In spite of the unique beauty and universal appeal of African American spirituals, they rarely are considered to be lyric poetry. The first major study on the topic, this book attests to slave spirituals' centrality to the canons of African American literature and American poetry at large. Positioning them as a foundational and distinctive body of lyric expression, Lauri Ramey restores slaves' songs to their rightful place in literary tradition for their intrinsic value as poetry, and as a touchstone of the American imagination.