Thesis : African Americans spirituals were created due to force but ended up becoming a commodity throughout slavery.
In all slavery formed African American spirituals were created. This was such a crucial moment in history because this was the only way for African Americans to express themselves. African American spirituals gave slaves the chance to reveal their emotions and what was going on around them. Slaves weren’t allowed to bring items from Africa during the transatlantic slave trade. The only thing they were able to bring was the banjo just to entertain the whites on the ships. Eventually slaves songs became popular and the songs were performed internationally by Fisk Jubilee Singers of Nashville. Then transitioning from that period to the Jim Crow era. And the emergence of two new musical genres which was blues and ragtime. Then stereotypes started to surround this genre of music. Whites began to make fun of this genre by putting on black faces and mocking blacks in their menstrual shows.
Conlclusion : African American spirituals were created due to colonizers needing entertainment. While colonizers used this to their advantage the African slaves did as well to help them through troubling times.
