Prelude II. Poor Mourner’s Got a Home

The African American spiritual "Poor Mourner's Got a Home At Last" is about the immense suffering inflicted upon African Americans by white settlers during chattel slavery. In the song, "home" is described as something found only in death, as African Americans lost connection to their homes, languages, ancestry, cultural practices, and so much more due to the transatlantic slave trade, which was carried out as settlers attempted to colonize and found the United States.

Arrangement: Wallace M. Cheatham has arranged the African American spiritual "Poor Mourner's Got a Home At Last" for piano. A choral arrangement of the spiritual can be heard here, sung by the King's Heralds. The words are below:

Poor mourner's got a home at last
Oh lord, no harm
Tell brother Elijah, no harm
Mourner's got a home at last

O sinner, sinner,
Ain't yo tired of a-sinning,
Fall down on-a your knees 
and join a band with the angels

Oh no harm,
Tell brother Elijah, no harm
Mourner's got a home at last

O mourner, mourner,
Ain't you tired a-mourning,
Fall down on-a your knees 
and join a band with the angels

Oh no harm,
Tell brother Elijah, no harm
Mourner's got a home at last

O preacher, preacher,
Ain't you tired a-preaching,
Fall down on-a your knees 
and join a band with the angels

Listen to the choral arrangement, and see if you can recognize the melody in Wallace Cheatham's piano arrangement!