In this episode, Christen details the history and significance of Negro Spirituals. Come along as we trace the story through Spirituals’ grooving rhythms, cleverly written meanings, and emotional testimonies of the Black community—hearing how this musical genre has survived and transformed.
Episode Notes
Research:
African American Song
Pre-Civil War African-American Slavery
African American Spirituals
The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States
Floyd, Samuel A. 1995. The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States. Oxford University Press USA – OSO. (Retrieved February 10, 2022)
Traditional Work Songs
McIntosh County Shouters, “Move, Daniel”
The McIntosh County Shouters
Plantation Dance Ring ShoutNat Turner (1800-1831)
Lift Every Voice: The History of African American Music
Peretti, Burton W. 2009. Lift Every Voice: The History of African American Music. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. (Retrieved February 17, 2022)
The Origins of Proslavery Christianity: White and Black Evangelicals in Colonial and Antebellum Virginia
Irons, Charles F. 2008. The Origins of Proslavery Christianity: White and Black Evangelicals in Colonial and Antebellum Virginia. University of North Carolina Press.(Retrieved February 21, 2022)
Cultural Codes: Makings of a Black Music Philosophy
Banfield, Bill. 2009. Cultural Codes: Makings of a Black Music Philosophy. Scarecrow Press.(Retrieved February 22, 2022)
Our History – Fisk Jubilee Singers
Overseer And Driver
Fisk Jubilee Singers
The Soundtrack of the George Floyd Protests
Hip-hop is the soundtrack to Black Lives Matter protests, continuing a tradition that dates back to the blues
Music:
“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” performed by the Fisk Jubilee Quartet (Accessed by the Library of Congress’s National Jukebox)
“The Ballad of M and T” by Sam Barsh
“The Forest Floor” by Shimmer
“Judgement Day Outside My Door” by Lost Ghosts
“Animal Kingdom” by Craig Allen Fravel
“Oh Freedom!” performed by The Golden Gospel Singers
“Groove Station” by Cast of Characters
“Of A Feather” by Falls
“Move, Daniel” performed by the McIntosh County Shouters
“Deshacer” by Azteca X
“Constellations” by Chelsea McGough
Transcript
Christen: Welcome back to Power Play, the podcast where we bring you stories about the power of music, the music of the powerful, music as a means to power, and what happens when music and power go head to head. I’m your host, Christen Crumpler. Let’s begin!
[MUSIC: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot plays, performed by the Fisk Jubilee Quartet]
Introduction to the History of Spirituals
Christen: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,”; A tune, probably familiar to most ears. Its history being associated with a hope for freedom, yet it's certainly not the first of its kind.
The song belongs to the musical genre of Negro, or Black Spirituals -- a genre richly intertwined with both African American, and American, history.
This recording is by the Fisk Jubilee Quartet -- a part of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. They played a significant part in preserving these spirituals after Emancipation.
So what was the history, tied to Spirituals, that made it so important to preserve?
[MUSIC: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot plays, performed by the Fisk Jubilee Quartet; fades into the ending section of the song until finished]
A Glimpse of Slavery
[MUSIC: The Ballad of M and T plays, by Sam Barsh from Soundstripe]
Christen: The gruesome institution of slavery within the United States, and its toll on the American Black community, is an old one. So old, that it existed before the official creation of the country, dating back to the early 17th century.
With the exploitation and surveillance of enslaved Blacks, humans put other humans through countless hours of back-breaking forced labor, as if all they really were...were animals. Property to own.
I don’t know about you, but even animals shouldn’t be treated that way!
Whether individuals accept it or not, the roles from those forced settings are not what define the Black community. But, we won’t turn a blind eye to the part slavery played in creating long-lasting harm towards the community.
[MUSIC: The Ballad of M and T plays, by Sam Barsh; fades into silence as narration continues]
Christen: While America was being shaped, Black people's ties to slavery were as well.
In the years during and after the American Revolution, thousands of Black Americans aided in the war and founding the nation.
[MUSIC: SFX Troops Leather Rustle March 01 plays, with “The Forest Floor” by Shimmer from Soundstripe; fading in after it ]
Christen: The empowering phrases that spoke of human rights, individual rights, and liberties against the British had its optimism carried into Black spaces. In freed Black communities, Black people were making their own establishments and locales.
