Music from around the world is used as therapy. Music Serves as an outlet for either the person creating it or the person participating in enjoying it. Africans brought to America because of slavery used music in this way. They classified this music as Negro spiritual. Overall, Negro Spirituals were used as an outlet, but more specifically, they served three main functions. The functions of the Negro Spirituals were to be used as songs of praise, means of protesting slavery and vile treatment, as well as subversive coded messages to escape slavery. According to the article Negro Spirituals song of Survival, the Negro Spirituals arose over a period of 200 years. . In the 17th century, many did not know about spiritualities. They were called cries, a term originating from Africa. They became better known around the 18th century and after the Civil War in the 19th century. The article states that "Negro Spirituals were the first type of distinctly American music to come out of this country (North America)" (Faigan). More specifically, spirituals originated in the American South. Negro Spirituals can also be compared to gospel music in the sense that is widely used in the African American community, but Negro Spirituals have a significant difference in that they are group songs. There is not one specific artist or person who created a spiritual. Spirituals are just fragments of biblical texts, experiences and prayers sometimes shaped like a conversation. Negro Spirituals were used as songs of praise. During slavery, many slaves were exposed to the Christian religion when their masters attended church. Although they were exposed to Christianity, they were forbidden to practice it, but they...... middle of paper ...... edge slaves used their spirituals as secret coded messages that combined biblical texts as a means of escape. slavery. The spirituals contained instructions on where to go and who to meet. For example, the song Follow the Drinking Gourd states: "The river ends between two hills, / Follow the Drinking Gourd." / There is another river on the other side, / Follow the gourd. “This song gives slaves directions to freedom and tells them to follow the gourd that is a star. Another example of a Negro spiritual message guiding slaves to freedom is the crossing of the Jordan. The song says, “I have to cross this river Jordan / Lord, I have to cross it for myself / He says no one here can cross this for me / Lord, I have to cross this for myself.” This song tells the slave that the path to freedom is through the Jordan..