Double Consciousness in Negro Spirituals.

Abstract

Negro spirituals have travelled round the world from their traditional home in America. Some Negro Spirituals express consciousness about the world, problems, inhumanity and the resilience of Negroes as well as the awareness of a better world. Materialism pales in the face of spirituality in the pilgrimage of Negroes from earth to heaven. Indeed, few songs express triple consciousness – references are made to towns in America, Israel
and Heaven. This essay investigates the double reference in the songs that give them complexity and their different layers of meaning, establishing that these transform their commonality to classicality.