Class Title: Plenty Good Room (Co-ed on Zoom)
Leader(s): Wilda Ferguson and Odori Pendleton
Day/Time: Tuesdays at 7:00 pm
First Class: Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Class Length: 6 Weeks
Some of the most influential musicians and music of America were birthed from Jazz, thought to be the quintessential American musical art form. However, before Jazz came Blues and Gospel. They were all birthed from a single source; first heard in the cotton and tobacco fields of the south and later further forged from the church pews and pillars of the African American church.
This music genre called Negro Spirituals, also known as African-American Spirituals expressed and comforted the heart cries of brutally mistreated humans. This soul-wrenching music is the earliest and most significantly influential genre of American music that touches every culture around the globe today!
The term spiritual according to the Library of Congress is derived from the King James Bible translation of Ephesians 5:19 “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”
The Spirituals sung by the Enslaved in America not only got its musical name from the Bible but also much of its musical content was derived from biblical texts and the experience of biblical figures.
The slaves found comfort and hope that while Jesus suffered oppression, he was victorious over that oppression through his sacrifice. Their hope was that despite their current harsh circumstances, they would also be victorious and have freedom because of Jesus’s sacrificial death. The Christian faith was never meant to be lived disconnected from the past history or present times of the world in which the believer navigates.
“Plenty Good Room” is a bible study that looks at various events in Jesus’ ministry leading up to his crucifixion. The African-American spirituals chosen in the book are a lens, through which we will look at the Scriptures and analyze the songs. In addition, we will discuss the historic significance of each spiritual and how it affects the African American experience past and present. The book, Plenty Good Room: A Lenten Bible Study Based on African American Spirituals by Marilyn Thornton and Lewis Baldwin will be used for the course and can be purchased through Amazon.com.