The words and music of “Simple Gifts” are usually attributed to Joseph Brackett, an elder of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, commonly known as the Shakers. Brackett wrote in 1848 in Alfred, Maine, where he was a member of the Shaker community.Founded in England around 1747, the Shakers migrated to the United States where they established communal settlements that lasted for more than 200 years. At the peak of the movement in the mid-19th century, Shakers totaled 4,000 to 6,000 believers in 18 major communities and numerous smaller ones. Their name arose from the ecstatic behavior that characterized their worship services. Women took on spiritual leadership roles alongside men; several of their founders were women. Shaker theology was based on the idea of the dualism of God as male and female. They believed that Mother Ann, daughter of an English blacksmith, was the female manifestation of Christ and the second Christian Church.“Simple Gifts,” with its pure, haunting melody, was largely unknown outside the Shaker communities. It might have been lost had not Aaron Copland discovered it and used its melody in the score of Martha Graham’s ballet Appalachian Spring, first performed in 1944. “Simple Gifts” quickly became part of modern American culture. Although the Shakers have vanished, their call to simple living, so well captured in Joseph Brackett’s song, lives on in our times.—From the Introduction.