The Negro Spiritual, sometimes referred to as plantation songs, sorrow songs or slave-songs, originated from the innermost being of enslaved Africans who were captured from the West Coast of Africa and transported to the Americas. While in bondage they were forbidden to talk or make musical instruments that they had used in Africa but could sing whatever they felt. The gift of singing became an invaluable tool of expression and a relief from the cruel and brutal existence of a slave-life. It is in these simple African melodies, which, "sprang into existence," where the enslaved Africans expressed their pain, anger, grief, faith and joy. Just as Africans communicated among themselves using drum language in there own countries and tribes, so did the enslaved Africans continue to do in America by using "cries," "hollers," "calls," "shouts," which eventually evolved into spirituals and work songs. To the slave owner, it may have been entertaining to hear the slaves sing these "simple" songs of faith, but for the enslaved person these songs were powerful messages of hope, a way of assuaging their unfortunate plight in life and above all fighting to maintain the most basic form of human dignity that would help them sustain and endure the arduous hardships of a slave existence. These plantation songs united and strengthened the slaves and gave them an abiding faith and strong courage.

These simple melodies still cause people today to examine themselves, tap their toes, clap their hands, shed tears, laugh, dance and shout. This music still has the ability to touch the human spirit and have a lasting effect on one’s emotions and beliefs. The simplicity of the melodies makes room for a singer to improvise during a performance, even if only a single note is added to the original melody "as the spirit moves". This may vary greatly from one performer to another. In it's original form the spiritual was free in form, rhythm, text, and performance styles and allowed for much variation from singer to singer as it was passed on orally. Such characteristic features are typical and unique to the Negro Spirituals. As stated in Slaves Songs In The United States,

"And what makes it all the harder to unravel a thread of melody out of this strange network is that, like birds, they seem not infrequently to strike sounds that cannot be precisely represented by the gamut, and abound in "slides" from one note to another, and turns and cadences not in articulated notes." "It is difficult to express the entire character of these Negro ballads by mere musical notes and signs. The odd turns made in the throat, and the curious rhythmic effect produced by single voices chiming in at different irregular intervals, seem almost as impossible to place on the score as the singing of birds or the tones of an Aeolian Harp."

Listen To Negro Spirituals On-Line

Nobody knows de trouble I see

Oh Freedom

Tryin’ to get ready

And he never said a mumberlin’ word

Joshua fit de battle ob Jericho

I’m a rollin’

Po’ pilgrim of sorrow; or, A city called Heaven

Steal Away

Ev’ry time I feel the spirit

Listen to the Angels shouting

My Lord, what a mourning

I want to be ready; or, walk in Jerusalem just like John

Go down Moses

A little more faith in Jesus

Deep River

'Tis the old ship of Zion

Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen

Swing low, sweet chariot

Great Day!

A little more faith in Jesus

Deep River