Negro Spirituals and Hymns
In the early 1740’s, the period of spiritual awakening, also known as the great awakening, gave birth to the genre of Negro Spirituals and Hymns.
These songs and hymns were used as a way for black people to embrace, celebrate and practice their form of religion separate to the “white man’s” christianity.
These songs were often sung in places called clandestine churches which offered solace to black religious people due to the fact that they couldn’t practice in public.
Some popular negro spirituals are “Wade In The Water” by the Fisk Jubilee Brothers, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” by Wallis Willis and “We Shall Overcome” by Unknown but traces back to 1945.
This song was performed by Ella Jenkins and the goodwill spiritual choir of Monumental Baptist Church. In this song, you can hear musical devices such as the call and response and instruments such as drums and the bjango.
This song was preformed by The Plantation Singers. The original song was preformed acapella but this group used their own musical liberties and incorporated the shekre which is a dried gourd adorned with beads.
This was preformed by the Morehouse College Glee Club. The song is being preformed acapella.