"Their Souls Made Them Whole": Negro Spiritualsand Lessons in Healing and Atonement

REV. SOLOMON IYOBOSÂ OMO-OSAGIE II—BALTIMORE CITYCOMMUNITY COLLEGE

Ah.stract

The Negro Spiritttals of the nineteenth centtiry sustained slaves 'faith in God. More importanily, thev ¡tifluenced not only blackreligion and spirituality of the latter years, hut religion and spirituality in general. Denominations across racial lines adoptedmany of the songs in their modes of worship and revealed a spiritual thread that ran through people of all faiths. These songshad healing power ami teach great lessons about forgiveness, atonement, repentance, restoration, and .social justice. TheseSpirituals are empowering and teach a lesson to America on Uptifl and living up to its ascribed creed as a nation of libertyand justice. This essay examines tv.'O important lessons in the reconciliation of past inju.slices.

For nearly two and a quarter centuries, from 1619 to1835, Americans of African descent were transported tothe United States of America and the Caribbean to per-form the manual labor that developed the New World,These Africans were subjected to inhumane workingand living conditions. They were mentally, psychologi-cally, emotionally, and physically dehumanized (Jones,2()04). Throughout the centuries, generations of AfricanAmericans were born into, lived, and died in slavery.But their corporate faith in God, as seen in the songsthey sang, gave them the assurance of one day beingliberated just as the Israelites were liberated from theEgyptians. The Bible is replete with accounts of God'ssteadfastness and loyalty to His chosen people. ThePentateuch in particular contains several accounts wherethe Israelites walked away from God, even though Godnever walked away from the Israelites.

In the midst of their work in a strange land, theseslaves developed unique spiritual songs that sustaitiedthem in their times of sorrow, loneliness, and hardships.These songs came to be known as Negro Spirituals.

They also became a source of strength. As well, thesesongs formed the bedrock of the Uplift ideology, aunique theory in black leadership ideology with par-ticular meaning for liberating thought and values. Asthese songs uplifted the slaves in their times of suffering,they also showed their spiritual connectedness (Gaines,1996), Through these songs, the slaves demonstratedthat they were spiritual beings capable of appealing toGod directly, The faith and confidence, with which theysang these liberating songs, indicated that they under-stood the Bible to be the only infallible written wordof God, They looked to the Bible as the final answer toall the questions they had about the inhumane condi-tion that was slavery. In a sense, they took solace in theknowledge that the Bible contained the answers to theirquestions about longsuffering. They believed that it wasonly a matter of time before God intervened and theirsituations would then improve. One of their frequentsongs while they waited for divine intervention was"Trouble Don't Last Always," which was instructivesince they believed that God was longsuffering.

Rev. Solomon iyobosa Omo-Osagie II i v profe.ssor of political xiience and history at Balti-more City Community College. Maryland. He earned the doctorate in history from MiirganState University and an MA in Theology from St. Mary's Seminary & University, Maryland.Hf pastors the Impact Pentecostal Fellowship COGIC in Es.se.v. Maryland.

34 The Western Journal of Black Studies. Vol. 31. No. 2. 2007

As the slaves were subjected to the brutality andoppression of slavery, the Negro Spirituals and thescriptures elevated their hearts and validated their faithin God. These Spirituals help to explain how slaves sur-vived the indignities of their times and lay a firm founda-tion for faith formation within the blaek community. Inessence, the Negro Spirituals of the nineteenth centuryinfluenced black religion and spirituality of the latteryears: during the most difficult period of their lives inthe New land strange] World, these Spirituals inspiredslaves" belief in the omnipresent God. A protractedconsequence of this spiritual exportation to the NewWorld has been the emergence of a new paradigm toexamine spirituality, religious fundamentalism to theextent that it has been used as a tool of oppression andsocial injustice (Sekou, 2(X)7).

