The Theology of the Lyric Tradition in African American Spirituals (original) (raw)
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The Spirituals in the African American Poetry Tradition
The spirituals—the verses created by enslaved African Americans on Southern plantations—are rarely categorized as lyric poetry, and often overlooked as foundational sources of the African American poetry tradition. Yet their influence on modern and contemporary African American poetry is pervasive, which calls for a reexamination of their place in African American poetry, and of the scope of the African American poetry canon itself. Based on the pattern of allusions and citations of spirituals, this fresh focus also offers an opportunity to recognize that the poems created by enslaved African Americans are more diverse and formally innovative than is often recognized. As a result, the origins of African American poetry are shown to be rooted in a body of diasporic texts that is integrally connected to methods and motives associated with avant-garde practice. In 1882, the African American Rev. Marshall W. Taylor, D.D. wrote prophetically of the spirituals, " Their influence is not done. " (Taylor 4) The spirituals, created and performed by anonymous enslaved African Americans, are essential to the foundation of the African American poetry tradition. The spirituals are among the most original artistic products created in America. Combining African survivals with the experiences of enslavement in the American South, the spirituals very likely date to the early seventeenth century as oral texts, but were not transcribed until the early nineteenth century. This brilliant body of sung verse, encompassing some 6,000 or more examples, has not been fully credited for its influence on American or African American literature and culture, or its rightful place in the lyric poetry tradition. It is a common practice for African American poetry of the last hundred years to cite and allude to spirituals, but these foundational poems are rarely considered as an integral part of the canon. Many modern and contemporary African American poems are infused with phrases, forms, themes, techniques, and rhetorical strategies of the spirituals. Through greater awareness of the spirituals' presence, function, and influence, readers can better understand both the continuities and progressions in African American poetry, including its most innovative manifestations. This pattern of marginalizing the spirituals as lyric art and a major source of textual appropriations also shows how an exclusionary and ideological canon has developed that misrepresents and limits the scope of African American poetry. This essay is intended to provide a brief introduction to a vast topic in hopes of inspiring further research and exploration. Since they first were discussed in print by musicologists, critics, scholars, clergy, slavers, seafarers, and other auditors, there has been curiosity and debate about the messages and creators of these unique songs, and what to call them. Eileen Southern explains that they were originally called " hymns, " but it quickly became clear that they differed significantly from conventional Protestant church music. (Southern 180) Reflecting the dilemma of how to describe these unusual lyrics, Slave Songs of the United States, one of the earliest compilations, uses the term " slave songs " in its title and " sperichils " in its introduction. (ii) As I have discussed in Slave Songs and the Birth of African American Poetry, nineteenth century abolitionists commonly portrayed the enslaved African Americans as free of any malice or resentment about their status, and solely concerned with Christian patience and piety. By popularizing the term " spirituals, " abolitionists reinforced the message that the enslaved people were innocent and compliant, and former slaves, after Emancipation, would bear no anger and pose no threat towards their former oppressors. (Ramey 110-11) But the word " spirituals " fails to reflect the critique and mockery in these
The Word of God Made Song: the Cultural Impact of the African American Spiritual
Od folkloru k world music: Hudba a Slovo, 2022
The paper focuses on several of the most well-known spirituals (Sing Low, Sweet Chariot; Go Down Moses; Down by the Riverside) and looks at how the words of the Bible and the sermons of preachers inspired the lyrics of these songs. The words of the spirituals, inspired in particular by the Biblical stories of the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt, liberation and the reaching of the Promised Land, mirrored the plight of African Americans not only during slavery, but during the Reconstruction era and up to the time of the Civil Rights movement. The Fisk Jubilee Singers were pioneers in introducing the genre, not only to the rest of the United States, but also to the world.
