1. The Negro Spiritual, The Negro Spiritual, sometimes referred to as plantation songs, sorrow songs or slave-songs, originated from the innermost being of enslaved Africans who were captured from the West Coast of Africa and transported to the Americas.

2. While in bondage they were While in bondage they were forbidden to talk or make musical instruments that they had used in Africa but could sing whatever they felt. The gift of singing became an invaluable tool of expression and a relief from the cruel and brutal existence of a slave-life.

3. It is in these simple It is in these simple African melodies, which, "sprang into existence," where the enslaved Africans expressed their pain, anger, grief, faith and joy. Just as Africans communicated among themselves using drum language in there own countries and tribes, so did the enslaved Africans continue to do in America by using "cries," "hollers," "calls," "shouts," which eventually evolved into spirituals and work songs.

4. To the slave owner, it may have been entertaining to hear the slaves sing these "simple" songs of faith, but for the enslaved person these songs were powerful messages of hope, a way of assuaging their unfortunate plight in life and above all fighting to maintain the most basic form of human dignity that would help them sustain and endure the arduous hardships of a slave existence. These plantation songs united and strengthened the slaves and gave them an abiding faith and strong courage. To the slave owner, it may have been entertaining to hear the slaves sing these "simple" songs of faith, but for the enslaved person these songs were powerful messages of hope, a way of assuaging their unfortunate plight in life and above all fighting to maintain the most basic form of human dignity that would help them sustain and endure the arduous hardships of a slave existence. These plantation songs united and strengthened the slaves and gave them an abiding faith and strong courage.