How Hidden Codes and Messages in African-American Spirituals Influenced Generations of Music

How Hidden Codes and Messages in African-American Spirituals Influenced Generations of Music

This research paper is for a music research class in a Master’s program. The topic must contribute to the field of music. Spirituals, such as “Wade in the Water,” had hidden codes in the lyrics that helped slaves from danger. Many American songs in the last century have had hidden codes in them. Whether these American songs with hidden codes/messages are there to communicate to the audience for entertainment, or they were used in ways that the spirituals were used for, credit is due to these spirituals. I believe there is enough resources and information that can be used as examples, and support this topic. The introduction of the paper should give a general overview of the spiritual, and then the paper should flow into describing these codes, why African American’s used them, and comparing it to American songs of our generation. The spiritual “Wade in the Water” has plenty of information, and it can be used as the prime example when describing the topic. A variety of references (books, articles, journals, etc) should be used. An abstract of the paper must also be given

How Hidden Codes and Messages in African-American Spirituals Influenced Generations of Music