Thirty years ago today, Marian Anderson died while staying with her nephew in Portland, Oregon. Once one of the most influential African American figures in the U.S., Anderson changed the heart of our nation and our children.
Almost any child who has gone to Sunday School or Vacation Bible School in the past 50 years has sung the toe-tapping, hand-clapping “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” complete with arm movements.
While the verses may vary, the song tells of the Almighty God who has the wind and rain, the moon and the stars, the little bitty baby, you and me, sister and brother, and the whole world in His hands.
While often introduced as a children’s song — even included in the “children” section of some hymnals — it is actually an old African American spiritual, shared through oral tradition in the rural South for years. It didn’t appear in print until 1927 in a book of folk songs, “Spirituals Triumphant, Old and New,” collected by African American singer and composer Edward Boatner.
After its publication, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” found its way to one of the most brilliant singers of the day, the renowned contralto Marian Anderson, with a voice Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini said, “only comes along once in a hundred years.” Deeply religious and moved by the spiritual’s message, Anderson added it to her repertoire, along with her other favorites like Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” Gaetano Donizetti’s “La Favorite,” and J.S.
