The Music of Slavery

By Katharine Haywood Lang

The music of the slaves in the American South was deeply rooted in African tribal traditions, came with the African prisoners to the United States on slave ships, and remained a vital part of the cultural, working, spiritual, and rebellious aspects of the slave’s lives. Although whites at the time did not always understand or appreciate the music created by the slaves, they always took action to censor or utilize the music being produced. In Africa music was an integral part of tribal life, and the singing, instrumentation and dancing was incorporated into festivals, religion, and many forms of work. This African tradition was never lost because music traveled over on the slave ships in the forms of quiet mourning or boisterous entertainment. Once in America, the new slaves were devoid of a culture, having been separated from those they love, and they had to attempt to form a new culture using music as the predominant means of expression and unification. Music to accompany work was a common feature of life in Africa, and naturally that aspect extended to America because of the abundance of work being done by the slaves. Spirituals were the most prominent songs created and sung by the slaves, perhaps because of the hope that religion finally gave them. The last way that music acted as a release was to aid in rebellion from slavery, be it personal rebellion in a small way, or a large group gathering fueled by song. Through it all, the white witnesses to the music had several reactions, which ranged from fear and mockery to respect and appreciation. The music of the African American slaves came from the roots of their native land and became one of the most influential aspects of slavery in the hearts and minds of the slaves as well as in the eyes of their white masters who witnessed it all.

Music in Africa plays an enormous role in everyday life of the people all over the continent, and the many varieties of song and dance are found in the religion, work, festivals, and social gatherings of each different tribe. Most African music has elements of antiphony, or singers divided into two or more groups, performing alternately as separate groups and in unison, cross-rhythms, improvisation, functionality, and high levels of emotion (2). Most music incorporates group participation of whole villages with a leader singing the main vocals and others chiming in. Less often, music is sung for self-entertainment at home or at work. African music has a general sound that varies from tribe to tribe, but is generally consistent in its musical specifics. The emphasis is generally on rhythm over melody or harmony, and polyrhythm is common, which is the building up of many simultaneous rhythms played over one another (3). As far as vocals go, the sounds produced are less often formal language, and more of a variety of falsetto yelps, nasality, growls, glides, glissando, or a flowing, unaccented singing of a passage, and occasional rising attack with a falling release (4). The scale that is most closely observed is almost but not exactly the European scale in a major or harmonic minor key (5). Music is incorporated into traditional African society at many different times such as religious rituals, boating, hunting, parties and festivals, and work like planting, hoeing, pounding grain, and building (6). Most music in Africa is inseparable from dance or some form of body movement. Patting juba is one common traditional practice, which is both singing and body percussion with knee-slapping, hand-clapping and feet-stomping (7). In general, the dancing consists of flexibility, spontaneity, animal imitation, and very little body contact (8). In all of West Africa, the ceremonial music and dance is the core of the society (9). As in West Africa, each region and tribe had their own practices that corresponded to location, climate, and traditions. In Senegambia for example, which consists of present day Senegal and Gambia, there are no great forests, so there are no large wooden drums and more stringed instruments. There are one-stringed guitars, one to four stringed guitarlutes, twenty or more stringed harp-lutes, and the gourd fiddle. Also, the Senegambians, who were in contact with Arab cultures, have Arab sounding vocals (10). In Senegambia and south through what was later referred to as the Slave Coast, or present day Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Toga, Dahomey, Nigeria, Cameroon, the music was farthest from the familiar European sound, including frequent parallel motion. These places also had a social caste called Griots who would sing the praises of wealthy and powerful men or for the royal court, an oral history, street songs, or to encourage work. These men were both greatly admired and feared because they were thought to have supernatural powers (11). The Bantu Stock of the Congo-Argola region did not have the complex drumming of other tribes, but they had the most advanced vocals in Africa, using refined polyphony and the whooping and falsetto of pigmies. One practice that was common was called Hocketing, where voices are layered on top of each other creating a dense polyphony (12). In contrast, the tribes of Ewe, Akan, and Yoruba had the most complex drumming and were praised for their rhythmic skill. The music in Africa was an undeniable tradition that shaped the culture of every tribe, and this custom was in the hearts and spirits of the every African prisoner taken to become a slave.

