Spirituals In African Culture

Music has been a part of this world since human existence, it has developed through the influences of different cultures and events around the world. Songs play an important role in relaying different messages, representing cultures, and in major historical events. One song type that has become a significant part of music and society is spirituals. Spirituals are religious folksongs created by Africans who were brought forcefully to South America as slaves to work on plantations, between the 1600s to the 1870s. Slaves were restricted from their freedom of expression and they faced hardships. To survive these times, slaves inclined towards music and the African culture gave birth to a new musical genre, spirituals. Since slaves were allowed
Runaway slaves who followed Polaris to Canada found assistance from protesters of slavery (conductors). In the UGRR, this is when the lyrics of spirituals was the technique used to convey coded messages between slaves. Two types of spirituals used in this system were signal and map songs. Signal songs communicated an event about to occur like an escape. A map song directed slaves towards the North. One famous map song was “Follow the Drinking Gourd” which told slaves to follow Polaris. Other spirituals in the URRG included of “Steal Away” which communicated a slave’s escape, and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” which let slaves know about the UGRR. One remarkable figure was Harriet Tubman who aided hundreds of slaves to Canada, by showing them the way to freedom through the song "Go down, Moses." The purpose of spirituals to communicate was crucial in the Underground
Spirituals created by African Americans are one of the largest folksongs in America. Although it was born to support slaves, it has become a major musical genre. For instance, to represent America, Antonin Dvorak used spiritual music in his “Symphony from the New World.” Then, Spirituals affected the creation of Jazz music and inspired the origination of gospels which are religious songs with Christian values. Blues music came from a combination of African rhythms and American folk song themes. Then, blues and gospels influenced rock ‘n’ roll, soul, and hip-hop to originate, giving America several popular music genres. Furthermore, spirituals deeply impacted the African American community. During times of slavery, these spirituals helped slaves express their pain, get through difficult times and hope for a better life. Another community impacted by spirituals after slavery ended in 1890 were the Holiness and Sanctified churches, where African traditions were evident; the shouts, clapping, stomping, and singing. The musical genre of spirituals affected many cultures and