1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff. Lauren 2 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: Vogelbaum here. When enslaved Africans were brought to the Americas, 3 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,680 Speaker 1: they were forced to leave behind pretty much all material possessions, 4 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,920 Speaker 1: but they were able to hang on to some cultural traditions, 5 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: including one of vibrant, rhythmic communal music, and that's how 6 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:32,080 Speaker 1: the African American spiritual was born. Although white communities had 7 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: their own folk spirituals, Enslaved people use spirituals as a 8 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: form of work song in order to boost their companion's spirits, 9 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: convey their sorrows, convey secret messages, and seek comfort in religion. 10 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: For the article, this episode is based on How Stuff Works. 11 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,800 Speaker 1: Spoke with Sandra Jean Graham via email back in twenty 12 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: twenty a. Graham is now a professor of ethno musicology 13 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: at Babson College and the author of the book Spirituals 14 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: and the Birth of a Black Entertainment Industry. She explained 15 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: that although enslaved Africans came from many different societies, there 16 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 1: were some widespread musical traditions that brought about the spiritual, 17 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: including communal songs featuring call and response, in which some 18 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:19,840 Speaker 1: performers or usually the leader would call out a statement 19 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: or ask a question and other singers would respond. She 20 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: explained that many songs also exhibited a flexible, approached pitch 21 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 1: and a pattern of repetition and variation that allowed for 22 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: overlapping musical layers and improvised embellishment of melodies and rhythm. A. 23 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: Graham also cites Black composer and scholar Ollie Wilson, who 24 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,920 Speaker 1: stated that there was a general preference for a heterogeneous 25 00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 1: sound ideal, or a combination of certain timbers of voices 26 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 1: and instruments. A Graham said. In addition, music was usually 27 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: linked to other acts such as dance, poetry, drama, clothing, 28 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: and it played a prominent role in social and political life. 29 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: And finally, music had a spiritual aspect linked to ritual 30 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:12,800 Speaker 1: the ancestors, the gods that inhabited the natural world. Perhaps 31 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:18,360 Speaker 1: most famously, enslaved people sometimes communicated secret messages through spirituals 32 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:21,480 Speaker 1: as a way to bypass the enslavers who would be 33 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:26,239 Speaker 1: listening in on their conversations. For example, some sang through 34 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,800 Speaker 1: coded songs to provide instructions that would allow a route 35 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: for escape to the north and to freedom, particularly on 36 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 1: the underground railroad. A. Graham said, Harriet Tubman famously used 37 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:41,520 Speaker 1: go down Moses to signal that she was nearby and 38 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:44,359 Speaker 1: ready to conduct people to the north, and she used 39 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: wade in the water to direct her passengers toward a 40 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 1: river if bloodhounds were on their trail. Frederick Douglas, who 41 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: became a prominent abolitionist after escaping slavery, later wrote about 42 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: singing a spiritual during an escape attempt, including words run 43 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: to Jesus, shun the danger. I ain't going to stay 44 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: much longer here. However, Douglas wrote that the enslavers caught 45 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 1: onto their plan because they sang too fervently. It's possible 46 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: that spirituals didn't function as much in escape attempts as 47 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,640 Speaker 1: we might think, although Graham says it's impossible to know 48 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: due to the lack of written documentation. But after the 49 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:29,960 Speaker 1: Civil War and the abolition of slavery in the United States, 50 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:33,960 Speaker 1: spirituals took on a new purpose in black communities. They 51 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: became a key fixture of commercial entertainment during the Reconstruction era. A. 52 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: Graham said, the folk spirituals evolved during reconstruction to become 53 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: arranged concert music that was written down and sold in 54 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: books and sheet music. This new spiritual was intended to 55 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,279 Speaker 1: be more of a presentational experience with performers and observers, 56 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: rather than a communal experience in which all attendees participated. 57 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: A grim continued. So the biggest change was that spirituals 58 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: were presented as art music and were also committed to print, 59 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: removing the plethora of opportunities for improvisation and participation that 60 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:17,040 Speaker 1: the folk tradition had provided. There was one group who 61 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:21,279 Speaker 1: popularized this concert spiritual more than any other, the Fisk 62 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:24,720 Speaker 1: Jubilee Singers, who went on tour to fundraise for Fisk 63 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: University in the eighteen seventies. After the singer's tour, their 64 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: spirituals became branded as Jubilee songs, which held sway in 65 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:37,440 Speaker 1: pop culture through the end of the eighteen hundreds. In 66 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 1: the early nineteen hundreds, the famed Black American classical composer 67 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: Harry T. Burley took up the mantle and began composing 68 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: and arranging spirituals for solo singers and pianists, including songs 69 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: considered classics today like Deep River and Swing Low Sweet Chariot. 