Excerpts from the transcript of the Joe Carter interview referenced upthread:

Ms. Tippett: The civil rights movement rediscovered the spiritual and put it on the larger American cultural map. When Joe Carter was 15, he formed a folk duo with a Jewish friend. And through him, Joe began to recover the spiritual music of his own people.

Mr. Carter: David told me, 'Joe, your people have wonderful music.' And this was the first time I'd ever heard someone say that. And so he wanted to come to my church to hear the music. So he came to Union Baptist Church on a Sunday morning and heard Bach. He said, 'Joe, that ain't it.'

Ms. Tippett: From then on, Joe Carter began, he says, to search for the spiritual. I wanted to hear what he's learned about the meaning of this music and its power across time and cultures. He tells me that there are an estimated 5,000 spirituals in existence. They were originally called "sorrow songs." And many of them were composed spontaneously.

Mr. Carter: As a teenager, I met a woman by the name of Jessie Anthony who was, I think she was over 80 when I met her. And somehow, she was coming to our church. And we young people would go to her house to collect her, to bring her to church and so on. Well, here was an African-American woman whose parents were slaves in Virginia. And she sang the spirituals. And she'd heard me sing in church, so she just sort of took me under her wing. And she was going to teach me these songs. And she had a suitcase full of stories that she'd collected over the years of the spirituals. And she would tell me, she'd say, 'Child, when they sang this song, this is what they were talking about, you know? A lot of people don't know this.' And she had stories for every song.

Ms. Tippett: OK, tell me a story.

Mr. Carter: One of the stories I seem to remember that she told, it was about — Emancipation Day had come. And there was a group of former slaves now on an island off the coast of South Carolina. And my parents were from South Carolina, all my family. And they were waiting for the emissary of the government to arrive in his little boat to tell them that they had received the deeds to their land. Because the government had promised them not only freedom, but 40 acres and a mule.

And so this was going to be a great, wonderful day. And the former slaves had gathered together on the island waiting with bated breath. And finally, they saw the boat of the officer approaching. And they could tell, even from the distance, that his face was not happy and his countenance was somewhat sad. And they said there was a groan that just came from the crowd. And one of the older women from the crowd just stood up and began to make up a song on the spot. She sang, (singing) "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody knows but Jesus. Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Glory, hallelujah."

And then she spoke, looking to the people around her, she said, (singing) "Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down. Oh, yes, Lord. Sometimes, I'm almost leveled to the ground. Oh, yes, Lord. Oh, nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody knows but Jesus. Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Glory, hallelujah."

She looked at the people standing by, and she said, (singing) "Although you see me going along so." And they answered, (singing) "Oh, yes, Lord. I've got my trials here below." And they answered, (singing) "Oh, yes, Lord. Oh, nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody knows but Jesus. Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Glory, hallelujah."

Ms. Tippett: And sorrow songs, is that what the spirituals were called…

Mr. Carter: Yeah, that's what we're told.

...

Ms. Tippett: Dignity. I mean, that’s the word that keeps coming up.

Mr. Carter: And that’s — yeah, yeah, yeah. And by the way, this woman that I told you about, Jessie Anthony, she was the most dignified soul I’d ever met. The last time I saw her, she was, I think, 88 years old. Her parents were born slaves. And she began to sing the spirituals. She began — she sang at Boston Public Library, she sang at Harvard, demonstrating the music.

And she said, 'Joe?' I said, 'Yes, Ms. Anthony.' She said, 'I want you to go into my bedroom and look under my bed and tell me what you see there.' And so I went into her bed. I said, 'You got a suitcase.' She said, 'Yes, I do, child.' I said, 'What’s in the suitcase?' And she smiled. She beamed at me.

She said, 'In that suitcase, I’ve got my going home clothes. Ooh, I’ve got a beautiful dress in there. Jesus is coming for me any day, don’t you know, child?' And she just started laughing. I’ll never forget that image. Here was someone who’d gone through all of the changes in culture and society, and now was living in an elder apartment complex in Boston, all of her children in Washington, D.C., and everything. And she was still singing her songs. And she was holding her head up high every place she went.

You know, she was the kind of person who just commanded your respect. And when the young people — whenever we go to her house, she would [tell] us the stories, all these songs and everything. And then, she would always end singing one little song.

[to pianist] Give me a C, Tom. And she’d sing, 'Children, if you don’t remember anything I’ve told you, if you don’t remember any songs that I’ve sung for you, I want you to remember this one.'

(singing) Be ready when he comes.
Be ready when he comes.
Be ready when he comes.
Oh, Lord, he's coming again so soon.
Be ready when he comes.
Be ready when he comes.
Be ready when he comes.
Oh, Lord, he's coming again so soon.

"Now, Joe, you be ready." You know, "You be ready, child."

Ms. Tippett: Joe Carter was a teacher, performer, and traveling humanitarian. He died at the age of 57 of leukemia on June 26th, 2006.