John Wesley Work, Jr.

Born: August 6, 1872, Nashville, Tennessee.

Died:  September 7, 1925, Nashville, Tennessee.

    John Work graduated from Fisk University (AB 1895, MA 1898). He taught Latin and Greek at Fisk, becoming chairman of the Latin and History Departments in 1906. From 1923 until his death, he served as president of Roger Williams University in Nashville, Tennessee.
    Work was a pioneer in collecting, performing, and preserving African-American folk music. His works include:

• New Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers (Nashville, Tennessee: 1901)
• Folk Songs of the American Negro (Nashville, Tennessee: 1907)

Hymns

1. Go, Tell It on the Mountain