Dr. ARTHUR JONES (Psychologist, University of Denver and Founder, The Spirituals Project): Spirituals are basically the earliest form of black sacred music, and these spirituals were created by African Americans who were in slavery.(Speaking to Young Children): The ancestors passed these songs to us. These are songs that are gifts to us today. So even though these songs were created 150 years ago, we can still use them today.
Even before large numbers of slaves converted to Christianity, they brought with them from Africa some very, very long-standing religious traditions, sacred traditions that highlighted the importance of storytelling. So even if you weren't a Christian, you could really get a lot out of a story about a guy named Moses. So you grab that story and you use it as a basis for a song, and then you have a spiritual.
Kids really relate to music. Blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, hip-hop, gospel music -- all of those forms of music are built on the foundations of the spirituals. Just like the spirituals spoke to the slaves, rap music speaks to kids today, and we need to honor that and use that as a vehicle for teaching them about the spirituals because, in many ways, the connections are very similar. And if you teach them some of these songs, it becomes a part of what they hum and they sing.
