{"id":33,"date":"2022-11-08T22:00:55","date_gmt":"2022-11-08T22:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/chapter\/spirituals\/"},"modified":"2023-01-25T20:54:15","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T20:54:15","slug":"spirituals","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/chapter\/spirituals\/","title":{"raw":"Spirituals","rendered":"Spirituals"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"spirituals\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">In this chapter you will<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-sbbl\">learn about the music that was created by African slaves and their descendants<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-sbbl\">discover the Bible\u2019s potential to inspire hope and efforts for freedom (and what measures slave owners took to try to avoid this)<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-sbbll\">explore the ongoing influence of this musical tradition<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"import-pf\">The <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId163\" href=\"https:\/\/www.negrospirituals.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">genre<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> of <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId164\" href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/item\/ihas.200197495\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">spirituals<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> (sometimes referred to in the past as <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId165\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gpb.org\/news\/2019\/09\/17\/slavery-civil-rights-the-legacy-of-negro-spirituals-in-georgia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">\u201cnegro spirituals\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>) had a profound influence on American music and the world, as musical traditions from Africa merged with biblical texts and other elements acquired in and from the place where Africans were brought as slaves, creating a style of music that influenced blues and jazz and, from there, rock and many other genres. Biblical elements are featured frequently, sometimes subtly and through allusions and at other times as many details of a story are explored and retold. For an example of a specific story given significant attention, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId166\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SP5EfwBWgg0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">listen to \u201cGo Down Moses (Let My People Go).\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> It stays very close to the story in Exodus throughout, yet it speaks at the very same time to and out of the experience of slavery in another time and place. It is hard to imagine a clearer example than this of the way an ancient text, modern experience, and musical expression can converge in powerful and meaningful ways.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">One of the oldest documented spirituals, \u201cRoll, Jordan, Roll,\u201d focused on John the Baptist, and we know quite a bit about its history. It is an adaptation of a hymn by famous hymnwriter Isaac Watts. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId167\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/blackatlantic\/2014\/03\/18\/roll-jordan-roll-a-community-in-song-and-sound\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">The song is featured in the 2013 movie<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> <a class=\"rId168\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/blackatlantic\/2014\/03\/18\/roll-jordan-roll-a-community-in-song-and-sound\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em class=\"import-url-i\">12 Years a Slave<\/em><\/a>, and in this video clip from the film, it is performed by Topsy Chapman with Chiwetel Ejiofor and other cast members.<\/p>\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mAZhQQN758g[\/embed]\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId170\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bibleodyssey.org\/places\/main-articles\/jordan-river\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">River Jordan<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> is one of many motifs related to water that appears frequently in spirituals, often <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId171\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umcdiscipleship.org\/resources\/history-of-hymns-wade-in-the-water\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">echoing multiple different texts pertaining to the exodus, baptism, and more<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId172\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umcdiscipleship.org\/resources\/history-of-hymns-wade-in-the-water\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">\u201cWade in the Water\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> is a good example, echoing not only the crossing of the Red Sea but also the troubling of the waters in John 5:7, while at the same time <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId173\" href=\"https:\/\/pathways.thinkport.org\/secrets\/music2.cfm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">providing instructions for how to use water as a means of evading recapture when escaping slavery<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>.[footnote]See further Henry Carrigan, <em>Fifteen Spirituals That Will Change Your Life<\/em> (Brewster: Paraclete, 2019), 25\u201331.[\/footnote] This 2019 recording of \u201cWade in the Water\u201d by Cynthia Liggins Thomas incorporates a 1925 recording of a performance by the Sunset Four Jubilee Singers.<\/p>\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7_euSS86dvE[\/embed]\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">This excerpt from an <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId175\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/opb\/historydetectives\/investigation\/slave-songbook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">episode of<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">History Detectives<\/em><a class=\"rId176\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/video\/history-detectives-slave-songbook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">, \u201cSlave Songbook: Origin of the Negro Spiritual,\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> will delve more into their history.