To be clear, slavery was still going on during and prior to the revolution. But, after the revolution, the feelings from these expressions of liberty led some northern states to pass laws for the gradual abolition of slavery.
[MUSIC: The Forest Floor plays, by Shimmer; solo plays a few seconds and then fades to silence before narration begins – from SoundStripe]
Christen: Of course, abolition of slavery with a large helping of segregation and discrimination.
[MUSIC: Judgement Day Outside My Door plays, by Lost Ghosts from Soundstripe; plays for 5 seconds and then fades under host]
Christen: But the same can't be said about the South when mentioning these types of changes.
Winning the revolution allowed for the expansion past the 13 colonies, into what we know today as 'The South.' Compared to the northern colonies, the South had much more land to maintain. In the American South, around the early 1800s, there was a large increase in the enslavement of Black people.
This was mainly due to the invention of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, which made processing the cotton much easier—and much more profitable.
No longer did the farming of the crop require manually removing the seeds from the cotton fiber, a process called ginning. And so, producing this crop could be done quicker, allowing for more batches.
That still left the large task of growing and harvesting the cotton. And for southern crop holders, that’s where Black people came in.
This massive concentration in cotton production kind of calls back to the original reasons for using slavery in the Americas.
Enticing was the large abundance of different goods and resources in the New World, compared to those in Europe. And the use of cost-effective labor was seen as a must for many business owners—with slavery bringing high profits.
[MUSIC: Judgement Day Outside My Door plays, by Lost Ghosts; comes up for a few seconds and returns back to a bed as narration begins again]
Christen: Enslaved Black people were also used for other types of agricultural labor, not only cotton harvesting.
White plantation owners abused Black people's farming knowledge from Africa to turn the swamp lands of the South into land sustainable to produce large sums of goods.
The enslaved were forced to do the demanding labors of taking care of livestock and tending to crops such as tobacco, hemp, and corn. For those working on a plantation, their days were met with extremely long hours—starting before dawn to nightfall, regardless of weather conditions.
And let’s not forget that the grand majority of this forced labor, was unpaid labor! Black individuals fortunate enough to receive any pay working within the Southern cities clinged to hopes of their profits eventually buying their freedom.
There’s no question that slavery is an ugly wound in the United States’ history. The conditions that these enslaved people were put in left them with no control and the continual threat of physical punishment.
During slavery, it was important for Black people to maintain some kind of community and togetherness. When you look at where slavers were getting people, you realize they took individuals from many countries and groups across West Africa!
And because of this diversity among the captured, it was difficult for those enslaved to communicate with one another during the Middle Passage of the slave trade.
Due to this, Black people lacked the power to revolt on a large scale or maintain the original communities they had once before—making it so much easier for slavers to continue their unethical practice.
[MUSIC: Judgement Day Outside My Door plays, by Lost Ghosts; fades into the ending of the song]
Music and Enslaved Black People
Christen: In order to preserve some kind of community, enslaved Black people created ways within their strict settings. One of their main means was through using music.
[MUSIC: Animal Kingdom plays, by Craig Allen Fravel from Soundstripe]
Christen: Even before they were taken from Africa, Black people used music to signify important life events and daily activities. The music would be an auditory translation of the fundamentals that West African worship was built upon: “The experiences of life and of the spiritual world.”
From rituals, where connections between the spiritual and physical world are amplified, to musical forms for work and relaxation. Even funeral processions were infused with music, because the integrity of their mourning is not defined by the absence of noise.
And that’s not to say that Black people were making music 24/7, all day every day! But it was a core part because of how much music was integrated within their everyday activities.
[MUSIC: Animal Kingdom plays, by Craig Allen Fravel; fades out during the narration of the previous sentence]
Christen: This involvement of music had been translated into their new community within enslaved life. And from that spawned the musical identity of Negro Spirituals. They were the first body of music that could be identified with the new genre of African American music.
Spirituals illustrated the intense emotions of African Americans' desires as this vibrant religious genre in the slave South.
[MUSIC: Oh Freedom! plays, performed by The Golden Gospel Singers]
Christen: They’re performed using call and response, a form rooted in West African music making. In practice, a leader gives a group of musical lines, and singers respond in a choral refrain.
