NEW SERIES - AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC GLORY TO THE NEWBORN KING Spitituals � a distinctive original genre in American music.By the end of the 19th century, African American music was an integral part of mainstream American culture. Ragtime performers like Scott Joplin became popular and some soon became associated with the Harlem Renaissance and early cilil rights activists. Drawing on traditional work songs, African American slaves originated began performing a wide variety of Spirituals and other Christian music. Many of these songs were coded messages of subversion against slaveholders, or which signaled escape. Sir Michael Tippett in his oratorio A Child of our Time uses spirituals instead of chorales to convey the message and drama of his work. Spirituals have become very popular as concert music due mainly to the fund-raising tours of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, who introduced them to North America and Europe.