The Negto Spiritual: Origins and Themes Dav McD. Simms Assistant Chaplain, NYC Correctional Institution at Rikers Island and Associate Chaplain, NYC Episcopal Mission Society ‘An exhaustive study of the ultimate origins of the Negro Spiritual would ex- tend far beyond the continental limits of the United States. ‘The story would un- doubtedly lead one to the African conti- nent from which the firt group of twenty Negro slaves was brought in 1619, and which served to impact to them musical forms and concepts which were destined to become Fused in the uniquely American creation, the American Spiritual, Tr would be Jess than accurate to as sume that the songs which Negroes sang as they worked out an adjustment to the American continent had little or no rela- tion to their African ancestry. Indeed, it would be reasonable to assume that the Negioes who had been imported to the American continent had their native musi- cal endowment with which to begin the venture which culminated in the Spiritual. James W. Johnson! concludes that the dis- tinctly African element in the Spirituals is their rhythmic qualities and that this ingredient can only be explained in terms of its introduction upon the African scene by the slaves who were most Familiar with it as an integral part of their former exist- ence in Africa. "The macked similazity of the thythmic pattem of the Spiritual with the larger body of indigenous African music can best be understocd in this light. But the Spirituals as we know them are more than unique rhythmic patterns — Press, 1951). they move to a higher and more full devel- opment. They go a step beyond primitive thythm to a higher melodie and harmonic ‘This metamorphosis ovcur- red after the slave had begun to acclimate himself to his new environment, an en- vironment which posed new and strange problems — problems of languoge, of be- havior, of attitude, end, more decisively, of religion, creativeness. Until recently, most studies of Negro Spicituals associated the development of the Spiritual toward « melodic and har monic maturity with the conversion of the slave to Christianity: xeligion was de- cisive. The classical statement of this view is pethaps thet of Johnson, who writes: At the psychic moment there was at hand the precise religion for the condi- tion in which the slave found himself thrust. Far from his native land and cxstomy deapbed by “hoe among whom he lived, experiencing the pai OF seperation of loved ones oa the aus tion-block, Knowing the hard task-mas- ling the lash, the Negro seized Christianity... 2 Christianity was a religion with which the slave could easily identify. As the subject-themes of the Fully developed Spic- ituals evidence, the Negro readily saw himself as the rejected and despised, as the people of Israel longing for a Redeem- ex. Under the burden of slavery, they could value, in a way the masters could not, the cardinal virtues which Christian- 2 Ibid, p. 9. 3536 ‘THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO EDUCATION ity taught: charity, forbearance, love, faith, hope. It was this new-found xeligion which provided the impulse to the devel- opment from a simple and primitive act form, to the Spiritual of great depth and wholeness. ‘That Christianity served as the impulse for the maturation of the Spiritual re ceives its most effective challenge from that school of historians of the Negro epitomized, perhaps, by Miles Mark Fish- ex. Fisher, who is a Baptist clergyman as well as a competent and respected his- torian of the American Negro, holds to the novel view that not only did the spirit- uals not reach their greatest development ‘as a consequence of the conversion of the slaves to Christianity, but, further, that Christianity had little influence upon the development of the whole body of Spirit- uals; he sees these songs as being repre- sentative of forces other than religion. In Negro Slave Songs in the United States Fisher suggests that the music of the slaves can only be understood when it is seen as the record of the thought of on oppressed people, rather than as the state~ ment of the religious aspirations of a group. To Fisher, the slave songs are an index to the mind of the slave, provid- ing a clue to his opinion upon the various aspects of his life upon the plantation rather than suggesting the core of his theology. Should such an understanding of the raison detre of the Spiritual be admitted, the large body of opinion regarding the genesis of this song-form must be radically reoriented. For example, the other world- ly aspect of these songs does not mern, 8 Miles Mark, Fisher, Negro Slave Songs in the United Steves (chacas” Cornell Uae versity Press, 1953). as might be presumed, a longing for the deliverance of death from the bondage of servitude through its entrance into Heav- Rathes, the Spiritual references to “Freedom Land,” for example, are prop: erly understood as a desire to return to Africa through the assistance of the Amer can Colonization Society. Also, the view held by most historians of the Negro, that Negroes resented being held as