Spirituals were much more than the soulful lamentations that the slaves sang in response to the evils of bondage.  They constituted the audio portion of the clever Underground Railroad communication system.  Everything about the songs had a secret meaning from the “call and response” style of singing to the rhythm provided by the slaves’ dancing feet that only a trained ear could decipher.  This is a wonderful case in which the richness of orality can be seen.  These songs are derivatives African “ring rituals,” African American “ring shouts,” and also rose out of the hardship of slavery.  Many of these songs were combined with the displaying of the quilts in order to make communication known only to certain slaves. 

            What became the ring shout here in America also became known as “shout,” “glory shout,” holy dance,” and “walk in Egypt.”  Many believe that the dances used were precursors to tap dancing and used to emit certain messages by the number of taps.  Being that large meetings were banned, as were cultural dances, ceremonies, and drums, the African Americans had to develop a strictly “oral” way of communicating that the whites could not interpret.  These songs were sets of instructions on when to leave, where to go, and what to look for along the way to what many secretly called Canaan (Canada). 

See some examples of Songs

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