Because the musical tradition had been so prominent in Africa, it was not abandoned when the African prisoners were brought to America. In fact, music was sung during invasions by the white men, on board the slave ships, and on the slave auction blocks. In 1619 the first 20 slaves were brought to America, and this practice continued through 1808 until a total of nearly 400,000 men, women and children were recruited to farm the crops of sugar, rice, indigo, corn, tobacco, and cotton (13, 14). The first area to be struck by slave catchers was Senegambia, followed by the Slave Coast, and the white men heard music from the moment they stepped on African soil (15). Rumors of “kidnappers” coming to take children who were out playing alone spread over Africa by way of slit-drums used as a sort of telegraph (16, 17). Upon being captured, noises were made by the prisoners that were described by the white men as “songs of shrieking, groaning, moaning, and screaming” (18). The musical vocabulary of the Africans was inescapable, even in times of fear and confusion. Music continued from the initial captures onto the slave ships, but it was music of a different kind. On the ships the prisoners were confused and afraid, and some had family or friends, but many did not. What they did have in common was music, and stories are told of older prisoners singing to unaccompanied children to help ease the pain (19). Whites soon saw that music was the best way to reach out to the slaves, and they often provided instruments for the Africans to play to help combat suicide, depression, and revolt (20). They were not always this kind, as sometimes music and dance were forced from the slaves as a mean of entertainment for the whites on board (21). From the first moment off the crowded ships, the prisoners were singing again, perhaps out of joy for being on solid ground and able to stretch their legs or breathe fresh air. Coffles marching to the trade, or prisoners standing on the auction block were often seen singing quietly to themselves or together with a group of fellow prisoners (22). A former slave named Solomon Northup told a story of his day at an auction in New Orleans. Upon witnessing a Freeman playing the violin, Northup inquired whether he could play, and his talent impressed the Freeman, who ordered he play more. Once the auction began later, and a man asked the price for Northup, the Freeman told him that the price was $1500, a large amount for one male slave. His reasoning was that, aside from being healthy and strong, Northup had a talent for music, which was cause for a raise in price (23). It became a well-known fact that slaves with European musical talent such as a pleasing voice or ability in instruments such as the violin, flute, or keyboard, could sell for a higher price (24). Slave owners had no interest in drumming, or traditional African instruments, but they favored those slaves who could create sound pleasing to their ears. This fact affected the way in which slaves were distributed inside the plantations. For example, one tribe known as the Wolof Tribe was favored by whites because they were seen as particularly attractive for Africans, and their language was surprisingly similar in sound to English. This tribe brought over what would later be called the banjo, from the word for a stringed instrument known as the bania in Senegal, and introduced that instrument to all American slaves (25). Another favored tribe was that living in Senegambia, who were often given light work in the master’s house because they could play violin. Most hard work was usually given to the drumming tribes who were less respected by their masters (26). The music that the slaves brought to America began to affect them from the moment they came into contact with the whites in Africa to where they were assigned to work in the plantations. Music continued to be part of their lives as their transition into slavery continued.

