Connecting Spirituals to the Slave Experience

Though the use of spirituals as coded ‘road maps’ for the Underground Railroad is contentious, it can be fruitful to use these ‘documents’ in the classroom as a key to understanding how songs were important in the lives of slaves.

One site that examines the different purposes and meanings of these historical records is Sweet Chariot: The Story of the Spirituals.

The site explores the history of spirituals, reincarnations of these songs in the 20th century Civil Rights movement and includes sound files of the many spirituals.

The ‘Freedom & Equality’ section highlights the use of spirituals as: expressions of protest, sources of inspiration and motivation… both of which are useful in thinking about the psychological aspects of slaves deciding to take the risk of pursuing their own freedom.