prop- erty, must be radically revised. Indeed, shom of theit religious meaning, the Spir- ituals would tend to depict the slave as content with his lot, obedient, dutiful and ‘happy. Pezhaps the most interesting and signif cant of the points suggested by Fisher is his view that che slave songs represent the development by Negroes of a vocabu- lary and means of expression that were entirely their own. Intra-plentation com- munication was severely delimited, for most slave-owners lived in constant dread of a slave revolt. That the slaves sought to overcome this barrier to natural com- munication is not unimaginable, and Fish- ex suggests that this was done by sprink- ling their melodies with symbols and im- ‘ages and concepts borrowed from their Alrican past and completely unknown by the whites. By developing this symbolism 2s a universal language among themselves, they were able to hacbor and express en. 4 The Americen Colonizetion Society was a privacy onganiaedeffor. which, with the moral and Gnancial cooperation of the Feder- al Goverment, sought. to embark upon a program of colonizing freed Negroes in, Af Hien, Although the Society's efforts did re- suit in the establishment of the tiny Republic of Liberia, its work, Targely, met with litle success. ‘The Socieiy is chiefly important as the first of @ large number of sporadic and unsuccessful “back to Africa" movements — the latest of which is the Black Muslim sect. SCE, W. E. B. DuBoiv’ Black Recon. struction (New York: Harcourt Brace and Go, 1935).THE NEGRO SPIRITUAL 37 thoughts that were not comprehensible to others, ‘The masters never realized this. While Fisher's views are extraordinar- ily interesting and tend to throw additional light upon the subject of the ultimate oti- gins of the Spiritual, one thinks it is Jess than realistic to suggest that Chris- tionity had no effect upon the develop- ment of the Spicitual. His conclusion that Christianity “rarely occurred as an ele- ment in the antebellum Spiritual” not only contradicts the great weight of the opinion of historians of the Spiritual, but it does an injustice to the facts, the chief symbol of which is the firm place Spirituals hold fn the worship of the independent Negro Protestant churches of today. In contrast to the view of the Fisher school, we might safely conclude, for the Purposes of this enauiry, that the Chri tian faith as the slave saw it was a decisive factor in the tonal development of the Spiritual. We might well agree with Johnson as he observes: Thus it was by sheer spiritual forces that the African chants were [changed] fnto Spirituels, that upon the funde- mental throb of the African rhythms ‘were reared those reaches of melody — and that this is the minute of the ere- ation of the Spirituals,? Although the purely tonal develop- ‘ment of the Spiritual is important in com- to an understanding of this important idiom, the subjectmatter of these songs is no less an important area of enquiry. It was in the texts of these songs, their message, as well as the mode of that message, thot one is able to detect the vast store of religious insight and the spiritual maturity of the slave. Ie is both Fisher, op. cit, p. 179. TJobnson, op. cite p. 19. easy and natural, therefore, that, having seen the effect of the slave's conversion to Christianity, we might address ourselves to the larger question of the raw mater fals upon which the Spicituals drew for inspiration. When the body of Spicituals is viewed as a unit, it can be perceived that the raw materials for these songs came from three sources, chiefly: the Bible, the ne- ‘ural world and from personal experience. The Spirimals which allude to the per sonal experiences of the slave are perme- ated with the themes which concerned him most — life, death, freedom, hope. Tt is in this category of Spiritual that the mention of another world is most often made, An example of this type is seen in the song Good Lord, shall I ever be de one To get over in de Promise’ Land? God called Adam in de Garden, "Twas about de cool of de day Called for old Adam, An’ he tried to run away, ‘The Lord walked in de Garden, “Twas about de cocl of de day, Called for old Adam, An’ Adem said, “Here I am, Lord.” Also, the more familiar Swing Low, sweet chariot, Comin’ for tocarry me home is another exemple of the large body of the Spisituals which expresses concern for salvation in the other world. ‘Thurman holds these songs which re- Tate to personal experience as being ex- pressions of the several facets of the slave's worldview: joy, consolation, solitar jness, loneliness.8 “As the slave looked about him, seeking to find some ultimate meening in all that was happening within SHoward Thurman, Deep River (New York: Harper and. Brothers, 1945).38 ‘THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO EDUCATION and outside of him, he grasped these themes and upon them built the vast number of Spirituals which recount per- sonal experience. Spirituals dealing with personal exper- ence were complemented by the songs which dealt with che natural order of things, The slave