At the funeral for Rev. Clementa Pinckney, a South Carolina state senator who was killed in the church shooting in Charleston, President Obama broke from his eulogy to sing ‘Amazing Grace,’ a song ...

Amazing Grace might be the ultimate song of redemption, steeped in two centuries of black history, but its writer had also been a slave ship captain. There is no shortage of versions of Amazing Grace.

John Newton was a British sailor who once worked on slave ships but later turned his life around. After surviving a violent storm at sea, he felt a deep change in his heart. He left the slave trade, ...

What do Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday, Woodstock, a Barack Obama speech, Coal Miner’s Daughter, Fannie Lou Hamer’s civil rights marches, The Grand Ole Opry, and American churches have in common? All ...

Simply sign up to the Life & Arts myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox. “Amazing Grace” is touching and beautiful, an apparent hymn of emancipation woven into the fabric of African-American ...

Many people think they know the story of the hymn,"Amazing Grace." The commonly accepted narrative presents its composer, John Newton, a young English captain of a late 18th-century slave ship, as a ...

"Amazing Grace" is on its way to becoming one of Tennessee's state songs. On Tuesday, the Tennessee Senate voted unanimously to pass a bill making the 1779 hymn the 11th state song. The bill, ...

I put this list together as I was listening to some of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band’s music in anticipation of their Detroit appearance Feb. 19 at the Magic Bag. Their version of “Amazing Grace” is so ...

At the funeral for Reverend Clementa Pinckney, a South Carolina state senator who was killed in the church shooting in Charleston, President Obama broke from his eulogy to sing ‘Amazing Grace,’ a song ...

Amazing Grace might be the ultimate song of redemption, steeped in two centuries of black history, but its writer had also been a slave ship captain. Amazing Grace was the perfect choice. It is easy ...