Upon reaching America and being divvied up and sold to different plantations, many Africans were alone without family, friends, or any familiar reminders of their culture back home in Africa. This lack of culture made the transition from freedom in Africa to slavery in a foreign land even more unbearable, so the slaves began to form a new culture to help them preserve their identity. Upon being sold into slavery, tribes were split up by whites for the purpose of isolating members and avoiding potential revolt (27). They were denied nearly every aspect of life at home in terms of dress, religion, and even family units (29). It was evident that whites wanted docile workers, and not a strange new culture, so the Africans had to forsake most of their culture if they wanted any hope of having a master who treated them well. Because they existed in this strange middle ground of living in America but coming from Africa and not participating in either culture or society, they were forced to form their own. A new African-American identity formed, and the people shared common views and that were preserved through the Civil War because of the isolation of the black people (30). Usually African Americans had a sacred worldview, believed cyclical time, and identified with a communal social ethos (31). This African American identity began with a wide variety of music, which became the backbone of many relationships between the American slaves. Music acted as the language between the first African slaves who only knew the dialects of their specific tribes, it then went on to form kinships and break religious barriers that may have existed (32). As more slaves were being brought over from Africa, the older slaves would welcome newcomers with song to illustrate the bond that slaves had in the face of hardship (33). For the most part, these songs and others were improvised, functional, and multipurpose (34). When the songs of slaves began to develop words, the dialect was one of many African tongues mixed with language from Europe (35), but many elements were still very African in nature. Even after the slaves learned English, Professor Kwabena Nketia noticed a trend of vocals that “relate in part…to pitch and tone elements in African languages” (36). Perhaps the most unifying instrument among the slaves, other than their voices, was the drum. In Africa, drums were used in various occasions ranging from the exchange of messages to celebrations of the entrance into manhood, marriage, and birth, to facilitating the transition from death into the afterlife (37). Though tribes in Africa had different languages, the drum served as sort of a common language or a common grammar (38). This grammar transferred to the new world until the whites in the south took their first stand against the music of their slaves. The drum was the instrument that struck fear in the hearts of slave owners because they knew its power to unite and pass information. Because of this, a drum ban was instituted everywhere in the South except for Louisiana. In replacement, the slaves would use tambourines, sticks, bones, horns, their bodies, rattles, bells, pipes, iron gong-gongs, castanets, keyboards, flutes, banjos, and later the European violin, horn, and flute (39). Basically anything they could get their hands on was turned into an instrument in the wake of the drum ban. This new culture did not sing about the same things in America as they had at home because their lives were very different, but surprisingly, the topics were not usually pessimistic, and the most common were the affirmation of love, life, and hope; however, the songs were not always hopeful, and often slaves would sing about the loss of love (40). There is also very little family mentioned in the songs, perhaps because the type of family that they craved was impossible to achieve when living in slavery and the possibility too painful to even bring up (41). The music has been described by one Reverend David MacRae as a “mixture of grief and gladness…representing life as full of sorrow and death as a joyful relief.” He recognized the infatuation with death as an escape for slaves, and he commented on this obsession with sorrow (42). Often the hope that kept the slaves going was the hope of something better waiting for them after their mortal life. In the mean time, slaves did whatever they could to bring happiness to their lives. They spent any leisure time enhancing this culture with music and festivity, all of which took place when whites were not present, allowing the slaves to enjoy each others company and the culture they had created (43). In these gatherings, improvisation was often a key facet of the entertainment. A game often played was to “put someone on the banjo,” which came from an African tradition. This person would play and sing insults about other friends of the community as a joke, and the game was thoroughly enjoyed because laughter on a plantation was such a rarity (44). One former slave was asked how the improvisation started among slaves, and he told a story of a master who had lashed him. Upon seeing his wounds, his friends sympathized and sang him a song right there on the spot in the attempt to slightly ease his suffering (45). Aside from everyday celebrations or gifts of song, the slaves had a yearly festival that occurred after the harvest in which the slaves dressed up in costumes including horned headdresses and cows’ tails and danced to percussion rhythms. The instrument used was known as a “gumbo box,” which was basically a frame drum covered by sheepskin (46). These and other festivities, when coupled with the basic musical language that brought the slaves together, were necessary in creating this culture that help the slaves to survive and better understand their identity as African Americans.

Though the slaves had created this new culture and lives for themselves outside of their work, labor in the fields took up a large portion of their time and was the biggest connection that all slaves shared, and this burden was confronted with music to help keep a rhythm and to take their minds off the grueling task at hand. In Africa, music and work were interwoven for most industrial, domestic, and field work, and there were three main types of work songs. First was the watermen’s music on both the coast and inland that were known as “water calls.” These calls were mainly used to keep up pace of work and entertain the watermen on long days. Next was the street cry of laborers seeking jobs or venders hawking goods (47). The last type of music was the most prominent, and the type that the slaves brought with them to America. These songs, known as field hollers, were sung in the fields and farmlands to keep up group morale, create a steady, even pace, and protect against accidents (48). The American field hollers were, for the most part, very similar to those of Africa in function. They successfully regulated work rate like those songs in Africa, but they served a more important duty of holding together the group in the face of oppression (49, 50). The music itself was most often sung in Dorian mode, which is a European scale, and incorporated similar ornamentation to the African music with vibrato, glissandi, “bends”, falsetto, and yodeling (51). The slaves took pride in their ability to control their voices enough to create these elaborate sounds (52). The field hollers were not always uplifting group songs because there were often fewer and lonelier people who were forced to work and sing by themselves (53). One example of a corn-husking song that was sung has lyrics as follows:

Leader – De nigger-trader got me…
Chorus – Oh, hollow! (54)

The generic leader and follower format was usually observed, and a steady beat would be obvious so as to know when to strike the earth. The work song of the slaves was a custom directly from Africa, but with a meaning more substantial for the slaves in America. For these workers, the song represented unity, efficiency, and their African homeland.

