I was trying to make a point about indexing. If I put in @spiritual as suggested by Joe I get 31. Some of these are adaptions or pseudo-folk, I noted two Pete Seegar versions. I have been slowly going through the Hampton Institute material at the Univ. North Carolina site, where there are 50 cabin and plantation songs as sung in the 1870s when the Hampton singers toured- they were the first. Rather than Negro Spirituals, to which some take offence, perhaps this original heading, Cabin and Plantation Songs, would be better. Wsywsyg, I will go through your material on the thread, which is a great contribution, but not yet on Lyrics Search. I am sure you have the Hampton songs- This is the first great authentic collection and is reached at p. 171 of the site: http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/armstrong/armstrong.html#ham171. Many interesting points. Does Jacob's Ladder derive from Oh, den my Little Soul's Gwine to Shine? The dialect is authentic, so these are the versions which should be reproduced. Of course, there will be many more, but sorting out the genuine from the gospel and white-adapted versions is a job requiring trained researchers. At least the Hampton site, and the one with the Atlantic Monthly article, are good places to start.