The first ship carrying Africans arrived to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. Estimates are that 20 Africans who were snatched from the Western part of Africa, the area where Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast are, were aboard that fateful ship.
It was the start of slavery. More than 200 years passed before the inhumane and savage system ended.
Early African Spirituals
During slavery Africans were not permitted to read or write, worship freely or speak in their native tongue. They communicated, particularly during escapes, by using secret code that was hidden in song. Some of these songs later became known as spirituals. “Go Down Moses,” and “Steal Away” were some of the spirituals sung by slaves.
The songs spoke of freedom on earth or beyond. Harriet Tubman used spirituals to communicate to enslaved Africans that she was going to pass through the slave quarters at a certain time of night and that, if they so desired to escape to freedom, the other Africans could go with her North to Canada and freedom.
In the late 1800s spirituals began to be publicly performed or/and recorded by artists like Fisk University’s Jubilee Singers. By the early 1900s artists like James Weldon and his brother John Rosamond Johnson, Thomas Dorsey, Mahalia Jackson, James Cleveland, Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson and the Clara Ward Singers were expanding audiences for spiritual, later referred to as gospel, music. Many of the artists continued to sing older, more traditional spirituals during this time. However, they also began to incorporate modern musical styles into their songs.
Father of Gospel Music
Thomas Dorsey, who is often referred to as the father of gospel music, was born in 1899. He composed timeless songs such as “There Will Be Peace in the Valley,” “Take My Hand, Precious Lord,” “Peace in the Valley,” “Angels Keep Watching Over Me,” “I’ll Tell It Wherever I Go” and “I’m a Pilgrim.” Over the years, gospel greats like Mahalia Jackson, Albertina Walker, James Cleveland and Aretha Franklin have performed gospel songs composed by Thomas Dorsey.
Throughout history a few gospel singers and lyricists have gained critical acclaim and stood out above other recording artists. During the 1960s, James Cleveland, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, Sam Cooke, Albertina Walker, Shirley Ceasar, the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Clara Ward Singers and of course, Mahalia Jackson led the way. By the time the 1970s rolled around the Hawkins Singers were finding their way to the tops of gospel music charts with recordings like “Oh Happy Day,” “Be Grateful” and “I Believe.”
Changing Times for Gospel Music
Although the music was becoming increasingly modern and popular outside of normal church going circuits, during the 1970s many gospel singers kept to their early spiritual roots. Listening to the recordings felt like sitting in an old wooden church, absent an organ, a set of drums or even carpet on the floor. It was easy for listeners to pat their feet, rock their head, clap their hands or even close their eyes and sing along to the songs that came like food for the soul.
The 1980s and 1990s started to see the sound of gospel music changing and taking on similar beats and rhythms as standard secular soul music hits. Kirk Franklin, Tramaine Hawkins, Commissioned and Bebe and Cece Winans led the way with contemporary hits like “Stomp,” “Addictive Love,” ‘Ordinary Just Won’t Do,” “Look at Me” and “Determined.”
Today gospel artists seek to reach as broad an audience as possible. They realize that the base of people they are witnessing to do not attend church regularly. Yolanda Adams and Fred Hammond readily come to mind.
It is for this reason that many gospel singers incorporate popular mainstream beats and rhythms into their songs. The modern songs are appealing. However, the lyrical and rhythmic root of gospel music remains timeless as it swings, like a chariot riding on the wind, back to its traditional spiritual beginning.
Both modern and traditional gospel songs speak of freedom, of a place or state of being where trouble is no more. For this the first Africans who came to America in the early 1600s, the Jubilee Singers and songwriters and gospel singers like Thomas Dorsey, James Cleveland, the Clara Ward Singers, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, Aretha Franklin and Yolanda Adams continue to be appreciated.