whose task it was to till the soil was in on intimate relation with the forces that made up the natural universe. This proximity to nature in the New World was not a totally new ex perience for him for life in Aftica hed been marked by 2 deep reverence for the forces in nature which the native could neither control nor understand. This at- titude showed itself in the manner in which Spirituals drew upon the natural world for subject-matter. Not only did the Spirituals draw upon the world of nature and the mere intimate world of personal experience for subject materials, but the conversion of the slave to Christianity had the effect of giving the Negro a context in which the natural world could be observed: Nature was God's handiwork and an avenue toward understanding the Divine Nature, ‘An excellent example of the combina tion of this basic reverence for nature and an attempt to see it as an expression of God's purpose in che world is in the Spiritual, “Deep River’. "The slave was intimately familiar wich rivers as, indeed, much of his life centered about them. In Africa the great rivers, with their tortuous rapids, their majestic falls, and their mys- terious overflows, must have combined to evoke from the native awe and wonder. ‘And rivers were no less important to the ‘Negro once he had been transplanted to America, The great Mississippi, for ex- ‘ample, not only served as the major means of transportation of slaves and produce, but, more significantly, it was often the boundary between slave territory and free soil. Understanding this, it i not diff- cult to perceive how the slave could ting: Deep River, my home is over Jordan; Deep River, my home is over Jordan, O don't you want to go to that Gospel Feast, That Promised Land where all is Peace? Deep River, I wont to erass over into ‘Camp Ground. In addition to the Spirituals which spoke of personal experience and of the world of nature, there were those Spirit uals which found as their subject matter specifically religious themes. ‘These songs ddtew upon the vast stores of material of both the Old and the New Testaments and they were quick to point up the human element in the characters they represented. Mention has already been made of the quickidentification of the Negro Spirit uals evidenced with the People of God of the Old Testament, ‘The Spirituals indicate that the Negroes who created them thought of themselves as « people of destiny, participating in God’s working in history. Such Spirituals as “Go Dom Moses” are significant examples of this attitude, Pethaps the most arresting develop ment in the use of Biblical materials in the Spirituals ate the songs which re- late to the life and death of Jesus. Just as the life and death of Jesus maintains a central place to all Christian thought (des pite the varying perspectives from which that life is often viewed)®, so it is that the axis of the great body of Spirituals 90, £ Teseph R. Washington, Jr Black Religion CBesba: The Bene Beds 1965).THE NEGRO SPIRITUAL 39 seems to be the songs which tell of the events of Jesus’ life. ‘The Spirituals re- veal a peculiar, and, at first sight, contra- dictory, view of the Christ: he is depicted as an intensely human personality who shared many of the same problems and frustrations as the slaves, while, on the other hand, he is seen as King, as Ruler of the Universe, whese Being seems to merge with that of God. “King Jesus” was the name most com- monly given to Christ in the Spirituals, Besides this he was the besom friend of the Negro. He come: in to intercept Satan and to show that the individual will be saved from Hell. He is very real and no one is more vividly des- cxibed than He. He bears many rela- tions with his people. .. 1° Nowhere is the affinity of Jesus with the slaves more clearly depicted, thus pointing to his humanity, than in the songs which portray the crucifixion. ‘The slave could easily see the suffering Christ as someone whose predicament was some- what as his own, yet infinitely more tragic. The song “Were You There?” illustrates the point well: Were you there when they crucified amy Lord? ‘Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh! sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble; Were you there when they crucified my Lord? There seems to have been little room in the Spitituals for a distinction between God and Jesus. In some of the songs the terms “God? and “Jesus” are used interchangably: Did you ever see a man as God, A little more faith in Jesus. 