Unlike the music and songs after the end of slav-ery and the twentieth century, Negro Spirituals didnot originate in the comfortable settings of recordingstudios with state-of-the-art instruments. Instead, thesesongs originated from the "middle of the hot fields" ofrice, cotton, tobacco, and sugar plantations (Edwards,2007). The songs emerged from a labor of faith. Thegreat burdens placed on their persons called up theirfaith in a higher power in whom resided the grace andstrength to make it through their discomfort while inthe fields. With the intensity of the plantation work andthe attendant consequences on their tninds. the slavesneeded a momentary psychological distraction to dealwith the enormity of the work to be done. To keep theirminds sane and occupied, they sang songs with greatimaginations of one day making it to freedom land(Joyner. 2006),

During slavery, communication among the slavespresented many challenges. Due to the different tribesin Africa from which the slaves came, they spoke dif-ferent languages and had different cultural norms andbeliefs, which prevented many of them from commu-nicating with one another. This difficulty was furthercotnpounded by the forcible imposition of the Englishlanguage. The non-verbal way that they could commu-nicate and overcome the various barriers was throughmusic that transcended their painful situations (Hick-man, 2002), For the slaves, music was essential to thesoul. Even the modem world has adopted this thought.It was the one thing that made their souls whole. Whenthey were moved by the music, the spiritual elementscontained in the music provided them with temporaryrelief and helped them heal from the wounds of physi-cal torture, psychological manipulations, and emotional

abuse. It was the slave music that helped to restore thewounded souls.

The historian, Joe William Trotter, Jr., (2001) hasposited that, "the creation of slave songs was a dynamicsocial and cultural process. African Americans adoptedwhite hymns and folk songs but changed the words,musical structure, and mode of performance to fit theirown vision —for example, by using African call-and-response patterns, which linked the individual to thelarger.. .community" (pp. 193).

Trotter's contention seems to suggest that theseAfrican Americans did not originate the idea of songsthat were inspired by hardships as well as their owntraditional spiritualisms. A different consideration i.s thatwhites adopted black hymns as evidenced by some ofthe white masters' attempt to muzzle slaves" full musicalexperiences. African spirituality encompasses beliefs,norms, and practices that do not fit into the western orEuropean mold of religious hymns. In the traditionalAfrican practices, there are some forms of chants thataccompany religious ceremonies. Because these weretheir way of life, they exported these beliefs, norms, andpractices to the "New World" (Hayes. 2(XK)). Althoughthey attempted, whites did not have exclusive control onsuch ancient African practice. Besides, copying whiteways would not have captured the true effect and impactof the spirituals. The disparity in Trotter's argument is inthe fact that whites did not experience similar dehuman-izing conditions as blacks. The vast majority of the slavesongs lend themselves to the suffering, mistreatment,and working conditions in the plantations, and it wasfrom these conditions that these songs emerged.

Another noted scholar of the African Americanexperience, Benjamin Quarles (1996), wrote that the"American Negro found pleasure in singing while atwork. The Negroes who followed [the] sea improvisedwith boat songs and rowing songs, had much the samerhythms as spirituals. The rollicking steamboat songsand chanteys sang on the old clipper ships were theproducts of black-skinned roustabouts and deck hands"(p, 38). In essence, blacks did not have to copy fromwhite rhythm as Trotter seemed to suggest. Compara-tively, European folklore is distinctively different fromAfrican folklore. Hence, the African folklore is moreclosely identified to the slave spirituals in terms of style,form, content, and context (Connor, 1996).

However, contrary to the arguments that the originsof spirituals were influenced by the religious denomina-tions of the white Protestant tradition, folklorist CynthiaHickman argued that,

The Western Jottrnal of Black Studies. Vol. 31. No. 2, 2007 35

Spirituals reflect the many influences touching tbelives of slaves. These influences include Africanorigins, the English language, Christianity, popularculture, and the oppressive condition of slavery.What is most significant in ehronieling the survivalof the folk song known as Spirituals is the way thatthese intluenees were combined and channeled toform a distinctive type of musical expression. Anexpression that leaves many historians to reeognizeSpirituals as America's first authentic music...(Hickman. 2002: p.28).

The debate about the origins of Spirituals can bereadily understood as a manifestation of the tendencyto question innovative creativity by blacks. There wasthe sense that blacks or the descendants of slaves werenot capable of original creativity. As the Spiritualshave influenced many religions, the question has arisenwhether in fact these Spirituals actually originated fromslaves. The lyrics of the songs bemoan experiencesof living in a hostile environment. These songs couldnot have originated from white-dominated Protestantchurches, many of whose members held slaves andused Christianity to justify their mistreatment of theirAfrican slaves.