At a glance, the form may seem centered through leadership. But, all the singers in a performance have equal importance.
When the call and response begin to merge, an overlap occurs—making it indistinguishable to identify a true leader. The overlap in West African vocal music is known as heterophony and creates this dense musical texture of varied melodies.
[MUSIC: Oh Freedom! plays; performed by The Golden Gospel Singers; fades into silence]
Christen: Using this technique, it powered community bonds that required participation from the group.
Now, looking at the foundation of Spirituals, it's steeped in the enslaved's religious faith and the realities of their lives in slavery.
When I say religious faith, I’m talking about West African spiritual practices and its adaptation through the enslaved learning Christianity, forming a style of worship that one might call Black Christianity. The marriage of these two concepts during the late 18th and 19th centuries allowed the music of Negro spirituals to thrive.
So, how did the Black community go about making this connection?
Well, generally, any demonstrations of what was African worship had to be done in secret. During the early part of slavery in the 18th century, white enslavers and southerners were taken aback by how the worship was performed and saw it as “idolatrous and wild.”
West African rituals involved communicating and connecting with the divinities and spirits of their community. In this aspect, it shares similarities with how gods are viewed in other religions.
Dance was another integral part to rituals and would generate àshe from trances—a life, or energy, received from the spirits. In this exchange, spiritual possession could take place.
And that’s definitely not all that goes into the dance. Forms of West African worship are noted for its distinctive use of intricate rhythms!
[MUSIC: Groove Station plays, by Cast of Characters from Soundstripe]
Christen: The overlap that’s seen in West African call and response is embodied in its use of rhythm. Individual, contrasting drum rhythms would blanket each other, in a process described as polyrhythm. The rhythm isn’t necessarily one that you count, but you feel as a listener.
A groove is created that you fall into that just makes sense. And that can be attributed to the sound illusion it makes of an irregular master beat.
African communities would dance to this beat with movements of West African dance that incorporate the whole body. These characteristics fed into the skewed view of West African worship that white people had.
[MUSIC: Groove Station plays, by Cast of Characters, along with “Of A Feather” playing, by Falls; Groove Station fades into silence as the next narration begins, with Of A Feather fading in]
Christen: Unlike Christianity, West African forms of worship didn't focus on life working toward an end goal of salvation. Instead, worship was an everyday, present act that made no distinction between the physical and spiritual worlds.
Being looked down on for this difference in faith and worship forced Black people to make their own spaces just for them.
These secret meetings of worship during slavery were called by many names. They were referred to as “brush arbor,” “bush,” or “camp” meetings for the ones held outdoors. The meetings held indoors were typically in “praise houses.”
The nature of these gatherings would be informal and would incorporate the singing and chanting of songs. It sometimes involved participants breaking into ecstatic trances, much like in West African worship.
[MUSIC: Of A Feather plays, by Falls; fades into silence before the next narration starts]
Christen: One of the main practices of song and dance held at these meetings was the ring shout.
[MUSIC: Move, Daniel plays, performed by the McIntosh County Shouters]
Christen: Ring shout is a type of African American music from the southern tidewater region of the U.S., derived from the ring dances of West Africa.
It’s filled with the West African polyrhythms and call and response I spoke about before, with the incorporation of chanting and hand clapping. While they weren’t called Spirituals at this time, they were the songs sung to the dance and rhythms of the ring shout.
[MUSIC: Move, Daniel plays, performed by the McIntosh County Shouters; comes up briefly, playing by itself between the narrations, before fading to the background]
Christen: And the group would be shuffling in a circle for the dance -- a worship practice that was frequent among early plantation slaves, because dancing openly was unaccepted.
The footwork and use of natural elements—like wood and bones—for instruments helped to create the complex rhythms of the dance. It’s mostly shown in these shouts the powerful musical survival of West African foundations in slavery.
You can begin to feel the energy that’s created from these gatherings—just from audio alone. And the overall spirit escalates when you have the added visuals of the dances.
[MUSIC: Move, Daniel plays, performed by the McIntosh County Shouters; fades into silence]
Christen: Videos of The McIntosh County Shouters and the Georgia Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters performing the tradition of ring shouts can be found within the episode’s show notes.
