Back to: The Twelve Days of Christmas Carols
Mexican Folk Art
This song is unique for several reasons. First, it was associated with three generations of the Work family who were African-American teachers, musicians, and who motivated the Fisk Jubilee Singers from Fisk University to perform the songs. The Work family collected spirituals to save them from oblivion, a difficult task since many of the spirituals were never written down. They also published them into collections for later generations.