[footnote]<em>History Detectives<\/em>, season 6, episode 11, \u201cSlave Songbook: Origin of the Negro Spiritual,\u201d aired February 3, 2009, on PBS.[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8zeshN_ummU[\/embed]\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Whole websites are dedicated to documenting and studying this important musical genre, such as the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId178\" href=\"https:\/\/spirituals-database.com\/the-negro-spiritual\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Spirituals Database<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>. Don\u2019t forget as well that we started the book with an example of a spiritual, \u201cDry Bones.\u201d[footnote]For another version of \u201cDry Bones,\u201d listen to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_l4bZlA11YU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">arrangement by Margaret Bonds<\/a> as part of her 1946 work \u201cFive Creek-Freedmen Spirituals.\u201d[\/footnote] Let us conclude this chapter by mentioning another famous spiritual, \u201cSwing Low, Sweet Chariot.\u201d The chariot that is in mind appears to be the divine chariot that carried <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId179\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/quicksearch\/?quicksearch=Elijah&amp;version=NRSV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">the prophet Elijah<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> away to heaven (<span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId180\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=2%20Kings%202%3A11&amp;version=NRSV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">2 Kings 2:11<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>). The song is widely familiar, and in the UK it has become customary for the crowds to sing it at sporting events. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId181\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Xb25pqs-OEA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Here is the reggae group UB40 performing it with that specific focus<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Spirituals continue to be performed and interpreted today. Historically, they brought together musical traditions that enslaved Africans brought with them and music they encountered in the lands to which they were brought. The spirituals influenced many new genres that emerged out of this fusion of musical influences in the Americas, including the blues, jazz, and rock \u2019n\u2019 roll. Spirituals also drew on and engaged with texts that were in most cases new to the slaves. The Bible was used by slave owners to justify the practice of slavery, but the slaves found in it a resource that could foster their longing for freedom and hope for liberation. The Bible\u2019s potential to have this impact was something the European American slave owners were aware of, and thus they <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId182\" href=\"https:\/\/www.museumofthebible.org\/exhibits\/slave-bible\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">printed Bibles for slaves<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> that <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId183\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2018\/12\/09\/674995075\/slave-bible-from-the-1800s-omitted-key-passages-that-could-incite-rebellion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">omitted key passages<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> about <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId184\" href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/news\/slave-bible-redacted-old-testament\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">liberation from slavery<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">For Further Reading and Listening<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">African-American Spirituals of the Civil War: Concert. Library of Congress. March 30, 2013. YouTube video. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId185\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PQviOAz5584\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PQviOAz5584<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Darden, Robert F. \u201cThe Bible in Black Gospel Music.\u201d <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Bible Odyssey<\/em><\/span>, September 4, 2022. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bibleodyssey.org\/passages\/related-articles\/the-bible-in-black-gospel-music\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">https:\/\/www.bibleodyssey.org\/en\/passages\/related-articles\/bible-in-black-gospel-music<\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Kirk-Duggan, Cheryl. \u201cSacred and Secular in African-American Music.\u201d In <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the Arts<\/em><\/span>, edited by Frank Burch Brown, 498\u2013522. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Kynes, Will. \u201cWrestle On, Jacob: Antebellum Spirituals and the Defiant Faith of the Hebrew Bible.\u201d <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Journal of Biblical Literature<\/em><\/span> 140, no. 2 (2021): 291\u2013307.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Simms, David McD. \u201cThe Negro Spiritual: Origins and Themes.\u201d <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Journal of Negro Education<\/em><\/span> 35, no. 1 (1966): 35\u201341.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Southern, Eileen. \u201cAn Origin for the Negro Spiritual.\u201d <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Black Scholar<\/em><\/span> 3, no. 10 (1972): 8\u201313.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div><\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"spirituals\">\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">In this chapter you will<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"import-sbbl\">learn about the music that was created by African slaves and their descendants<\/li>\n<li class=\"import-sbbl\">discover the Bible\u2019s potential to inspire hope and efforts for freedom (and what measures slave owners took to try to avoid this)<\/li>\n<li class=\"import-sbbll\">explore the ongoing influence of this musical tradition<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"import-pf\">The <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId163\" href=\"https:\/\/www.negrospirituals.