Wallace Willis was a Choctaw freedman living in the

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...

, in what is now Choctaw County, near the city of

Hugo, Oklahoma Hugo is a city in and the county seat of Choctaw County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located in southeastern Oklahoma, approximately north of the Texas state line. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 5,310. The city was founde ...

, US. His dates are unclear: perhaps 1820 to 1880. He is credited with composing (probably before 1860) several

Negro spirituals Spirituals (also known as Negro spirituals, African American spirituals, Black spirituals, or spiritual music) is a genre of Christian music that is associated with Black Americans, which merged sub-Saharan African cultural heritage with the ex ...

. Willis received his name from his owner, Britt Willis, probably in

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, the ancestral home of the Choctaws. He died, probably in what is now

Atoka County Atoka County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 14,007. Its county seat is Atoka. The county was formed before statehood from Choctaw Lands, and its name honors a Choctaw Chief named ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

, as his unmarked grave is located there. Before the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

Willis and his wife, Aunt Minerva, were sent by their owner to work at the

Spencer Academy Spencer may refer to: People *Spencer (surname) **Spencer family, British aristocratic family ** List of people with surname Spencer * Spencer (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia *Spencer, New ...

where the superintendent, Reverend Alexander Reid, heard them singing. In 1871 Reid was at a performance of the

Jubilee Singers The Fisk Jubilee Singers are an African-American ''a cappella'' ensemble, consisting of students at Fisk University. The first group was organized in 1871 to tour and raise funds for college. Their early repertoire consisted mostly of traditiona ...

Fisk University Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1930, Fisk was the first Africa ...

and thought the songs he had heard the Willises singing were better than those of the Jubilee Singers. He furnished them to the group, which performed them in the United States and Europe. Many are now famous, including "

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" is an African-American spiritual song and one of the best-known Christian hymns. Originating in early oral and musical African-American traditions, the date it was composed is unknown. Performances by the Hampton Singer ...

" and " Steal Away To Jesus". It is sometimes said that the songs credited to Willis had actually been written by unknown composers, but there is no record of any of the songs until they were performed by the Jubilee Singers.

Compositions

*"I'm A Rollin'" *"

" *" Steal Away To Jesus" *"The Angels are Coming"

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was composed by Willis in what is now Choctaw County, near the County seat of

around 1840. He may have been inspired by the sight of the Red River, by which he was toiling, which reminded him of the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...

and of the Prophet

Elijah Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My El (deity), God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic language, Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) w ...

being taken to heaven by a chariot (2 Kings 2:11). In 2002, the US

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

honored the song as one of 50 recordings chosen that year to be added to the

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservat ...

. It was also included in the list of ''

Songs of the Century The "Songs of the Century" list is part of an education project by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. that aims to "promote a better understanding of America's musical and ...

'', by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

and the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

References

Bibliography

*Banks, Frances. "Narrative" from ''The WPA Oklahoma Slave Narratives'' edited by T. Lindsay Baker and Julie P. Baker (United States Work Projects Administration). University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. * Debo, Angie; John M. Oskison (eds. Federal writers Project). ''Oklahoma: A Guide to the Sooner State''. University of Oklahoma Press, 1941. * *Hubbell, Jay B.; John O. Beaty. ''An Introduction to Poetry''. The Macmillan Company, 1922. *Wright, Muriel H
Early Navigation and Commerce Along the Arkansas and Red Rivers in Oklahoma"
''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 8:1 (March 1930) 65–88. *Oklahoma Historical Society
"Oklahoma Historic Sites Survey"
''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 36:1 (1958) 282–314.

External links

Willis, Uncle Wallace and Aunt Minerva
mdash;Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture. {{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Wallace 19th-century African-American musicians 19th-century American composers 19th-century American male musicians African-American composers African-American history of Oklahoma African-American male composers American male songwriters Choctaw people People from Choctaw County, Oklahoma People of Indian Territory People who wrote slave narratives Songwriters from Oklahoma Year of birth missing Year of death missing