For example. Methodism was born in the 18'''century in England. Methodists participated zealouslyin Ihe crusade to end the English slave trade. However,in America the Meihodists (in the former colonies ofEngland), some of whom kept slaves, organized thetn-selves into an autonomous church in 1784 at the LovelyLane Conference in Baltimore. Maryland. During theconference, the participants vowed to free their slaves,but sadly, such zeal quickly dissipated even after theconferees declared that, "slavery was contrary to thegolden lawsofGod"(EranklinandMoss. 20t)ü:113). InAmerica, Methodists continued holding blacks in slav-ery and servitude for another twelve months before theslaves were finally liberated (Ibid). However, Method-ists in England continued their fight against slavery. Inessence, the Spirituals could not have originated fromEuropean-centered churches. Instead, the Spirittialswere "a desire for freedom, a desire for justice in thejudgment upon their betrayers, and a tactic battle, thestrategy by which Ithe slave] expected to gain [an im-minent) future" (Cone, 1972:14).

These slaves yearned to live free in the land thattouted freedom for all. In a sense, these Spirituals wereindictments on the land that failed to keep its promise.In the same vein, the Spirituals deserve particular em-phasis as original innovations with unique relevance

to black theology in particular and moral theology ingeneral. There are broader implications on all faiths be-cause within the spirituals, there are elements of socialjtisticc. human relations, corporate faith, and lessons ofatonement, forgiveness, and reconciliation, which manydenominations readily embrace.

The Negro Spirituals served a religious function.However, such function was not confined to the typicalsense of religiosity but more so to the varied ways andthe interwoven roles of social, political, and culturaldimensionsof atypical African religion (Lovell, 1972).Since the Spirituals can be traced to Africa becausethe slaves originated from there, it can be posited thatAfrican religion has elements of ancestralisms - thosenorms, beliefs, and practices that are uniquely Africanin all aspects and are passed down from one generationto the next. Essentially, they constitute a value systemthat guides and defines authentic African spiritual-ity. The practice of African religion therefore shouldinclude traditional rituals that define its Afrocentricity- a theory that examines and analyzes history from theAfrican perspective. This theory further argues thathuman civilization originated from Africa. Therefore,human experiences, including religion, should beviewed with Africa as the primary unit of analysis. Inessence, African religion was central to understandingthe religious function of the Spirituals in the Americansouth in particular and the United States in general, Aparticularly important religious function was that theNegro Spirituals built and firmed slaves' faith, who,although could not see freedom on the horizons, hopedand believed that freedom was possible.

In the midst of their suffering, black slaves hadhope that could only come from a strong spiritual con-nectedness. Faith then was their life-line that sustainedand kept them as nothing else could do. As evidencedin the lyrics of some of the spirituals such as "NobodyKnows de Trouble I Sees," which reflected their pain,and "Breddren, Don' Get Weary. Breddrcn" Don" GetWeary." which gave them a boost from their difficulty,the noted historian, Colin A. Palmer, opined that.

The spirituals and the seeular songs were ihecreative expressions of a people trying to make thebest of iheir Situation, creating space tor themselvesand tending to their own needs. Slavery had not leftthem bereft of pleastires or means of psychologicalsustenance. Their songs helped meet their needs,but they eould not lighten the physical burdens oftheirconditions; they provided temporary sureease(Palmer. 1998:179).

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Negro Spirituals served as resistance to white rule,oppression, and control. When white slave mastersrecognized that slaves were communicating with eachother through songs, they made attempts to prohibittheir slaves from playing musical instruments or singingsongs. Despite efforts to separate the slaves from theirmusic, these songs became "a stimulus to courage anda tie to heaven" (Odom and Johnson, 1968:15),

The songs became stimulants and rallying pointsfor slaves to triumph over their sufferings. Songs suchas "The Lord Is My Shepherd", "Lord's been Here", and"Hard Trials," among others, called on the slaves not towither in the face of brutality. The slaves were to havethe mind of Christ and bear the suffering, knowing thatin the end their suffering, along with their hope, wouldconnect them to heaven. Tbe slaves' suffering could belikened to the New Testament epistle of Apostle Paul,encouraging the young Timothy to endure hardship asa good soldier for Jesus Christ (King James Bible, 2Timothy 2:3),

