Spiritual and Spiritualism

Spiritual is a type of religious song made famous by the blacks of the Southern United States. Spirituals are emotional songs and have a strong rhythm. They are es­pecially moving when sung by a group. A leader some­times sings one or two lines alone, and a chorus comes in with the refrain. Spiritual singers often emphasize the rhythm by clapping their hands.

The melodies used in spirituals are sometimes said to have originated in Africa. However, many spirituals are unrelated to African songs. Such spirituals reflect a di­rect relationship to evangelistic preaching among poor Southern whites that began at a Kentucky camp meeting in 1800. These "revivals” also encouraged "white spiritu­als." The blacks' love for song led them to put their feel­ings into their singing at worship and at work.

The slaves based most of their spirituals upon charac­ters and stories from the Bible. The manner in which these stories are told in black spirituals shows deep feeling, an original imagination, and a simple faith.

Many slaves thought of themselves as modern children of Israel and sought freedom from bondage. Their songs were appealing and sincere. Well-known spiritu­als include "Go Down, Moses," "Deep River," and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot."

Spirituals were little known outside the Southern States until after the blacks were freed from slavery. In 1867, William Francis Allen, Lucy McKim Garrison, and Charles Pickard Ware published a collection of black music called Slave Songs of the United States.

In 1871, spirituals were introduced to other parts of the United States by a group of blacks called the Jubilee Singers, of Fisk University, Tennessee. They travelled throughout the United States, and to England and Ger­many, giving concerts to raise money for their college. Other black colleges followed their example. The black quartets from Hampton Institute (now Hampton Univer­sity), Virginia, and Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University), Alabama, became famous.

Spirituals are now one of the best-known forms of American music. Major writers of spirituals include the black composers Harry Thacker Burleigh, William Daw­son, and Hall Johnson. Such black singers as Marian An­derson, Roland Hayes, and William Warfield helped make spirituals popular.