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">genre<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> of <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId164\" href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/item\/ihas.200197495\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">spirituals<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> (sometimes referred to in the past as <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId165\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gpb.org\/news\/2019\/09\/17\/slavery-civil-rights-the-legacy-of-negro-spirituals-in-georgia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">\u201cnegro spirituals\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>) had a profound influence on American music and the world, as musical traditions from Africa merged with biblical texts and other elements acquired in and from the place where Africans were brought as slaves, creating a style of music that influenced blues and jazz and, from there, rock and many other genres. Biblical elements are featured frequently, sometimes subtly and through allusions and at other times as many details of a story are explored and retold. For an example of a specific story given significant attention, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId166\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SP5EfwBWgg0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">listen to \u201cGo Down Moses (Let My People Go).\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> It stays very close to the story in Exodus throughout, yet it speaks at the very same time to and out of the experience of slavery in another time and place. It is hard to imagine a clearer example than this of the way an ancient text, modern experience, and musical expression can converge in powerful and meaningful ways.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">One of the oldest documented spirituals, \u201cRoll, Jordan, Roll,\u201d focused on John the Baptist, and we know quite a bit about its history. It is an adaptation of a hymn by famous hymnwriter Isaac Watts. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId167\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/blackatlantic\/2014\/03\/18\/roll-jordan-roll-a-community-in-song-and-sound\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">The song is featured in the 2013 movie<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> <a class=\"rId168\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/blackatlantic\/2014\/03\/18\/roll-jordan-roll-a-community-in-song-and-sound\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em class=\"import-url-i\">12 Years a Slave<\/em><\/a>, and in this video clip from the film, it is performed by Topsy Chapman with Chiwetel Ejiofor and other cast members.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"oembed-1\" title=\"12 Years a Slave 2013   Roll Jordan Roll\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mAZhQQN758g?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId170\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bibleodyssey.org\/places\/main-articles\/jordan-river\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">River Jordan<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> is one of many motifs related to water that appears frequently in spirituals, often <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId171\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umcdiscipleship.org\/resources\/history-of-hymns-wade-in-the-water\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">echoing multiple different texts pertaining to the exodus, baptism, and more<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId172\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umcdiscipleship.org\/resources\/history-of-hymns-wade-in-the-water\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">\u201cWade in the Water\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> is a good example, echoing not only the crossing of the Red Sea but also the troubling of the waters in John 5:7, while at the same time <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId173\" href=\"https:\/\/pathways.thinkport.org\/secrets\/music2.cfm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">providing instructions for how to use water as a means of evading recapture when escaping slavery<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"See further Henry Carrigan, Fifteen Spirituals That Will Change Your Life (Brewster: Paraclete, 2019), 25\u201331.\" id=\"return-footnote-33-1\" href=\"#footnote-33-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a> This 2019 recording of \u201cWade in the Water\u201d by Cynthia Liggins Thomas incorporates a 1925 recording of a performance by the Sunset Four Jubilee Singers.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"oembed-2\" title=\"Wade in the Water\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7_euSS86dvE?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">This excerpt from an <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId175\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/opb\/historydetectives\/investigation\/slave-songbook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">episode of<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">History Detectives<\/em><a class=\"rId176\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/video\/history-detectives-slave-songbook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">, \u201cSlave Songbook: Origin of the Negro Spiritual,\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> will delve more into their history.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"History Detectives, season 6, episode 11, \u201cSlave Songbook: Origin of the Negro Spiritual,\u201d aired February 3, 2009, on PBS.\" id=\"return-footnote-33-2\" href=\"#footnote-33-2\" aria-label=\"Footnote 2\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"oembed-3\" title=\"Slave Songbook : Origin of the negro Spiritual\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8zeshN_ummU?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Whole websites are dedicated to documenting and studying this important musical genre, such as the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId178\" href=\"https:\/\/spirituals-database.com\/the-negro-spiritual\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Spirituals Database<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>. Don\u2019t forget as well that we started the book with an example of a spiritual, \u201cDry Bones.