The Prophet Isaiah prophesied about the comingof Jesus Christ, the Messiah, as the "Suffering Servant"(Isaiah 53). and He will bear mankind's sins and nailthem to the cross. As Jesus bore these sins and tooktbem to the cross, there is forgiveness of sins becauseof His righteousness. In a number of the slave songs,there are repeated references to Jesus as a way maker,provider, "comforter, friend, and refuge, rather than asliberator" (Lincoln and Mamiya, 1990:351), The viewof Jesus as a comforter was a knowledge that gave theslaves hope over despair. Even as Jesus suffered. Hefound comfort in God's abundant love and protection.While preserving the distinct and full divinity of Jesus,it is, however, compelling that there were parallels inthe human Jesus' longsuffering with those of slaves.Both went through abuse of the mind, spirit, and soul.But remarkably, they overcame tbe indignities whilestaying positive in their outlook for a hopeful future(Vaughn. 1997), In a sense, blacks'suffering in Americainspired them to sing tbe types of songs that they sang,as tbey looked to the Lord with hope, believing thatGod's children who suffered injustice and other formsof indignities here on earth shall inherit eternal anddignified life in heaven.

Although it has been over a century since slaveryofficially ended with the passage of the thirteenthamendment to the U,S. Constitution, some residual ef-fects of slavery remain. For example, Sunday morningsare the most segregated times in America as blacks andwhites go to different churches and houses of fellow-ship. Pastors and leaders of different denominations

recognize and speak about tbis fact. Yet. their congrega-tions are either overwhehningly white, black. Latino, orAsian. The solution to this nagging issue could lie in asustained ecumenical interchange amongst leaders of allreligious faiths. Although such interchange is unlikelyto lead to a mass conversion to one denomination, itcan improve the prevalence of religious and spiritualabsolutism that is at the center of the worship schism.

In very real terms, blacks and whites see God intheir own images. For blacks, the spiritual songs thattheir ancestors sang in the plantations about faith andbelief in a long-suffering God brought them throughtheir suffering. Images from the Old Testament could beseen in the spirituals as they speak and relate to God'sintervention in the suffering of man and tbe oppressed(Lincoln and Mamiya, 1990). As for whites, they viewedthemselves as the right and true God-like creations.They even argued that God was white (Jacopetti andProsperi, 1971).

These spirituals have had a positive impact on blackhomiletics, as many black preachers have focused theirsermons on the notion of freedom from fear, humilia-tion, oppression, subjugation, and diminishment as away out of society's confinement (Hardman-Cromvvell,20(X)). Notwithstanding the long history of brutality andindignity, in many black churches today, forgivenessis infused into the teachings and preaching of blackclergy that echo the theology of forgiveness embed-ded in the songs. The words of forgiveness that echoin the Negro Spirituals were patterned after the Biblewith regard to praying for one's enemies and forgivingthose who have wronged them. The spirituals did notfocus on resenting or hating whites for their oppression.Instead, most of the Spirituals carried both a healing andforgiving message, which bas made an indelible markon black religion.

In the black religious tradition, forgiveness is arallying theme In black churches. For example, manyblack clergy who have fallen short in their conductand of the glory of God are many times re-absorbedinto the church and the community after they haveatoned and shown repentance. Black clergy have madecollective repentance and forgiveness for the wrongsthat were done to blacks during slavery and tbe CivilRights periods, a focus of societal atonement, healing.and restoration, Tbis paradigm of forgiveness and re-absorption is imperative in understanding the role of theblack church as not just confined to religious and moraldimensions but also that it bas a stK'ial role to play inAmerican society (Taylor, et al. 1987).

The spirituals have also made an interracial and

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denominational impact on religion in general. It isnot unusual for predominantly white churches to singsongs from the Negro spiritual hytnnals. The inter-racialuse and application of these songs speak of God as anon respecter of persons. It was an act of disservice toGod that the slaveholders manipulated God's Word byinterpreting the Bible in ways that justified slavery ofAfrican Americans.