Worship for enslaved Blacks wasn’t just from their West African faith. They also had opportunities to practice Christian faith.
During the early 1800s, there were some situations where the enslaved were allowed exposure to Christianity. White and Black evangelicals could commune in certain activities and learn, together, the same version of Christianity.
There were even opportunities for some of the enslaved to be in church leadership positions, such as being preachers to the others enslaved on the plantation.
However, the approach and amount of Christianity they were exposed to changed drastically after the large effect of the rebellion led by Nathaniel “Nat” Turner.
[MUSIC: “Of A Feather” plays, by Falls]
Christen: Nat Turner was an enslaved man born in Southampton County, Virginia. A large part of his upbringing involved studying the teachings of Christianity and interpreting the connections it had with their lives in slavery.
Turner believed that he received a divine calling from God to free Black people and end slavery for good, leading to him being known as “The Prophet” to the other enslaved.
What’s really important is that this divination was the foundation for Turner to lead and assemble this rebellion of enslaved Africans.
In August 1831, Nat Turner and 75 enslaved and freed Black people massacred the family that owned their plantation—along with 50 other white people. The uprising lasted for about two days and was then put to a halt by 3,000 of the state’s militia.
[MUSIC: Of A Feather plays, by Falls; fades into silence before the next narration starts]
Christen: The overwhelming military response and continued rumors of other rebellions by those enslaved led to a great wave of hysteria among white southerners.
[MUSIC: Deshacer plays, by Azteca X]
Christen: This resulted in over a hundred Black people murdered in the following days, regardless of whether they were involved with the rebellion or not.
Let me be clear that this is a significant event in the history of American slavery. Again, the ultimate goal of this rebellion really was to end slavery.
And finding out from Nat Turner’s confessions that it was backed by religious influence, had white slave owners faced with what exposure to Christianity should be for those enslaved.
Those in charge of plantations and involved with legislation—both in churches and with the state—asserted their power to dictate the type of message Black evangelicals received in their Christian studies.
No longer were positions of religious leadership allowed for Black evangelicals. White evangelicals taught the enslaved instead, teaching the messages of the Bible with a proslavery perspective.
[MUSIC: Deshacer plays, by Azteca X; fades into silence during the quote]
Christen: “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ.” Ephesians Chapter 6, Verse 5; from the King James Version.
[MUSIC: “Deshacer” plays, by Azteca X; resuming after the quote finishes]
Christen: White Christian leaders thought these changes would prevent further rebellions from happening. There were also efforts to prevent the camp meetings from happening without white evangelicals’ supervision.
Despite this process of proslavery Christianization, Black people still held the camp meetings where they practiced their own cultural rites and worship. Elements of both West African culture and Christianity, as they interpreted it, were integrated into the Black community’s meetings.
[MUSIC: Deshacer plays, by Azteca X; fades into silence as the next narration begins]
Christen: That covers spirituals’ religious origins, but I mentioned there’s another fundamental part to them: The personal testimonies of those enslaved.
Outro
[MUSIC: Constellations plays, by Chelsea McGough]
Christen: Thank you for listening to Power Play. This was part one of a two part episode series. The creator of Power Play is none other than Karbo. This episode was researched and edited by myself, Christen Crumpler, and produced by Tamberly Ferguson. Production help and advisement by Frank Dominguez and Bruce Scott.
The music you heard today was “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” performed by the Fisk Jubilee Quartet; “The Ballad of M and T” by Sam Barsh; “The Forest Floor” by Shimmer; “Judgement Day Outside My Door” by Lost Ghosts; “Animal Kingdom” by Craig Allen Fravel; “Oh Freedom!” performed by The Golden Gospel Singers; “Groove Station” by Cast of Characters; “Of A Feather” by Falls; “Move, Daniel” performed by the McIntosh County Shouters; “Deshacer” by Azteca X; and “Constellations” by Chelsea McGough
Research regarding this episode can also be found within the episode’s show notes.
Lastly, thank you to you—our listeners—for tuning into this episode of Power Play. Power Play is presented by WDAV Classical Public Radio. If you like what you heard, you can find more information on this episode, and other great programming, at wdav.org/subscribe. Catch ya in the next one.
