Have you ever heard an African American spiritual song?  Do you know what one is?  African American spirituals are religious songs that were created and sung by enslaved Africans in the United States.  (You may also hear this type of song called a ‘Negro spiritual.’  Negro is a term that today many people find offensive, but it was a term used often in the past to describe people of African origin.)  African American spirituals are religious songs, but when they were created they were also a form of protest toward assimilation* to white American culture.   African American spirituals had a very important place in society when they were created and an importance place in American history now.

During the time of slavery in the United States, there were efforts to distance Africans from their native cultures and to convert African slaves to Christianity.   Slaves were not allowed to speak their native languages and they were often forced to convert to Christianity.  Even though they were prohibited to practice their own religion and speak their native languages slaves tried to (and did) meet in secret where they began to create  spiritual songs that they could then sing in English in the fields as they worked. Some of the musical elements of the African American spirituals can be traced back to origins in Africa, but African American spirituals are a musical form that is considered indigenous** to the slavery experience of Africans and and their descendants in the United States.  Enslaved Africans who were forced to convert to Christianity in other parts of the world, such as in the Caribbean and South America, did not create this same form of music.

African American spirituals were created, not by just one person but groups of people, during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries in the United States.  Of course these songs didn’t stop to be sung when slavery ended in the United States (officially in 1865); they were passed down by families, in homes, at work in the fields, and in churches since the time these songs were first created.  In addition to a spiritual message many people believe these songs also contain messages for escapes slaves.  These message may have been meant to help escapees*** avoid capture and help them make their way to freedom.  For example the song “Wade in the Water” sends the message to escapees that they should leave dry land and go to the water to walk to freedom in order to avoid being tracked by dogs.

There are many famous African American spirituals, like “Wade in the Water” (you can click on this song title to hear this song), but one of the most famous of these songs is “Swing Low Sweet Chariot.”  The lyrics for the famous “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” song are below.  I have defined some of the less common words for you so that you can better understand this famous African American spiritual.  Enjoy.

Swing Low Sweet Chariot

(Chorus: first four lines.)

Swing low, sweet chariot, (chariot = a two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle)

Comin’ for to carry me home; (com in’ = coming)

Swing low, sweet chariot,

Comin’ for to carry me home. (home → in this song “home” may mean heaven or freedom)

I looked over Jordan, (Jordan → this the name of an important river in the Bible, the most important Christian text)

And what did I see,

Comin’ for to carry me home,

A band of angels comin’ after me,

Comin’ for to carry me home.

(Repeat chorus.)

If you get there before I do,

Comin’ for to carry me home,

Tell all my friends I’m comin’ too,

Comin’ for to carry me home.

Do you think this song might be about more than religion?  Could it also have a message about escaping slavery?

*assimilation = when the people of different backgrounds come to see themselves as part of a larger national culture
**indigenous = originating or occurring naturally in a particular place
***escapees = a person who has escaped from somewhere