In fact, slaveholders miscalculated blacks' abil-ity to comprehend the Bible. Blacks may not havecomprehended the medium through which the Biblewas presented to them, the English language, but theydemonstrated their understanding by being doers of theWord and not just hearers of the Word. They had faithand exercised it through much praying and persistence.Their prayerful stance and lifestyle was evidentlyheard as God preserved their lives and allowed themto survive the heart wrenching sufferings. It was ironicthat the slave masters who purported to know the Bibledid not truly understand the biblical itiiplications andits ramifications on God's creations. Instead of usingthe Bible as a tool of empowerment, the slave tnastersused it to suppress, intimidate, and justify the inhutnanetreatment of black slaves.

The Spirituals have also influenced white andblack gospel music. However, black gospel music isvery unique (Goff. 1*̂ 98). Its uniqueness comes fromthe triumphant Negro Spirituals of the Antebellum andPostbellum periods. To be sure, the Negro Spiritualswere not confmed to the antebellum and postbellumperitxls. Even after the Civil War [Postbellum|, formerblack slaves held on to the songs that brought themthrough these periods. Towards the end of the nine-teenth, and into the twentieth centuries, many of thesongs were and are still sung in contemporary blackand even white churches such as the AME, COGIC,AME Zion. Assemblies of God. United Church ofChrist, and Church of God. among others. For example,Thomas Dorsey's most famous gospel song "Take MyHand. Precious Lord" written in the early 20"' century isvery similar to the Spirituals that originated during theperiod of slavery (Weekes. 2005). Biblically, "gospel"means good news. In this sense then, black gospel mu-sic holds a different meaning for blacks who were andare acquainted with overcoming trials and tribulations(Jackson. 1995).

Black gospel music builds and focuses oti the suc-cesses and personal spiritual victories of the post-NegroSpiritual period. Although there are different genres ofblack gospel music such as call and response, hip pop,classical, etc., traditional gospel music, however, is

the genre that most identifies with the Negro Spiritu-als. Retaining elements of the Spirituals helps blacksremember the past struggles and their unwavering faithin God (Wright, 2(X)6). Most black churches embracethe traditional style because they seem to retain thehistory and the originality of time and place of blackreligious experience in the United States.

Conclusion

The Spirituals represented a turbulent chapter ofAntebellum and Postbellum America and are as relevanttoday just as they were a century ago. In actuality, theNegro Spirituals are an American original. They areuniquely American because they emerged and were in-fluenced by people and events in the United States. Thelessons of the Spirituals intersect class, gender, racial,religious, and geographical boundaries. The legacies ofthe Spirituals can be seen in different denominationsthat have adopted many of the Spirituals, with slightmodifications, in their praise and worship and otherreligious services. For example, the call and responsesinging technique was a form that slaves used whilethey worked in the hot fields of cotton and tobaccoplantations. Many non-black denominations use thistechnique to invoke God's presence in their worshipservices. In a real sense, the Spirituals were personaland coqxirate pleas and supplications to God. The songswere also laments and cries. Various denominationshave adapted the lyrics of many of these hymns andsubstituted them with their congregation-specific lyricsto cry out to God to save and deliver them just as theslaves cried out to God in the iields and in their manylonely moments.

The Spirituals have also impacted a unique form ofpreaching. For example, it is typical and common placefor the organ and drums to accotiipany the preachedWord. This style of preaching stirs up the soul andthe congregation into moments of intelligible groansand moans that can only be understood by God whoknows what's in the heart of men and women. Theseresponses then produce "joyful noises" to the Lord,The scripture admonishes believers and worshipers to"come into His courts with praise." Such commandrequired an expressive mode of worship. Black slavestook this command literally when they came together forworship, which in part explains why the singings wereaccompanied by "strange" periods of excitement evenwhen the words were vivid with pain and could piercethrough a heart full of compassion. The expressive

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preaching and worship style that has become commonin many white evangelical churches was not typical inthe pre-Spirituais era.

It is reasonable then to opine that the emotional andexpressive nature of the slave songs in the way stavescried out to God had a transformational effect on whitereligious worship experiences in America. Many of theindividual songs minister to believers and worshipperstoday who are going through difficult times and wilder-ness experiences. These experiences parallel the timesand difficulties of the children of Israel in the wildernessunder Moses' leadership and their release from captiv-ity and eventual entry into the Promised Land, Manypeople in our society today fit into this category. Theyare not quite sure about where and how to go aboutdoing things that need to be done. Even believers gothrough these wilderness experiences—the feeling ofbeing abandoned and left all alone.

