3. The Spirituals [Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around/ Oh Freedom!] – The choir members consider the significance of singing such powerful songs and reflect on what they might mean for them in their own lives. They also answer questions about the changing role of gospel music within and outside of the black community.

 

“I think we’re definitely in a different time. We don’t sing the “Oh Freedom” or the Negro spirituals as much because we’re not in that time period per se. I feel like gospel music now is meant to sustain your faith and it’s meant to also help recruit and evangelize, where as gospel music in the past was meant to get people through a hard time….It’s a part of black history, it was created by blacks…so you know, I can’t speak for all white people but I feel like a white person can listen to the same gospel song that a black person is listening to and take the lyrics and the words at face value and be like “Oh it’s a catchy tune” but they don’t really understand the gravity of the words, whereas a black person may appreciate it more because the art is just so purely rooted in what a black person’s history has come from. So I don’t think—like for instance, there were some songs performed by gospel choir where it was a struggle because the choir is generally mixed, which is great, but at the same time you had—I noticed that the African-American or black students in the group, they would sing the song with all their might and their power but the non-blacks in the group, they didn’t necessarily convey the passion and emotion behind the words. It seems like just words to them, while an African American student will actually feel the words.”
-“A”

“Gospel music was a way for African-Americans to tell their story and exemplify their struggle. For example, during slavery times we had the negro spirituals, it was a way for them to send messages to each other and also away to let others know “Hey, I know what you’re going through.” And throughout history, gospel music is supposed to spread the good news of Jesus Christ so I feel like in that aspect as well, it’s always portrayed the message…not as many people are as “spiritual and religious” as they were in the past but gospel music is consistent. We might have all these trends here and there, you might have these music artists but gospel music is the one thing that’s going to be there, it’s like your foundation, you may not think about it but you know when you’re down and out, it’s that one thing you can go to. So I think it’s still in the black community like that…I also feel it is a way for people who are not black to understand the struggle of people who are black and it’s also a way for them to hear the message of Jesus Christ.”- “O”

“…And if someone were able to hear a jazz voice or a Negro spiritual or Rosetta Thorpe singing on the radio about an experience that you shared, that’s kind of letting people across the nation know that you had similar experiences. It somehow united black people across the nation and forged a sense of community. There’s also the black church. For so long that was the only thing black people had onto themselves, a place where they were able to share each other’s presence in that community without being monitored or segregated so that’s a big deal, I think…In the United States…[gospel] kind of does this thing where it reminds people of their morality or it reminds them of the church that their grandmother grew up in…but when I think about black people today in America there are so many people who’ve never set foot in a church, never heard a gospel lyric…So it does do that thing where it reminds people of their childhood, it uplifts them…I wish it had more of an impact. I think it has less of an impact now than it did before—like entertainment with a reminder of things passed.” -“W”

“I think it’s just been a really big integral part of a lot of people’s upbringing, like upbringing throughout generations. With our concert, it was Gospel Through The Times, before gospel used to be like simple Negro spirituals…it was a means of communication while still showing your faith in God. I feel like that’s carried out throughout the black community. You know maybe not as intensely as trying to escape from slavery but I think it’s still a big part of how we keep our faith in the face of adversity and everything you have to go through in America with being black…” -“Q”