Negro spirituals are an intrinsic part of American music. We sing them and hear them sung or performed in churches, temples, schools, concert halls and many other settings.

While we are moved by their beauty and the raw emotion they convey, we also must consider that the artists who created them were never compensated in any way for their work. The names of those who created Negro spirituals were not published, if they were ever even generally known. There has been no credit given, either artistic or financial, unlike for other hymns and worship music.

Today, the RJMB presents a Negro Spiritual Royalties Project for CHUMC in an attempt to recognize that reality and pay forward what can’t be paid directly to those artists.

First, a note about the term: “Negro spirituals” refers to the enormous body of folk songs created collectively by enslaved African Americans. These songs serve as living witnesses to the unique horrors of American slavery, as well as to the merciful and just religion created by enslaved Black people that combines Christianity with African spiritual traditions. We respectfully use the term “Negro spiritual”

Even before the abolition of slavery, these songs started to make their way into the collective memory of white Americans and into their hymn books.

The Negro spiritual should be considered the intellectual property of enslaved Africans in America.

Negro spirituals are undeniably brilliant, balancing true artistry with depth of feeling — grief, rage, love, gratitude, joy, bitterness and compassion. The result is that these songs speak to the human spirit. Frederick Douglass, who escaped enslavement, described it like this:

 “While on their way, [the enslaved] would make the dense old woods, for miles around, reverberate with their wild songs, revealing at once the highest joy and the deepest sadness. They would compose and sing as they went along, consulting neither time nor tune. …

… I have sometimes thought that the mere hearing of those songs would do more to impress some minds with the horrible character of slavery, than the reading of whole volumes of philosophy on the subject could do.”

 We are deliberately giving thought to how we appropriately and respectfully use and honor Negro spirituals in our worship services.

Here is just a short list of some commonly known Negro spirituals:

“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”

“I’ve Got Peace Like a River”

“Down by the Riverside”

“Ezekiel Saw the Wheel”

“Standing in the Need of Prayer”

“Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”

“Go Down, Moses”

“He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”

“Do Lord Remember Me”

“Jacob’s Ladder”

“I (We) Shall Not Be Moved”

For enslaved people, singing was a way to build community that was otherwise forbidden. Singing was a way to communicate the next stop on the Underground Railroad.  Singing was a source of strength, comfort and mental distraction from the cruelties of daily life. As an act of artistic expression, singing reinforced self-worth while expressing grief, joy, exhaustion, courage, frustration and hope. Singing was (and is) a form of prayer, and these spiritual songs reveal an absolute faith in God to make things right someday.

In order to keep singing Negro spirituals, we need to address the debt owed to the enslaved Black people who created them. Black Americans have been last in line to receive recognition and financial compensation for the extraordinary contributions they’ve made to American culture.

The RJMB has made a donation to the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Vocal Music Department.  Little by little, this practice could become one instrument of restorative justice in which we all participate. With God’s help, may we truly become healers of the breach.