The Atlantic slave trade involved the unwilling diaspora of African and Caribbean people who were forced to relocate and uprooted from their homelands by European colonialist who sought to create profit by enslaving those of color who they felt were beneath them. This involved these people of color to travel, mostly by boat, to the Americas in order to work on plantations and do housework.
Not only did this created systematic trauma within these cultures, it also sparked an era of resilience and was a driving force for different forms of expression.
Negro Spirituals were created in order to tell a story. These spirituals consisted of; call-and-response, lyrics related to religion and religious values, as well as lyrics related to oppression and hope. These songs were initially not written down, they were passed down and used as a way for others to be interconnected, passing them down each generation. Today, these spirituals are performed by children choirs, jubilee quartets, gospel singers, as well as other musically driven others who aspire to raise awareness about African American culture.
