) / William Townsend Crutcher
Lord, we didn't come here to stay (1984) / (Wyatt Tee Walker)
A benediction for a church ground breaking service (1989) / Benjamin Stanley Baker
Trying to see the light (1989) / James Arthur Baldwin
A peace and affirmation prayer (1989) / Johnnie Colemon
Lord, I'm willing (1989) / Genna Rae McNeil
A plea for divine prescence (1989) / J. Alfred Smith, Sr.
An altar prayer (1989) / Jeremiah Wright, Jr.
O God of love, power and justice (1990) / James Alexander Forbes, Jr.
Dear God, if you please (1992) / Matthew L. Watley
Dear God, my son prays (1992) / William Donnel Watley
O God, death is all around (1992) / William Donnel Watley
O God, I get so tired of racism wherever I go (1992) / William Donnel Watley
I call upon your name, Lord Jesus (1993) / Leroy Davis
We need thee, Lord Jesus, as never before (1993) / Fred C. Lofton
A pastor's prayer for a son on drugs (1993) / Lloyd Preston Terrell
A pastor's prayer for those in prison (1993) / Lloyd Preston Terrell
I must tell Jesus (1993) / Nancy Lynne Westfield
A prayer for liberation that leads to liberating love (1994) / Frank Madison Reid III
A Lenten prayer (1994) / Obie Wright, Jr.
Why, Jesus?! (1989) / (Jeff Stetson)
Afterword: A Scholar's Benediction / James Melvin Washington