James Milton Black (19 August 1856 – 21 December 1938) was an American composer of hymns, choir leader and Sunday school teacher. Black was born in

South Hill, New York South Hill is a census-designated place (CDP) in Tompkins County, New York, Tompkins County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 7,245 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The South Hill CDP is located within t ...

, but worked, lived and died in

Williamsport, Pennsylvania Williamsport is a city in, and the county seat of, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. It recorded a population of 27,754 at the 2020 Census. It is the principal city of the Williamsport Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a popul ...

. It is there that he worked at his

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. ...

. His first hymnal collections were: *''Songs of the Soul'' (1894) *''Songs of the Soul, Number Two'' (1896) Some of his hymns include: *''Come, Oh, Come to Me'' *''The Day of All Days'' *''We Shall Reign with Him in Glory'' *''

When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder is an 1893 hymn with words and music by James Milton Black. It is one of the most popular Christian hymns of all time. The song was inspired by the idea of The Book of Life mentioned in the Bible, and by the abse ...

'' Some of hymn music with lyrics by others include: *''A Home in My Heart for Jesus'' *''I Remember Calvary'' *''When the Saints Go Marching In'' (1896) The lyrics to ''When the Saints are Marching In'' are by

Katharine Purvis Katharine Elinda Nash Purvis (May 19, 1842 – October 23, 1907) is best known as the lyricist for ''When the Saints Are Marching In''. Purvis was the daughter of a Methodist minister in Pennsylvania. After graduating from a seminary in 1860, she b ...

. This song is not to be confused with "

When The Saints Go Marching In "When the Saints Go Marching In", often referred to as simply "The Saints", is a traditional black spiritual. It originated as a Christian hymn and is often played by jazz bands. This song was famously recorded on May 13, 1938, by Louis Armstron ...

," which was published afterwards in 1927 with similar words and music, certainly derivative.

References

*''The Book of World Famous Music, Classical, Popular and Folk'' by James Fuld (1966)

External links

*
James Milton Black (1856-1938) Find A Grave
memorial *
When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder
YouTube video * from

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, James Milton 1856 births 1938 deaths American composers American gospel singers American male composers Composers of Christian music Musicians from Ithaca, New York People from Williamsport, Pennsylvania