The originators of the Spirituals were noi justblack religious pioneers but also American religiouspioneers. The slaves had the gifts to arrange theseoriginal, personal songs which came from the heart inways that conveyed the presence of God in their lives.The songs were and still are powerful. They make onefeel as though they have had a direct encounter withGod, Ironically, had there not been slavery, there maynot have been the Negro Spirituals. One could arguethat perhaps God wanted to use Africans and AfricanAmericans to teach the world about faith and forgive-ness. The Bible instructs that we should forgive so thatwe may be forgiven. Through these Spirituals, therehas been forgiveness. There have been inter-faith dia-logues and inter-worship gatherings such as the Miracleof Memphis in 1994 between the Assemblies of Godand the Church of God In Christ where atonementswere offered. To a large extent, it can be argued thatthe Spirituals have had the most singular influence inblack corporate healing. Just as Jesus' death on thecross atoned for mankind's sins, perhaps, a nationalatonement could carry a redeeming value of love andmulti-ethnic consideration and understanding (Cahill.2007).

In the Old Testament scripture in 2 Chronicles 7:14[KJV], believers are admonished that. "If my peoplewhich arc called by my name shall humble themselvesand pray and seek my face and turn from their wickedways: then will I hear from heaven, and will forgivetheir sin and will heal their land." There is a connec-tion of this passage to the injustices of the past. Thisverse speaks about atonement and repentance for past

misdeeds. Through atonement, progress, sensitivity, andcompassion can be achieved.

An important lesson that the Spirituals teach is thatthere is forgiveness in atonement. There is reconciliationin atonement. There is harmony in atonement. There ispeace in atonement. There is value in atonement. Atone-ment will go to the core of our national creed as a havenfor everyone on these shores. It is very conceivable thatatonement after centuries of systemic mistreatment andoppression of slaves and their descendants might bringabout lasting and mutually beneficial interracial rela-tions in the society. Our current national discussion onrace has been made the more difficult and problematicbecause there is yet to be a national mea culpa. Australiarecently atoned to its aborigines Ibrdecades of indigni-ties. Atonement creates an enabling environment for aracially tolerant and less suspicious society.

Atonement has a liberating power. There is aheavy burden to carry when evidence of wrong doingis present and the guilt overwhelming. Atonement doesnot lead to a loss of power. Instead, atonement frees anation from the guilt and stain resulting from centuriesof deliberate mistreatment and oppression. Atonementcan be likened to the law of gravity. When weight isadded to something, it weighs it down and keeps itfrom elevation. The guilt and stain that these Spiritualsspeak about are weighing heavily on America and arekeeping the nation from elevating to greater heights inthe area of race relations. But atonement will take thenation higher.

The Bible is replete with stories of lost riches. Forexample, one story was about Job who had riches butlost it all. In Job's case, he did not do anything wrong- he was a righteous man. But. his was a test of faith.When he was found to be faithful, God strengthenedand restored his riches. America is being tested withoffering a corporate atonement and repentance for itspast misdeeds against a race of people. Notwithstandingthese misdeeds, blacks and their ancestors have dem-onstrated their spiritual-beingness through embeddedsongs of forgiveness, faith, hope, love, kindness, andhealing. The fundamental messages contained in theNegro Spirituals have made the souls of black folkswhole. Blacks have been wise to shed the anger fromthe centuries of indignities, "lay their burdens down andfeel so much better," and not allow anything or anyoneto prevent them from seeing their God.

Now America must lay aside every weight andthe sin of enslavement that has beset it and be aboutthe business of righting the wrong that necessitated

The Western Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 31, No. 2, 2007 39

the Spirituals by atoning and asking for forgiveness. whom It oppressed, denigrated and confined to secondThe Spirituals are calling on America to pursue peace class citizenship. These lessons from the Spiritualswiththedescendantsof the men and women that it mis- will heal the nation from its self-inilicted wounds fromtreated; pursue justice with the descendants of the men protracted slavery, oppression and other indignities. Inand women on whom injustice was perpetrated: pursue the end. God shall bless its deeds.Uplift with the descendants of the men and women

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