Were You There

“Were You There” was likely composed by enslaved African-Americans in the 19th century. It was first published in William Eleazar Barton’s 1899 Old Plantation Hymns.  In 1940, it was included in the Episcopal Church hymnal, making it the first spiritual to be included in any major American hymnal.  As reported in Howard Thurman’s autobiography, the song was one of Mahatma Gandhi’s favorites. The song has been recorded by artists including Paul Robeson,  Marion Williams, Johnny Cash, Phil Keaggy, Max Roach, Diamanda Galás, Harry Belafonte, The Seldom Scene, Diamond Version (with Neil Tennant), Bayard Rustin, Rajaton, and Chris Rice. A critic from The Indianapolis News wrote about Paul Robeson’s rendition of Were You There, saying that “It was as startling and vivid a disclosure of reverent feeling of penetrating pathos as one could imagine.”