Negro Spirituals from Bible to Folksong

x, 117 pp. This is the first examination of the background and meaning of the best known Negro Spirituals. A consideration of their texts shows the spirituals to be songs of faith, deeply rooted in affirmations and experiences from the Bible. Examining over twenty spirituals, the author shows how the early singers shaped and reshaped their biblical texts in the light of the Afro-American backgrounds out of which the songs emerged and the slavery situation in which they flourished. Songs of genuine faith outlive their historical origins. Throughout the ages, people have responded in song to God's love in the world. American slave songs are world folk songs because they express a faith which cannot be imprisoned in any one age, place, or culture.