10H, W. Odum, The Negro and His Songs (New York: Viking Pross, 1942). Acpreaching the Gospel to the poor, Allitele mote faith in Jesus, For the most part, a rclatively simple theory of the Incarnation is present in these songs. ‘The Spirituals are striking in their medievallike assumptions of Christian orthodoxy. They do not under- take any attempt to perfect a scheme of separation of the office and functions of Jesus and God, and they are practically without any reference to the Holy Spirit. The question immediately arises as to the cause for such a distortion of such an elemental Christian belief. It would seem that one might will agree with Thurman when he suggests that People who lve under great. pressure appling with tremendous impon: Shles, which, left to themselves, they would not manpalate or manage, have alta surplus of energy for meta feal”distnctions, Such distinctions, apart from the necessity of circum: stances or urgency of spirit, belong 10 those upon whom the hold of the envie- onment is relatively relaxed. Urgency forces a reach for the ultimate, whicl ultimate in the intensity of demand is incorporated in the warp and woof of immediacy. . 2 A significant aspect of the vast number of spicituals which relate to the life of Jesus is the relatively small number of these songs which celebrate his Nativity. Tt would seem that the strong dramatic clement within the Nativity story — with its manger, its Wise Men, the An- nuneiation of the Virgin — would have been fruitful material upon which the slaves might have constructed Spirituals. ‘That there was no significant utilization of, these themes gives tise to various theories. Perhaps the most plausible explanation 11 Thurman, op. oft0 THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO EDUCATION of the absence cf the Netivity theme from the Spiritual is in terms of the social milieu of the Plantation South, Viewing the question from this perspective, Jobn- son suggests three Factors which made for the absence of such Spirituals.12 Fist, the old-time plantation preacher, who was the medium by which the Chiis tian faith was transmitted to the dlaves, was himself nonplussed by the Immacw late Conception and he therefore neglect cd the preaching of the birth of Chris. Never having had the Nativity story pre sented them, and uncble to read it for themselves, the slaves did not create Spir- iruals commemorating the event. A second factor which worked against the cxcation of the specifically Nativity spiritual, and one closely associated with the first shove, was that the preacher pre- ferred to think of Jesus as God, as Al mighty, and thus could not reconcile this view with his being born of a woman. A third factor, and a significant one, pethaps, is that in the South, Christmas was not a holiday the mood of which ‘was sacred or religious. For there, “up to recent years it has been celebrated with gunpowder and whiskey. It has there been the most secular, even the most pro- fane of holidays.”!9 The result of such a situation is not hard to imagine: in the slaves’ mind there was no conscious con- nection between the manner of the cele- ‘bration of December 25 on the Plantation by his overlords and the life, death and resurrection of Christ. ‘Thurman adds another dimension to a -consideration of why there is en absence 12Johnion, op. cit., “Preface.” 186, jon and the Ligon Pope's *Rel > The pp. 8491, ‘The Anna from the Spirituals of the story of the Nativity: My own opinion [is] .. . in the teach- ing of the Bible stories concerning the birth of Jesus, very little appeal’ was made to the imagination of the slave Ddecause it was felt wise not to teach him the significance of this event to the poor and captive. It was danger- ous to let the slave understand that the life and teachings of Jesus meant free dom for the captive and release for those held in economic, social and po- litical bondage . . .1# A consideration of the origins of the Spirinual, therefore, tends to support the notion that the slave songs were decisively influenced by the exposure of the slave to the Christian teligion and that the sub- jectmatter of the spirituals was derived from the Biblical, personal and natural- world sources. Furthes, the slaves were unable, in their congs, to pursue the fine distinctions of Christian theology and that 1 basic reason for such a lack of theclug cal content is that the Plantation setting, along with the tensions of a milieu which discouraged the slaves” intemalization of the Christian doctrine of egalitarianism, combined to discourage, if not absolutely prosctibe, the development of Spirituals ‘whose theology was commensurate in qual- ity with the American Spiritual’s musical development. Despite the restricted theological per spective of the American Negro Spiritual, ‘one leaves even so cursory an inquiry as this with the awareness that this folk-idiom herbors a vast store of religious and social insight. ‘These songs, ia their essence, were the spontaneaus response of a people who hed found themselves desperately in need of that living reality which gives meaning to life — and which affirms it, 14 Thurman, op. cit,‘THE NEGRO SPIRITUAL a ‘The Spirituals consistently hold to the view that every human being is @ child of God and that all men are therefore brothers — brothers in their common joys, their sorrows, and, ultimately, in their death and resurrection. This is the great theme of the Negro Spirituals. ‘That such a theme found its roots in the product of a people who confronted the deprivation of their very humanity is at once a wit- ness to the power of religion in human Ife and a vindication of the human spirit.