Slave Songs of the United States, title page
Michael Row the Boat Ashore
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen

Slave Songs of the United States was a collection of African American music consisting of 136 songs. Published in 1867, it was the first, and most influential,[1][2] collection of spirituals to be published. The collectors of the songs were Northern abolitionists William Francis Allen, Lucy McKim Garrison, and Charles Pickard Ware.[3] The group transcribed songs sung by the Gullah Geechee people of Saint Helena Island, South Carolina.[4] These people were newly freed slaves who were living in a refugee camp when these songs were collected.[5] It is a "milestone not just in African American music but in modern folk history".[6][7][8][9] It is also the first published collection of African-American music of any kind.[10]

The making of the book is described by Samuel Charters, with an emphasis on the role of Lucy McKim Garrison.[11] A segment of History Detectives explored the book's history and significance.[12]

Notable Songs

Several notable and popular songs in the book include:

  • "Roll, Jordan, Roll" (#1)
  • "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" (#31)
  • "Bosom of Abraham" (#94 as "Rock My Soul")
  • "Down in the River to Pray" (#104 as "The Good Old Way")
  • "Jehova"
  • "Hallelujah"
  • "I hear from Heaven to-day"
  • "Michael"
  • "Row the boat ashore"
  • "Turn sinner"
  • "Turn O"
  • "Nobody knows the trouble I've had"
  • "No Man can hinder me"
  • "Heave away"
  • "Charleston Gals"
  • "I'm gwine to Alabamy"
  • "I want to die like-a Lazarus die"
  • "Belle Layotte"
  • "On to Glory Jacob's Ladder"
  • "My father, how long?"
  • "Musieu Bainjo"
  • "Lean on the Lord's side"
  • "God got plenty o' room"

The book provides instructions for singing, which is accompanied by a discussion of the history of each song, with potential variations, interpretations of key references, and other related details. In the Dover edition, Harold Courlander contributes a new preface that evaluates the book's significance in both American musical and cultural history.

See Also

References

  • Black, Robert (1968). "Reviewed Work: Slave Songs of the United States by Irving Schlein". Journal of the International Folk Music Council. 20: 82–83 – via JSTOR.
  • Chase, Gilbert (2000). America's Music: From the Pilgrims to the Present. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-00454-X.
  • Crawford, Richard (2001). America's Musical Life: A History. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-04810-1.
  • Darden, Robert (1996). People Get Ready: A New History of Black Gospel Music. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-1752-3.
  • Koskoff, Ellen, ed. (2000). Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 3: The United States and Canada. Garland Publishing. ISBN 0-8240-4944-6.
  • National Conference on Music of the Civil War Era (2004). Mark A. Snell; Bruce C. Kelley (eds.). Bugle Resounding: Music and Musicians of the Civil War Era. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 0-8262-1538-6.
  • Southern, Eileen (1997). Music of Black Americans. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-03843-2.

Notes

  1. ↑ Darden, pg. 71
  2. ↑ Southern, pg. 152
  3. ↑ Crawford, pg. 416
  4. ↑ Crawford, Eric. "The Negro Spiritual of Saint Helena Island: An Analysis of its Repertoire during the Periods 1860-1920, 1921-1939, and 1972-present". Washington Research Library Consortium. The Catholic University of America. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  5. ↑ Black, Robert (1968). "Reviewed Work: Slave Songs of the United States by Irving Schlein". Journal of the International Folk Music Council. 20: 82–83. doi:10.2307/836087. JSTOR 836087 – via JSTOR.
  6. ↑ Darden, pgs. 99-100
  7. ↑ Maultsby, Portia K.; Mellonee V. Burnin; Susan Oehler. "Overview". The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. pp. 572–591.
  8. ↑ Ramsey, Jr., Guthrie P. (Spring 1996). "Cosmopolitan or Provincial?: Ideology in Early Black Music Historiography, 1867-1940". Black Music Research Journal. Black Music Research Journal, Vol. 16, No. 1. 16 (1): 11–42. doi:10.2307/779375. JSTOR 779375.
  9. ↑ Snell and Kelley, pg. 22
  10. ↑ Chase, pg. 215
  11. ↑ Charters, Samuel. 2015. Songs of Sorrow: Lucy McKim Garrison and "Slave Songs of the United States". Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-62846-206-7
  12. ↑ "Slave Songbook | History Detectives | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
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