\u201d<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"For another version of \u201cDry Bones,\u201d listen to the arrangement by Margaret Bonds as part of her 1946 work \u201cFive Creek-Freedmen Spirituals.\u201d\" id=\"return-footnote-33-3\" href=\"#footnote-33-3\" aria-label=\"Footnote 3\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[3]<\/sup><\/a> Let us conclude this chapter by mentioning another famous spiritual, \u201cSwing Low, Sweet Chariot.\u201d The chariot that is in mind appears to be the divine chariot that carried <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId179\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/quicksearch\/?quicksearch=Elijah&amp;version=NRSV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">the prophet Elijah<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> away to heaven (<span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId180\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=2%20Kings%202%3A11&amp;version=NRSV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">2 Kings 2:11<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>). The song is widely familiar, and in the UK it has become customary for the crowds to sing it at sporting events. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId181\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Xb25pqs-OEA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Here is the reggae group UB40 performing it with that specific focus<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Spirituals continue to be performed and interpreted today. Historically, they brought together musical traditions that enslaved Africans brought with them and music they encountered in the lands to which they were brought. The spirituals influenced many new genres that emerged out of this fusion of musical influences in the Americas, including the blues, jazz, and rock \u2019n\u2019 roll. Spirituals also drew on and engaged with texts that were in most cases new to the slaves. The Bible was used by slave owners to justify the practice of slavery, but the slaves found in it a resource that could foster their longing for freedom and hope for liberation. The Bible\u2019s potential to have this impact was something the European American slave owners were aware of, and thus they <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId182\" href=\"https:\/\/www.museumofthebible.org\/exhibits\/slave-bible\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">printed Bibles for slaves<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> that <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId183\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2018\/12\/09\/674995075\/slave-bible-from-the-1800s-omitted-key-passages-that-could-incite-rebellion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">omitted key passages<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> about <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId184\" href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/news\/slave-bible-redacted-old-testament\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">liberation from slavery<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">For Further Reading and Listening<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">African-American Spirituals of the Civil War: Concert. Library of Congress. March 30, 2013. YouTube video. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId185\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PQviOAz5584\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PQviOAz5584<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Darden, Robert F. \u201cThe Bible in Black Gospel Music.\u201d <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Bible Odyssey<\/em><\/span>, September 4, 2022. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bibleodyssey.org\/passages\/related-articles\/the-bible-in-black-gospel-music\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">https:\/\/www.bibleodyssey.org\/en\/passages\/related-articles\/bible-in-black-gospel-music<\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Kirk-Duggan, Cheryl. \u201cSacred and Secular in African-American Music.\u201d In <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the Arts<\/em><\/span>, edited by Frank Burch Brown, 498\u2013522. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Kynes, Will. \u201cWrestle On, Jacob: Antebellum Spirituals and the Defiant Faith of the Hebrew Bible.\u201d <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Journal of Biblical Literature<\/em><\/span> 140, no. 2 (2021): 291\u2013307.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Simms, David McD. \u201cThe Negro Spiritual: Origins and Themes.\u201d <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Journal of Negro Education<\/em><\/span> 35, no. 1 (1966): 35\u201341.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Southern, Eileen. \u201cAn Origin for the Negro Spiritual.\u201d <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Black Scholar<\/em><\/span> 3, no. 10 (1972): 8\u201313.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-33-1\">See further Henry Carrigan, <em>Fifteen Spirituals That Will Change Your Life<\/em> (Brewster: Paraclete, 2019), 25\u201331. <a href=\"#return-footnote-33-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-33-2\"><em>History Detectives<\/em>, season 6, episode 11, \u201cSlave Songbook: Origin of the Negro Spiritual,\u201d aired February 3, 2009, on PBS. <a href=\"#return-footnote-33-2\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 2\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-33-3\">For another version of \u201cDry Bones,\u201d listen to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_l4bZlA11YU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">arrangement by Margaret Bonds<\/a> as part of her 1946 work \u201cFive Creek-Freedmen Spirituals.\u201d <a href=\"#return-footnote-33-3\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 3\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"menu_order":5,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/33"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/33\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":861,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/33\/revisions\/861"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/33\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}