During slavery in the United States, slaves were forbidden from speaking their native languages, and were generally converted to Christianity.

Because they were unable to express themselves freely in ways that were spiritually meaningful to them, enslaved Africans often held secret religious services.

During the religious meetings, worshipers were free to engage in African religious rituals such as spiritual possession, speaking in tongues and shuffling in counterclockwise ring shouts to communal shouts and chants

Spirituals were an expression of spiritual devotion and a yearning for freedom from bondage

 Sometimes spirituals were a means of releasing pent up emotions and expressing sorrow.

The texts usually deal with subjects from the Bible, because the slaves needed something to be comforted by when times were tough.This gave them hope and they found a way to express their sorrow and anger.

"I did not, when a slave, fully understand the deep meaning of those rude and apparently incoherent songs. I was, myself, within the circle, so that I could then neither hear nor see as those without might see and hear. They breathed the prayer and complaint of souls overflowing with the bitterest anguish. They depressed my spirits and filled my heart with ineffable sadness...The remark in the olden time was not unfrequently made, that slaves were the most contented and happy laborers in the world, and their dancing and singing were referred to in proof of this alleged fact; but it was a great mistake to suppose them happy because they sometimes made those joyful noises. The songs of the slaves represented their sorrows, rather than their joys. Like tears, they were a relief to aching hearts."

-Frederick Douglass