Here's an excerpt from the website "Sweet Chariot: The Story Of The Spirituals" that addresses the differences between African American spirituals and gospel music. The content of this website was written in 2004 by Arthur C. Jones as part of a multidisciplinary online curriculum by The Spirituals Project at the University of Denver
http://ctl.du.edu/spirituals/History/

"The spirituals are the religious folk songs created and first sung by African Americans in slavery. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot;" "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho;" "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child;" "Go Down, Moses;" "Steal Away to Jesus;" "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel?;" "Wade in the Water;" these are some of the best known survivors of the hundreds of remarkable religious folk songs that were created by enslaved African Americans. In fact, many Americans from all ethnic backgrounds can remember "growing up" with these songs, which were created by a circumscribed community of people in bondage but eventually came to be regarded as the first "signature" music of the new American nation. In time, the spirituals were offered as a gift to the whole world, exerting their cultural impact well into the beginning of the twenty-first century.

What is the Difference Between the Spirituals and Gospel Music?

Many people ask what the difference is between the spirituals and Black gospel music. Simply put, the spirituals are the Southern sacred "folk" songs created and first sung by African Americans during slavery. Their original composers are unknown, and they have assumed a position of collective ownership by the whole community. They lend themselves easily to communal singing. Many are in a call-and-response structure, with back-and-forth exchanges between the leader and the group. A formal concert tradition has evolved from the original spirituals, with solo and choral arrangements based on original slave melodies, employed for performance by amateur and professional artists. Black gospel music originated in the churches of the urban North in the 1920's, and has been the predominant music of the twentieth century Black Church. Each gospel song has an identifiable composer. Gospel fuses musical elements of both the spirituals and the blues, and incorporates extensive musical improvisation, with piano, guitar or other instrumental accompaniment. While the gospel tradition descended directly from the spirituals and the blues, the spirituals have also continued to exist as a parallel cultural force."

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Here is another excerpt comes from that same article:

"When the gospel movement that began to build in late 1920s became increasingly stronger, the singing of spirituals in Black churches began to wane. Gradually, gospel music emerged as the predominant music of the twentieth century Black church in America. However, spirituals continued to be performed in secular concert settings, especially in the continuing work of college choirs and in recitals by classically trained solo singers. The influence of the spirituals was also reflected in other areas of the performing arts, including, dance, jazz, and the blues. Those influences remain strong today".