Understanding Black History: Negro Spirituals
Music, the Afro-American slave spiritual was a vital part in the life of African-American slaves. Spirituals allowed slaves to express sadness, pain, joy, grief, and hope. Negro Spirituals, as the songs have come to be known, spoke of their journey through a land of trouble, and often African-American spirituals spoke of the hope of reaching an eternal destiny for which their people were ordained by God.
Understanding Black History: The Importance of the music
The importance of the spiritual was not the lamentation of sadness, but rather a means to express it and in so doing reach forward in hope, offered by the same songs. There are many parallels in Negro Spirituals between African-American slaves and the Hebrews, God’s chosen people. For upon their arrival in America, many African-Americans found comfort in the Christian faith. It was through the eyes of faith that slaves could catch a glimmer of hope for freedom.
Understanding Black History: Carrying Hope in Your Heart and Head
Songs of faith were tempered by the rich culture brought to America by African slaves. They were accustomed to using song to share oral history and collective cultural beliefs. It is believed that many Negro Spirituals began as a derivation of some old African song. Along the way slaves added tunes and lyrics that were easy to sing, easy to remember, and tried to keep their hearts full of hope against all odds.
Having no control over their own lives, subject to the tyranny or mercy of the slave master, slaves needed the Negro spiritual in their small arsenal of weapons against the onslaught of a cruel, selfish, and unfair world into which they were thrown.
Understanding Black History: The Christian Connection and Hope
Undoubtedly the underlying hope expressed in the songs of the slaves inspired them to keep holding on, to live because they were the Creation of God, who saw their plight, felt their sorrows, and redeemed them for eternity through his son Jesus Christ. These beliefs were important to African-American slaves because often the days were bleak and death knocked at the door. At least in song, slaves reinforced their hope of eternal salvation and a day of sweet redemption.
Negro spirituals grew in popularity during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s as the songs once again took on significant meaning for those who sought their “unalienable rights, as endowed by their Creator.
Understanding Black History: The Contribution of Negro Spirituals to African-American Society and American Culture
The songs have lasted beyond slavery and the civil rights movement. Many still carry significant messages for our lives today. Many songs identified with slavery help us to comprehend the pain and burdens which these African-American men and women carried within their hearts. Many have become American folk songs, representing the difficult journey we often travel.
In so many ways, African-American slave music or Negro Spirituals have enriched the culture of America. It is certain that these songs have helped define the often upward battle of the African-American in American society. They have also helped us to understand a way of life that it was right to overcome
