Earth And Sky Poem

Michael Sweeney’s Earth and Sky, commissioned for the 2013 Nebraska All-State Eighth Grade Band, celebrates the Omaha tribe’s belief that the sky and earth are interconnected. Prior to the 1800s, the animistic union between sky and earth permeated all aspects of Omaha culture. In fact, the tribe even developed a social structure based on the belief. During this time, the Omaha tribe was divided into two half-tribes: the Sky People (know as the Insta’shunda) and the Earth People (known as the Hon’gashenu). Each half tribe, under the leadership of their own hereditary chief, fulfilled a specific role for the larger tribe. The Insta’shunda were responsible for the tribe’s spiritual needs, while the Hon’gashenu were charged with taking care …show more content…
African-American spirituals are religious folksongs that developed from experiences of enslaved Africans in the American South during the colonial period. During that time, slaves were deprived of their freedom, language, families, as well as their connection to African culture. In fact, slaves owned by Christians were forbidden from practicing any religion, except Christianity (“African American Spirituals- Folk and Traditional Styles,” n.d., para 2). As Africanized Christianity became a part of slave culture, the spiritual developed into an essential means of expression for the slave community (“African American Spirituals,” n.d., para 3).
While spirituals allowed slaves to express their new faith, the songs also reflected the community’s profound longing for freedom. Captivated by Bible stories that paralleled to their own experiences, slaves often created spirituals based on biblical text (“African American Spirituals- Folk and Traditional Styles,” n.d., para 3). For this reason, many spirituals feature the biblical hero David. David, from the story of David and Goliath, represents the story of the