"McDonald organizes information on music suitable for concert performances by symphony orchestras, school music departments, church choirs, or solo performers, including works that celebrate not only Martin Luther King, Jr. Day but also Black History Month. His selections comprise musical work written to honor King, as well as other Americans engaged in the sturggle for equality and freedom, such as Abraham Lincoln, Malcom X, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and John F. Kennedy. McDonald incorporates works that more broadly address African American history and culture, such as William Grant Still's Afro-American Symphony. This edition contains a considerable number of revisions, updates and new work and includes entirely new sections devoted to jazz and blues songs, sample programs of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day concerts and discography, along with appendixes of works lited by orchestration and subject and a compilation of publishers and sources."-- from publisher description.

"This third edition contains considerable revisions, edits and updates since the earlier two versions"--Preface.