![Before the Blues, Jazz, Gospel and Rock-n-Roll, America honed an original form of music. Slaves created this musical expression, with African roots and a biblical text, for deliverance and secret communication. The Spirituals traces the painful history of an original American art form.](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTI5Nzc5NTU0Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNTc1NTUwMw@@._V1_QL75_UX500_CR0,47,500,281_.jpg)
A musical art form, the American Spiritual, was born out of the folk songs of slaves. Melodies of backbreaking work were hummed, sung, and passed on throughout the Deep South over fields of ... Read allA musical art form, the American Spiritual, was born out of the folk songs of slaves. Melodies of backbreaking work were hummed, sung, and passed on throughout the Deep South over fields of cotton, greens, cowpeas, yams, rice, peanuts, and okra. Wherever a slave was imprisoned, t... Read allA musical art form, the American Spiritual, was born out of the folk songs of slaves. Melodies of backbreaking work were hummed, sung, and passed on throughout the Deep South over fields of cotton, greens, cowpeas, yams, rice, peanuts, and okra. Wherever a slave was imprisoned, the sorrow songs were used to console. With defiance, sorrow, and anger, the songs traveled... Read all