Broxterman ENGL 227 Project
anniebee88
Slave Songs and Spirituals
Slave songs of the United States
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Contrary to popular belief in the United States during the time of slavery, African American people were composing pieces that would transcend time. Many spirituals sung in the days of slavery have traveled through time and are still performed today. They survived by oral performance at first and later with the written composing of melodies and lyrics. The following collage of sources and images demostrate the significance of slave music during the 1800s and how it still applies today. |
Typically in slave songs and spirituals there were double meanings to the lyrics put to music. To the outsider, plantation owners etc. thought their slaves were happy because they were singing. They're songs spoke of stories and imagry from the Bible and folklore. In truth the lyrics relealed ways in which to escape to northern freedom or ways to perform subtle or blantant resistance.
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Slave songs of the United States
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This collection of slave songs shows the popularity of using Bible stories of the Old Testament in musicianship. Using Bible stories was a way to undermine the slavery laws about reading of the time. While slaves might not have been able to or were actually reading the Bible, but were having it read to them by others. Slavery was promoted by its "Christian" values, so slaves knew of and about the Bible and used their knowledge to their advantage. Tales of freedom and punishment for the wicked such as Moses and his dealings with Rameses greatly appealed to the salve's plight and revealed information to others in the area, as well as region if there was an uprising being planned or a similer resistance in creation. Songs spread the word without notice from slave owners and masters. |
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In the years after the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, African-Americans began to take their music on the road. This spread the amount of pieces and styles of spiritual from region to region. This image shows the cover page of a musicians program/music anthology. "In the years after the Civil War, African-American performers began to appear on the American popular stage in ever-greater numbers. In the 1870s, performers and composers such as Sam Lucas and Dan Lewis appeared in touring minstrel troupes composed of African American performers. Lucas is particularly noteworthy in that he was the first African-American actor to play Uncle Tom in Uncle Tom's Cabin. He also toured with the Hyers Sisters in the play Out of Bondage." |
Slave songs of the United States
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This slave narrative exhibits the importance of religion, prayer and song and it's influence. Narratives don't often mention music or gatherings in their telling. They usually follow the pattern of: "This is where I'm from, and this is how I got there." This particular piece is an exception. It exhibits snippets here and there of religious practices and music performances. |
Autobiography of James L. Smith, : including also, reminiscences of slave life, recollections of the war, education of freedmen, causes of the exodus, etc
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Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave
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Separation from family during the days of slavery was common, like Frederick Douglass' narration of his mother's late night journeys home every night just to be with Douglass. This theme was common in slave songs and spirituals. Usually sounding melancholy and mournful, but pretty.
Douglass states, "I never saw my mother, to know her as such, more than four or five times in my life; and each of these times was very short in duration, and at night. She was hired by a Mr. Stewart, who lived about twelve miles from my home. She made her journeys to see me in the night, travelling the whole distance on foot, after the performance of her day's work. She was a field hand, and a whipping is the penalty of not being in the field at sunrise..." (ch. 1). This description leads the reader to the belief that Douglass did not see much of his mother ever. Pieces like Motherless Child reflect the emotions one feels when being separated from a mother, or mother-like figure. |
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Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child
Music Clip
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"Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child" is a popular, sorrowful piece among the Spiritual singing community. While the text originally references as "child of God," anyone can enjoy this piece, more importantly it gives the listener insight to the emotional plight of a slave. The raw emotion in this work depicts a moment or memory of hopelessness and the desire for freedom, as well as the possibility of reuniting with lost loved ones.
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