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