Once official slavery ended, it seemed possible that the spirituals might no longer be needed. For one, there were many in the African American community who wanted to put behind them anything that would remind them of the painful experience of slavery. Many had also begun to internalize negative views of their music as "extravagant" or "heathen." However, the early tours of the Fisk (University) Jubilee Singers, in the 1870's, during which audiences in America and abroad heard spirituals for the first time, served to spark the development of a new concert spirituals tradition that would have a major influence on American and world culture for more than a century beyond the end of slavery. In the years following the first Fisk tours, interest in the spirituals began to fade. Certainly, the spirituals continued as part of the worship experience in many African American churches. However, lingering ambivalence about what many in the community experienced as a shameful reminder of times past served to diminish interest in the spirituals beyond this circumscribed venue. It also did not help that the spirituals were degraded in the shameful mockery of the prevalent minstrel show tradition. In addition, many of the developing Black colleges were embracing the values of a European-style education, and the spirituals seemed out of step with this focus. In fact, outside the sphere of the Jubilee Singers themselves, even the Fisk community seemed disinterested in these songs.

It was not long, however, before the success of the Fisk Jubilee Singers had an infectious effect in multiple settings around the country. Singing ensembles modeled after the Jubilee Singers emerged at other colleges and some of those groups competed with one another on tour. After the turn of the twentieth century, a solo concert tradition began, beginning with the published piano-voice arrangements of composer Harry T. Burleigh, and continuing through the work of many others who followed in Burleigh’s footsteps. This development reached its peak during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 30s, when such noted artists as Roland Hayes, Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson emerged as nationally prominent concert singers. Simultaneously, a number of composers began writing a capella arrangements of spirituals for performance by choral groups, and nearly every historically Black college boasted a choral ensemble that proudly performed spirituals in their public concerts.

When the gospel movement that began to build in late 1920s became increasingly stronger, the singing of spirituals in Black churches began to wane. Gradually, gospel music emerged as the predominant music of the twentieth century Black church in America. However, spirituals continued to be performed in secular concert settings, especially in the continuing work of college choirs and in recitals by classically trained solo singers. The influence of the spirituals was also reflected in other areas of the performing arts, including, dance, jazz, and the blues. Those influences remain strong today.

Despite the continued influence of the spirituals tradition in some settings described above, there is no question that widespread interest in and knowledge of the spirituals tradition has diminished significantly over time, both within the African American community and in the American public at large. This fact has been one of the sources of motivation for the work of The Spirituals Project and a number of individuals and groups around the country who are concerned that an important part of American cultural heritage is in danger of being lost. Fortunately, there appears to be a slowly growing national revival of interest in the spirituals.