I thought the politics of ownership a bit sad in that it seemed so difficult to question current orthodoxies but the same thought kept coming back to me: why should anyone doubt that gospel music which is, after all a method of delivering the Gospel, has its roots at least partly in the music of the people promoting that gospel.

Amen.

The programme did not follow-up to where the music has gone to now and also not - as earlier mentioned - what Africans brought to this. Perhaps the makers thought that this ground had already be well-covered?

But without exploring these aspects more - you could perhaps excuse some folk from thinking that it was an attempt to take credit away from Africans and Afro-Americans?

However, the programme did strongly suggest - by producing a record kept of one family and having living members of this family present - that some of the blood of these Gaels were now mixed with those who are now referred to Afro-Americans. Both black and white members of this family seemed reconciled and stated that they were happy with this. Even when talking together whilst standing in front of the remains of the wooden shack that the Afro-American man's ancestors lived in (as slaves).