It Is Well: The Life and Times of James Russell Smith

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It Is Well is the biography of James Russell Smith, an African American man born in Athens, Georgia in 1941. Smith grew up in the Jim Crow South and attended segregated public schools. He was a student at Tuskegee Institute during the Civil Rights Movement and sang in the renowned Tuskegee Choir. He returned to Athens to teach in his (still) segregated high school, and later became the founder and director of the Athens Voices of Truth community choir. In creating the choir, which specializes in sacred music including gospels, hymns, anthems, and spirituals, James sought to preserve the roots of sacred music, focusing on the traditions that helped African Americans survive slavery. It Is Well places Smith’s life in the context of the history of Athens and the challenges faced by a Black man growing up in the South during this crucial period in American history.