Essay On African American Spirituals

African American Studies is a very complex subject. To confuse African American studies with black history is a common occurrence. African American studies is much deeper and more profound than just Black history alone. There are many unanswered and unasked questions among the Black American culture which causes confusion and misunderstanding in modern day society. In unit one there were many themes, concepts, and significant issues in the discipline of Africana studies. Both W.E.B Du Bois and Vivian V. Gordan touched on many concerns.

Spirituals, a religious folk song of American origin, particularly associated with African-American Protestants of the southern United States. The African-American spiritual, characterized by syncopation, polyrhythmic structure, and the pentatonic scale of five whole tones, is, above all, a deeply emotional song. Spirituals are really the most characteristic product of the race genius as yet in America. But the very elements which make them uniquely expressive of the Negro make them at the same time deeply representative of the soil that produced them. Spirituals were long thought to be the only original folk music of the United States, and research into its origin centered mainly on the nature and extent of its African

Spiritual music is religious songs sung by African American slaves in the eighteen centuary. These songs where sung in the churches and during labor work in the plantation. Spiritual songs provided a “…psychic escape from the workaday world of slavery’s restrictions and cruelties.” Spiritual songs were sung to uplift one another

Spirituals were used and recorded by producers and different artists. A group of college students called, “the Jubilee Singers,” from Fisk University sang Spirituals to parts of the United States and

As an African-American in the United States, I participate in activities to help me identify with my race. Yes, there are many types of African-Americans, but we all share similar ideas, values, and traditions that bring everyone closer. As African-Americans, we strongly believe in religion. Since slavery, religion has played a tremendous role in contributing to our beliefs. We believe there is a greater divine who knows our purpose, and has the power to control it. In addition, we believe prayer changes things especially when times become rough and unbearable. It is common for Black children to “grow-up” in the church and attend with their families every Sunday. Although I am in college, this has not change. I attempt to at least go twice out the month.

Gospel music emerged during the twentieth century following the Great Migration of African American towards the north. Influenced by blues gospel music is a religious genre. Gospel music is used during religious practices, ceremonial purposes, pleasure and entertainment. During the Great Migration, two denominations followed by African Americans, Black Baptist and Methodists. The congregations were small and they utilized storefronts for worship. Smaller congregations allowed them to connect with their pastor and have better understanding of the sermon provided. Others preferred larger congregations that used an emotive style of worship known as the shouting churches, they were highly energized. (Burnim & Maultsby, 2015)

Concrete Detail 2: Hymns and songs were often used by African Americans to preserve their culture. They were also used to spread hope and keep morale up.

In ancient African civilizations music took precedence in all activities that the tribes participated in. There was a song for every celebration, every birth, and every death. As Africans were enslaved and moved to North America by Europeans, many customs and traditions followed with them. As their culture was stripped from them and European ideals were placed upon them, they kept song as their universal language and their link to the motherland. From early on, slave songs also known as “Negro Spirituals” were the first inclination of what could be considered African American music. These songs were largely influenced by the conversion of many Africans to Christianity, and generally held a religious overtone. As slavery came and went and

produced a resonance distinct to the music in that era. Also, African American musicians called

African American religious music is the foundation of all contemporary forms of so called “black music.” African American religious music has been a fundamental part of the black experience in this country. This common staple of the African American experience can be traced back to the cruel system of slavery. It then evolved into what we refer to today as gospel music. The goal of this paper is to answer three main questions. What are the origins of African American religious music? How did this musical expression develop into a secular form of music? What is the future of African American religious music? These questions will be answered through factual research of African American traditions, artists, and various other sources.

Gospel songs combined religious lyrics with melodies and rhythms inspired by early blues and jazz. Many churches rejected this new integration of religious conviction and popular song as devil's music that had no place in a house of worship.

American Gospel music is founded in the African American church. It has a deep culture in America. It is used as an outlet for people who have been oppressed, beaten down, and persecuted. Gospel music acts as a source of inspiration for those who had all but given up. It speaks of the various trials and struggles they’ve undergone, and how they were able to overcome. Is also used as a form of praise and worship, giving thanks to the Lord. The term “gospel” means “the good news.” Gospel music is used to tell the good news of the salvation people have received from the Lord, rescuing them from all of the trials and struggles of the world. Gospel music has been influenced by genres such as jazz and blues. It is a combination of many different forms of music, producing a new and unique type of sound.

The songs were developed to reduce the level of boredom and increase production, these songs created a sense of familiarity and togetherness among workers. The African American work songs were created during the slave era in the seventeenth century; many had their origin in traditions of Africa and were sung to remind them of home or ordered by their masters to boost morale and keep slaves working. They have also been seen as means of endurance, expressing of anger and frustration via verbal signals. Some aspects like call and response were said to be rooted in African tradition, where a leader could sing a verse and be repeated by the greater mass. This eventually led to spirituality development which acted as a basis for Christianity leading to modern day gospels and blues.

Born in New Orleans, in 1911, Mahalia Jackson, Gospel’s leading ambassador and advocate, grew up in a conservatively religious family, with church music playing a prominent role in her early years. At age sixteen, Jackson met the Gospel composer and arranger, Thomas A. Dorsey, who co-wrote her first hit, “Move up on a Little Higher”, sold over eighteen million copies. Heavily involved in the civil rights movement in the 1950s and ‘60s, Jackson was renowned for her energetic passionate vocal ability and style, singing with deep conviction. Close friend and passionate civil-rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King, described Jackson’s contra-alto sound as, “A voice like this one comes not once in a century, but once in a millennium” (New Encyclopaedia, 2017). One of her famous adaptations, was the originally Negro spiritual, “How I Got Over”, which was sung before Martin Luther King’s famous Washington Speech, “I Had A Dream”, displaying the close connection in which Gospel music and the supporters

The foundation of this style come from camp meeting hymns, the songlike sermons of black preachers, black spirituals, and performance qualities of their slave culture. Modern black gospel music was created when blues and jazz were infused into the religious music. This style merges passionate religious feelings with dramatic stage performance. Black gospel is emotional, physical, vocal, theatrical, and it evokes a powerful physical and emotional response in the listeners. Black gospel remains in the church while making its mark on the