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Composers like Harry T. Burleigh, Nathaniel Dett and William Dawson, who applied Western classical music training to the traditional spiritual and created a new repertoire for the concert stage.

The struggle of African Americans seeking careers as classical concert artists, featuring Roland Hayes, Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson, Leontyne Price, Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle and others.

The legacy of this internationally renowned ensemble, innovators of the "jubilee" singing style that influenced the national sound of quartets in the black community before World War II.

The networks that helped to unify the African American community as a people and bring the music to a national audience.

The story of Charles Albert Tindley, the first gospel composer, and the migration of African Americans from the rural Eastern Shore of Maryland to the urban communities before the mid-20th century.

The prolific composer and teacher who encouraged new talent, created the repertoire and expanded gospel's audience through the largest African American organization: the National Baptist Convention.

The "father of gospel music," whose efforts led to an innovative performance style and refashioned existing music to reflect experiences of African Americans who migrated to urban communities.

Shout songs, drums, clapping, horns and choral chants that fed the evolution of 20th century gospel music.

Music without words: an experience of the power of instrumental African American sacred music.

The connecting lines between sacred and secular, explored through performances, texts, careers, recordings and the audiences who shared, exchanged and crossed over.

Jazz as sacred music within and beyond the boundaries of the organized African American church. Duke Ellington, Mary Lou Williams, John Coltrane and others are featured.

Jazz as sacred music within and beyond the boundaries of the organized African American church, featuring Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra, Max Roach, Charles Mingus and others.