McCarthy Prompt #3: Spirituals

 I chose “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho”. It is a powerful African American spiritual song. It recounts the Bible story, where the people of Jericho tore down the city walls. The lyrics: “Joshua for the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumblin' down”, are very simple, which makes the song easy to partake in and easily passed on among enslaved communities. I almost felt like I’d heard the rhythm of this song in other songs. Like many of the songs I have listened to so far in this course, this song has more than one purpose. On one hand, it is used for religious ceremonies, on the other, it could also be used as a sense of resilience among people facing oppression. Plenty of artists have performed this song. When doing a YouTube search, some of the first that come up are The Martins, the University of Utah Chamber Choir, and Mahalia Jackson. I chose this song because I remember learning about the Battle of Jericho in my high school religion class, but I also grew to like the message it gives about making it through harsh times.