my point was that the African American tradition shouldn't be rendered invisible by the Anglo American tradition.

Here I thought it was the white tradtion you were trying to render invisible. Perhaps more to the point the Sacred Harp tradtion of the rural southeast is very open to participation by those who have not grown up in the tradition. What the heck, they let me do it :-) I can read about African American singing & listen to recordings, but I can do Sacred Harp.

Sacred Harp & the other 19th cent. books were & are not really a 'church' tradition at all. They're more a social worship experience. The newer books are more commonly used in churches. I have one used by the Church of Christ as well as a Broadman. I met some Mennonites who live nearby, in Central New York. Their hymnal has shapes & they told me they occasionally have a singing school to teach the children to use them.

Last weekend I was in Alabama for a weekend of singing. On Sunday we were in a Missionary Baptist church that must not meet every week because we were there all day. We were singing from the Sacred Harp. I think a couple of the singers were members, but not a lot. At the end of the day I talked to a few people who were members & had been there to listen & help with the food but did not sing.

They had 2 hymnals in thier pew racks. I don't recall the titles, but both were 7 shape, one was published by Stamps Baxter, probably the biggest 7 shape publisher. I didn't notice a piano or organ in the church, but I wasn't looking for one. I think there are still a lot of churches around that have not forsaken those old books for the newer contemporary music. I don't know that anyone has made a study of it.