AFRICAN AMERICAN SPIRITUALS AS A RESPONSE TO THE TRAUMA OF ENSLAVEMENT
Enslavement in the US created a complex context in which several generations of people of African descent experienced collective traumas over the course of two and half centuries. Spirituals, as a genre of music and performative practice, are usually seen as inextricably linked to slavery and can be regarded as many-sided collective responses to the traumatic experiences generated within the context of enslavement. The spirituals and their association with slavery bear a complex relationship to the evolution of collective identity among US people of African descent in a post-slavery era in which racist social structures continued to generate personal and collective traumas that affect them. In this presentation we examine attributes of the spirituals as responses to the traumas of enslavement; we also consider how spirituals might be utilized as responses to traumatic experiences of Black and others in the contemporary world.
SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION IN AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERARY TRADITION
AMITESH PUBLISHER & COMPANY, 2024
This research paper explores the profound influence of spirituality and religion on African American literature, tracing its historical significance, contemporary perspectives, and enduring themes. The paper begins by providing a brief overview of the African American literary tradition, highlighting the intertwined relationship between spirituality, religion, and literature. It examines the roots of African spirituality and the impact of slavery on African American religious practices, leading to the emergence of Christianity among African Americans. The paper then deals key themes in African American literature, including liberation, identity, resilience, and social justice, illustrating how these themes are intricately connected to spiritual and religious experiences. Through analysis of selected literary works such as "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" by Harriet Jacobs, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston, and "The Colour Purple" by Alice Walker, the paper explores the ways in which spirituality and religion are portrayed and their significance in character development and narrative arcs. The paper discusses the historical significance of African American spirituals and gospel music as forms of resistance and expression, as well as their representation in contemporary literature. It reflects on the enduring relevance of spirituality and religion in African American culture, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging and celebrating these aspects in literature.
The Story of the Exodus and the Images of the Promised Land and Heaven in the Poetry of African American Spirituals, 2017
Since the beginning of slavery blacks discovered in the Bible stories which provided not only narratives and language to delineate the difficulty of being a slave, but also hope for a better future in the afterlife. The Exodus was perceived as the Bible’s main argument that God denounced slavery and would come in a catastrophic event to judge those who mistreated blacks. This article is devoted to the exploration of the biblical figure of Exodus as a recurring trope in selected lyrics of slave spirituals and spirituals recorded by bluesmen. Scholars seem to agree that the Exodus is the migration narrative, but in this article I seek to demonstrate that it may also represent the theme of going on a spiritual journey to the other side in the hereafter or the end of time city the New Jerusalem.
Spirituals and Gospel Songs: Messages of Unity, Hope, and Deliverance
IJASS, 2021
Spirituals and gospel songs have a capacity to instill courage and bring people together. Spirituals helped enslaved Americans of the antebellum American South persevere through unimaginable hardships and look optimistically to a future of freedom. Similarly, gospel songs have inspired strength and Christian harmony for centuries. This essay briefly explores the roles spirituals and gospel songs played at the end of the American Civil War and in the postwar endeavors of The Fisk Jubilee Singers and Moody-Sankey revivalists. The essay also includes analysis of Albert Brumley's popular twentieth-century gospel song "I'll Fly Away," its relationship to spirituals, and its positive reception by African American performers. There are two intended purposes: to indicate how spirituals and gospel songs provide creative insights into specific historical moments and to show how their verses transcend those moments to express broader messages of unity, hope, and deliverance.
A Reception History of African American Spirituals
Foundation Theology, 2015
This is a concise look at the reception history of African American spirituals from 1867 through 2015. It stems from research into the origins of the genre in relation to the many influences in the United States from the early colonial period and the challenges encountered in their preservation. As with any other oral history, legend and myth abound. Objectivity is fleeting and is often clouded by racism and emotion. Scholarly attention, scarce since the Civil Rights Movement, has begun to untangle the threads of provenance.
Slave Songs and the Birth of African American Poetry
2010
In this insightful and provocative volume, Lauri Ramey reveals spirituals and slave songs to be a crucial element in American literature. This book shows slave songs' intrinsic value as lyric poetry, sheds light on their roots and originality, and draws new conclusions on this art form that is rarely studied as part of the lyric poetry canon. This book restores the slaves' songs to their rightful place in American literature as lyric poetry and a touchstone of the American cultural imagination.