The Gospel Truth about the Negro Spiritual

What is the difference between Negro spirituals and gospel music? It seemed like a simple question, but it was immediately apparent that the answer was far from simple. First, it is complicated by the fact that both exist because of a deep-seated need to express faith in song. Secondly, one genre has used the other for source material. Also, the history of one genre blends into the other. The times and environment in which the spiritual was nurtured were starkly different than that of black gospel music. Gospel music is clearly rooted in the spiritual, and Gospel musicians have drawn on the spiritual for source material. But are gospel songs simply