10 Facts About Spirituals

Spirituals is a genre of Christian music that is associated with Black Americans, which merged sub-Saharan African cultural heritage with the experiences of being held in bondage in slavery, at first during the transatlantic slave trade and for centuries afterwards, through the domestic slave trade.

Spirituals encompass the "sing songs, " work songs, and plantation songs that evolved into the blues and gospel songs in church.

Spirituals were originally oral, but by 1867 the first compilation, entitled "Slave Songbook", was published.

Spirituals were created by a "circumscribed community of people in bondage", over time they became known as the first "signature" music of the United States.

Spirituals were not simply different versions of hymns or Bible stories, but rather a creative altering of the material; new melodies and music, refashioned text, and stylistic differences helped to set apart the music as distinctly African-American.

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Spirituals was a baritone, who performed in many concert settings.

Spirituals introduced classically trained artists, such as Antonin Dvorak to African-American spirituals.

Spirituals coached African-American soloists, such as Marian Anderson, as solo classical singers.

Spirituals remain a mainstay particularly in small black churches, often Baptist or Pentecostal, in the deep South.

The group has produced several CDs, including "The Spirituals", and is the focus of a public broadcasting documentary.