Negro Spirituals
Negro spirituals are songs that were created by enslaved people as a form to release their pain, hardship, and struggle that they experienced. Spirituals reflected their Christian values and their reliance on God. Enslaved people often sang their songs while working on their enslaver’s plantations.
Negro Spirituals often had a call and response quality and were always shared orally. They were not written down until many years after the creation of the spirituals. Today, spirituals can be heard in many African American churches by the church choirs. A few examples of popular songs are “Wade In The Water,” “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” and “Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child.”
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