When seeking to discuss and describe the developments of Black music during slavery and the subsequent Civil War, one must first trace the origins of Black music before it arrived in America. To do that, one must examine the history of the African people.

Firstly, a common, stereotypical misconception remains that Africans originated from a primitive society. However, this could not be further from the truth. Africans built great civilizations that included language, art, politics, economics, religion, spirituality, music, and dance. In addition, Africans lived in well-established social communities.

In terms of music, it is known that music and dancing were an integral part of African life and were very important to social and spiritual events. African music is driven by its distinct rhythms that serve as the foundation of this genre of music. For example, Africans believed that everyone was musical and could make music (see Small, 1987, p. 26). This belief that everyone could be a part of music and dance helped build and strengthen the African community and allowed it to develop a strong culture. Musical gifts to America include the drum, the banjo, and the flute.

Another critical element of African music is improvisation. According to Small (1987, p. 27), improvisation allowed Africans to make up songs spontaneously for specific occasions and easily forget them once the event was over. The ability to improvise would also be critical to Africans forced into bondage in America. Improvisation and adaptability would allow Africans to communicate with each other regardless of the ever-changing and often-deadly situations they would face when they arrived in America.

Upon arriving in America as enslaved people, the elements of African music and dance were not forgotten, despite the best efforts of their captors to eliminate all sense of language and culture. Ever a resilient people, the newly enslaved Africans would continue to draw upon their culture to survive. The spiritual power of music and dance was never more critical to the survival of a people than in the early years of captivity.

With the introduction of Christianity by their White captors, the enslaved people began to incorporate elements of the European religion into the musical traditions of their homeland. However, whereas European Christian music focused more on the sin and worthlessness of the enslaved people, the enslaved people created a new form of more spiritual than religious music that instead focused on joy, confidence, faith, and freedom. Elements are designed for hope and survival rather than repentance.

Negro Spirituals

The enslaved people participated in rituals affirming and celebrating the power of lineage and their common ancestors. This music was something that enslaved people used to escape from the brutality and depression of terror and torture. In music, the enslaved people found peace and happiness. The enslaved people used music to express their feeling, and it was influenced by African religious traditions, also known as the Negro Spirituals. The Negro Spiritual is defined as a genre of music created by Africans who were captured and sold into slavery. These spirituals were also a way for enslaved people to communicate through their songs without their captor’s understanding.

These spirituals were extremely important when it came to planned escapes. As mentioned earlier, the enslaved people used improvisation in their music just as they had done in Africa. In this case, it was to conceal their plans from their captors. So instead of saying “meet me in heaven for freedom,” the song may have said, “I’m gonna lay down my burdens, down by the riverside.” A message to those seeking freedom, to meet by the river and lay down the burden of slavery by escaping to the North.

Singing the Blues

Eventually, these Negro Spirituals would lead to the Blues, and the Blues would lead to gospel music. Gospel music is most associated with the Blues and the Negro Spiritual. Gospel, like the blues and the spirituals, were all forms of music that spoke to the lived experience of the African Americans. These genres of music told the stories of the anguish and pain Black America suffered at the hands of its oppressors. This music gave hope and promise to the oppressed. As Black music evolved, these genres of music became intertwined. It was pretty typical for blues, spirituals, and gospel, at different points, to sound the same. Many of the great soul singers of our time started their careers in the church. Legendary singers such as Al Green and Aretha Franklin, to name two.

Following the Civil War, with Jim Crow Laws, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and other terrorist groups, and crop devastation of this time, this opened up opportunities for southern individuals in the music industry to move north. These southern musicians composed songs about the hardships, which turned into mini-revival sessions for those seeking worship in that time of need.

However, problems began to occur when northerners realized that the southern black worship experience was slightly different from theirs. The southern Black’s worship experience included more emotion and feelings, whereas the northern Black’s worship had a more euro-centric style and appeared more organized. These differences in worship styles led many in the North to take a negative view of the southern gospel traditions that had migrated north. Some were reluctant to accept that singing, shouting, and dancing during worship had started to become standard.

Preaching the Gospel

Throughout the 1900’s, gospel music in Chicago was prevalent and included many key individuals who played crucial roles in developing gospel music. A few of the individuals who were involved names were Thomas Dorsey, widely recognized as the father of gospel music; Mahalia Jackson, who some consider the greatest gospel singer of all time.

Dorsey was a crucial figure in the making of gospel music in Chicago. His background includes being a versatile pianist, composer, singer, and bandleader. Early in his career, he played with Ma Rainey, a famous African American blues singer who would influence his sound. Because of the blues influence present in gospel music, some churches frowned upon it.

Because of his blues and jazz background, Dorsey often found himself not welcome at various churches. However, like the music that he loved, Dorsey was persistent. As opportunities opened up for him, he began to learn the gospel by observing other preachers at churches and conventions he visited. With this, he wrote his first song called “If I Don’t Get There.” Dorsey also wrote many other pieces, such as “Take My Hand, Precious Lord,” and started featuring other gospel artists in songs. But before Dorsey began to take the gospel seriously, he was very good at making Blues and Jazz music, where he worked with many popular artists. He was involved in a band named The Whispering Syncopators and performed with famous musicians Ma Rainey, Lionel Hampton, and Louis Armstrong. After being turned down so many times at many churches, he had to explain to preachers that he was not trying to change the culture in the church but introduce a new style of music. After finally being accepted, the popularity of gospel music increased so rapidly that Dorsey was able to host his own gospel convention called The National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses. As years passed, he continued performing on tour, becoming a successful Black music publisher.

Musical journey

Another notable Chicago gospel singer was Mahalia Jackson. Although born in Louisiana, she migrated to Chicago during the Great Migration like so many others. Jackson was also a protegee of Dorsey and thus faced the same scrutiny as he did early in her career. Many also considered her a blues singer; however, Jackson always insisted that she was not a blues singer and was quoted as saying, “Blues are the songs of despair, but gospel songs are songs of hope.”

Although Jackson was correct in her view of what gospel music was fundamentally, there was still a contradiction in gospel music. All gospel music has elements of despair, a low point that an individual needs to be brought out of or brought through. The gospel is the journey from grief to hope, thus the similarity and contradictions of gospel music. The same thing that made churches reluctant to embrace gospel music is the very essence of a spiritual journey. Before you can reach the mountaintop, one must begin at the bottom. One must have the blues before one can praise that which gives hope. That, in essence, is gospel music and the Black experience in America.

The key to the uniqueness of the Black experience in America is Black music. Its ability to adapt and improvise in any situation is a survival trait and a spiritual trait. The spiritual depth of Africans, enslaved people, and today’s African Americans have contributed significantly to humankind. More than any other, these characteristics have contributed to the Black Epistemology. The collective knowledge of a people who have contributed considerably to humanity through improvisation, adaptability, and music. Perhaps more than any other people, given the circumstances.

References

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/december-web-only/gospel-music-great-migration-black-church.html
Jabir, J. (2017). Conjuring freedom: Music and masculinity in the Civil War’s “Gospel Army.”
The Ohio State University Press. Small, C. (1987). Music of the Common Tongue: Survival and Celebration in African American music. Wesleyan University Press.