Spiritual is a type of religious song made famous by the Black Americans of the Southern United States. Spirituals are emotional songs and have a strong rhythm. They are especially moving when sung by a group. A leader sometimes sings one or two lines alone, and a chorus comes in with the refrain. Spiritual singers often emphasize the rhythm by clapping their hands.
The melodies used in spirituals are sometimes said to have originated in Africa. However, many spirituals are unrelated to African songs. Such spirituals reflect a direct relationship to evangelistic preaching among poor Southern white people that began at a Kentucky camp meeting in 1800. These “revivals” also encouraged “white spirituals.” The Black people’s love for song led them to put their feelings into their singing at worship and at work.
The slaves based most of their spirituals upon characters and stories from the Bible. The manner in which these stories are told in Black spirituals shows a colorful imagination and a simple faith. Many slaves thought of themselves as modern children of Israel and sought freedom from bondage. Their songs were appealing and sincere. Well-known spirituals include “Go Down, Moses,” “Deep River,” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”
Spirituals were little known outside the Southern States until after Black people were freed from slavery. In 1867, William Francis Allen, Lucy McKim Garrison, and Charles Pickard Ware published a collection of Black music called Slave Songs of the United States.
In 1871, spirituals were introduced to other parts of the United States by a group of Black singers called the Jubilee Singers, of Fisk University. They traveled throughout the United States, and to England and Germany, giving concerts to raise money for their school. Other Black schools followed their example. The Black quartets from Hampton and Tuskegee institutes (now Hampton and Tuskegee universities) became famous.
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Spirituals are now one of the best-known forms of American music. Major writers of spirituals include the Black composers Harry Thacker Burleigh, William Dawson, and Hall Johnson. Such Black singers as Marian Anderson, Roland Hayes, and William Warfield helped make spirituals popular.