70 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:58,919 Speaker 1: Many popular singers performed them widely in the nineteen tenths 71 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:03,279 Speaker 1: through the nineteen forty, but in the latter half of 72 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: the twentieth century, spirituals fell out of favor among some 73 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: Black Americans. Randy Jones wrote in her book So You 74 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:15,360 Speaker 1: Want to Sing Spirituals? A Guide for performers, that quote 75 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: as a result of the rebirth of racial pride obtained 76 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: from the civil rights struggles of the nineteen sixties. Anything 77 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: that appeared to reflect passivity and acceptance of the status 78 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:28,280 Speaker 1: quo was rejected by the young warriors who fought in 79 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 1: the trenches to reap the rewards of political activism. She 80 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: wrote that many black activists turned to gospel music instead, 81 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:39,840 Speaker 1: which had risen out of Pentecostal worship in the early 82 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:44,840 Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds. A Graham expanded on the difference between gospel 83 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:49,719 Speaker 1: music and spirituals, as she said, whereas spirituals focused on 84 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: the afterlife as a source of eventual freedom, a gospel 85 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: meaning good news songs focused on the here and now, 86 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:01,839 Speaker 1: how to get through each day. But what about the 87 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:05,920 Speaker 1: connection between spirituals and other musical traditions within black communities, 88 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:10,359 Speaker 1: such as the blues. A Graham cites theologian James Cone, 89 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 1: who called blues secular spirituals. A. Graham said they may 90 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:18,840 Speaker 1: have been born in freedom, but African Americans still suffered, 91 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:21,760 Speaker 1: and the blues was a vessel into which they poured 92 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:26,000 Speaker 1: their daily troubles. Lots of blues artists even saying spirituals 93 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:31,600 Speaker 1: in the blues style. In the twenty first century, spirituals 94 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 1: may primarily serve as a form of legacy music or 95 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,719 Speaker 1: a remembrance of the past. A. Graham said, it is 96 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:41,920 Speaker 1: true that spirituals are, in a sense no longer a 97 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:45,560 Speaker 1: living tradition. The last time they were newly created to 98 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:52,720 Speaker 1: serve a vital social role was during the Civil Rights movement. However, 99 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 1: spirituals also live on today in the imagination and work 100 00:06:56,720 --> 00:07:00,400 Speaker 1: of modern day artists like the Macintosh County Shower and 101 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:05,320 Speaker 1: pianist Lara Downs. Downs twenty twenty album Some of These Days, 102 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 1: reflects on social justice themes, particularly through her contemporary rendition 103 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: of spirituals. Hastaff Works also spoke by email with Downs, 104 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:19,000 Speaker 1: who explained that she chose spirituals partly as a way 105 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: to connect to her family history and the black struggle 106 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:26,000 Speaker 1: for freedom. She said, my dad was black and my 107 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 1: mom is white, and they met at a sit in 108 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: during the civil rights movement, and that movement was really 109 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:35,240 Speaker 1: powered by this music, these spirituals and freedom songs, and 110 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:38,200 Speaker 1: so this music was the soundtrack to their activism and 111 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: their love story. Downs wrote of being drawn to the 112 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: emotional intensity, defiance, and underlying message of hope within spirituals. 113 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 1: She said she drew inspiration from performances by black singers 114 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 1: and civil rights activists like Mahellia Jackson and Nina Simone. 115 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: She said that spirituals represent quote our conscience and our courage, 116 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 1: and that they also remind her of the uneven nature 117 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:10,440 Speaker 1: of progress throughout US history. She said they are the 118 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 1: best possible reminder that the road to freedom is a 119 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 1: long one and we still have a long way to go, 120 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:19,760 Speaker 1: that we have to keep moving forward despite roadblocks and hazards, 121 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:28,000 Speaker 1: and we have the ancestors at our backs. Today's episode 122 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:30,480 Speaker 1: is based on the article the Legacy of African American 123 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:34,439 Speaker 1: Spirituals in Today's Gospel and Blues Music on howstaffworks dot Com, 124 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: written by Terry yr Lagata. Brainstuff is production of by 125 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:40,240 Speaker 1: Heart Radio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com, and it's 126 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:43,600 Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio, 127 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen 128 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:49,400 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.