BATON ROUGE, La. (Aging Untold) – They are songs that tell stories of suffering, faith and hope, but this part of American history that has existed for hundreds of years is in danger of slipping away.

Negro Spirituals were created by Africans during slavery and have been passed down from generation to generation. In Baton Rouge, musicians, old and young, are working together to preserve this precious legacy.

On Monday nights, a space typically filled with the laughter and chatter of children at Martin Luther King Jr. Christian Academy is overflowing with the sounds of the past. Seniors singing songs dating back to a darker time. They are the songs that once soothed the souls of the enslaved in the face of insurmountable pain.

“Most spirituals are about their relationship with God and the search for a better day,” Clarence Jones said.

Jones started Heritage 49 years ago to preserve the legacy of the Negro Spiritual, the African American songs of survival and a yearning for freedom.

“The most important thing is that we preserve what was ours,” Jones said.

This is a sentiment shared on the campus of Southern University by the gospel choir.

Now, a new generation of voices is forging on in honor of those who have gone before, which is something Southern University senior Ashley Lovelace doesn’t take lightly.

“To sing the songs that encouraged them to say I don’t know where I’m going to get to in the end, or I don’t know if I’m going to see a better day, but this song right now is bringing me joy,” Lovelace said. “That to me is timeless and it’s precious.”

From learning a traditional, slower arrangement to a newer version with a 21st-century twist, the Negro Spiritual has stood the test of time.

“You see everything become necessary for that time period and that’s what we did. Same song, same message, just with a little extra funk to it,” Lovelace said.

It’s a youthful energy breathing new life into the old lyrics from a different time.

Enslaved people were not allowed to read or write, so the Negro Spiritual often carried hidden messages. The coded songs were a form of secret communication for those running away from plantations in the south to the safety and freedom of the north.

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