Spirituals essays

Spirituals essays As slaves, Africans had to make many mental adjustments in order to survive in a foreign land. These adjustments are well shown in their poetry and music. Spirituals were the first form of African American music. They were the songs sang by the slaves on American plantations, that expressed feelings about freedom, religion and death. Spirituals were the songs of the children of disappointment. The central theme in spirituals was the divine liberation of the oppressed from slavery. This theme is quite often shown in spirituals such as in Swing Low Sweet Chariot I looked over Jordan what did I see, coming for to carry me home, a band of angels coming after me, coming for to carry me home. This spiritual expressed fellings of freedom through Slaves rejected white distortions of the bible, which emphasized the obedience of slaves to their masters. The basic idea of the spirituals was that slavery contradicts God; it is a denial of his will. The songs proved the slaves beliefs that human servitude was not reconcilable. The message of liberation in the spirituals is based on the biblical contention that Gods righteousness is revealed in his deliverance of the oppressed from the shackles of human bondage. That message showed the slaves confidence in God. The faith of black people was hence grounded in the faithfulness of Gods word revealed through the scriptures. African American music is not an artistic creation for its' own sake; yet it relays feelings and thought of African American people and the mental adjustments they had to make in order to survive in a foreign land. Spirituals were of the first form of African American music. They were the songs sang by the slaves on plantations that expressed their freedom, religion, and death. The songs told of suffering and unvoiced longing toward truer worlds of misty wanderings and hidden ways. Through all the sorrow songs there breathes a hope, and faith in the ultimate ...