Commonly, American Negro Spirituals are thought of as beautiful songs wherein the enslaved sang about the pain of their social conditions and assuaged their sorrows. In fact, this description is only partially true. Their are approximately 6000 known songs from this body of repertoire and many of them, through coded, and sometimes straightforward texts, express the enslaved person’s understanding of the unfairness of his plight and his judgement of the slaveholders.

Through curated examples, audience participation, and demonstration, Dr. Jason Oby will explain how, with coded messaging and profound poetic poetry, the enslaved fought for social justice.