Thanks, Guest.

Language about any issues related to the time when this music was most-intensely in creation-mode are complicated, aren't they?

In this thread (for instance its title), I try to keep my own communications clear and intentional. For instance I call these "African-American" spirituals-- because that is how I think people I communicate with now can best agree on what they are and how to talk about them,.

But as I posted elsewhere in this thread-- in international, scholarly circles (and Google search terms), the term still used very often is "Negro" spirituals.

I am never quite sure how best to span that gap, without inappropriately censoring; I am always mindful of the need to think about it and to be aware that others are also thinking about it, from their own perspective.

~Susan