Even more popular than work songs among slaves were songs of worship commonly referred to as Negro Spirituals that accompanied the spread and application of Christianity to the slaves. These spirituals and the religion itself took on a new form with the slaves, as they created their own brand of Christianity and worship. In Africa, religion is one of the main facets of society. The worship of ancestors and a belief in reincarnation are important, and they generally believe in a pantheon on Gods, with one supreme God with lesser deities, similar to Mary and the Saints, which makes this ideology is easily applicable to Christianity, which is one reason the slaves could accept that faith in the new world (55). Around the time of the Great Awakening and the Great Revival in the early 1800’s, the slaves began to be exposed to Christianity. They were especially drawn to Baptist and Methodist because they reflect the continued strength of traditional religion (56). When asked why she and others were drawn to religion, one former slave of South Carolina, Anne Bell begged raised the issue, “what else good for colored folks? I ask you if dere ain’t a heaven, what’s colored folks got to look forward to? They can’t git anywhere down here” (57). Many slaves saw the promise of heaven as a reason to be an obedient slave because if you do your best on this earth, you get rewarded in the afterlife (58). Then, around the time of the Second Great Awakening, Christianity began to combine with African religions to create a distinct slave religion in America (59). Slaves were unsure of how they felt towards formal religion, and they shared different thoughts about this white man’s religion. Some slaves saw Christianity as both good and bad in practice, but having the appropriate message that the “soul is free and undeniable” (60). Others saw white religion as being phony and wanted their own God and to be inspired by the spirit (61). A third sanction liked the teachings of Christianity and was convinced that “slavery is hateful” in God’s eyes and that the white slave-owners would eventually be punished (62). In practice, slaves usually wanted to worship without whites in slave churches or meetings (63). They had different definitions for religious terms than whites, seeing sin just as wrongdoing or an injustice to others, and the most evident example was the slavery that was being done to them (64). Heaven was defined as a variety of things from mere freedom in a community of love for all brothers and sisters to being resurrected and going to Africa (65). Christmas was the first celebrated holiday by the slaves and remained most meaningful because of the representation of a struggle for freedom and dignity, survival, new beginning, and the hardships of Jesus (66). Most blacks identified with the Jewish struggle because of the story of Moses, Pharaoh, and the idea to “let my people go.” Many slaves sang about finding their own Canaan, which they believed to be either up north, or home in Africa (67). Religious Music became the most popular among slaves and the most well known to whites. Most of the Southern revival music of the time had elements of African style because of the oral tradition in the South (68). The Ring Shout was the first form of religious music, and consisted of a black holy dance where you shuffle in a circle, clapping and stamping, and the created sound by all the worshipers resembles that of a percussion ensemble (69). The extremely pious slaves would only dance in worship for this holy dance (70). After the Ring Shout came the spirituals, and it has been said by the Fisk Singers, a group who travels and practices traditional spiritual singing, that without the spirituals, “perhaps [the slaves] might’ve been extinguished like the belligerent Indians” (71). Spirituals originated with New England hymns and psalms, but quickly made there way to the South (72). In the South, the formal songs originated with whites or house slaves, not the field hands, who would simply take secular work songs and adapt biblical text to create their spirituals (73, 74). The lyrics were usually from psalms, hymns, or excerpts of the bible, but they were transformed with African improvisation that showed verbal artistry, and facilitated social interaction (75). W.E.B. Du Bois referred to these spirituals as sorrow songs, but commented that “through all the sorrow of the Sorrow Songs there breathes a hope – a faith in the ultimate justice of things…that sometime, somewhere, men will judge men by their souls and not by their skins” (76, 77). Overall they signified hope, confidence, and a belief in transcendence (78). The spirituals illustrated the essence of traditional black culture with the symbolization of the struggle for freedom and the quest for self (79), but many served different purposes other than praising God. Some described the good life in Africa and a hope of crossing over (80). Some passed on all sorts of information like their master’s treatment, the success of American colonization in the North, or routes for escape (81). The escape routes and plans for escape or uprising were clear in the songs for the slaves, but indecipherable to whites who heard them (82). There were codes contained in spirituals like “Steal Away to Jesus” that would mean steal away from you white master’s (83). Overall, the religion of the slaves unified them like nothing else could, creating a common system of hope and belief. The songs of religion, both sorrowful and hopeful, were the center of the religious tradition, and have remained prominent over the centuries to follow.

For the slaves, creating a culture, bringing traditions from Africa, and praising a higher power were all forms of small individual rebellion that they used to establish themselves as unwilling to completely submit to their masters, but music was also used in other more aggressive ways of communication, escape and rebellion. Any type of small or large rebellion was important to a slave because it was a way of overcoming their master. Meetings had been a large part of African society, and even secret tribal meetings of men would come together at midnight, which is a practiced that was adopted in America. Meetings could serve a variety of purposes from welcoming newcomers to introducing Christianity to planning rebellions (84). The announcement for meetings would come through a secret song, as most announcements did, and during meetings an African tradition was practices of turning over a clay pot and placing it on the ground in order to catch the sound and not let it carry through the woods (85). Rebellion was also practiced by the use of drums during the elusive drum ban in the South. Drumming had been so prominent in Africa, that it was hard to picture society without it. In Africa, the especially skilled drummers had the “talking drum” to send signals or codes, and they were able to achieve sound that mimicked almost exactly their spoken language (86). Specifically the Akan and Yoruba tribes, who speak in a pitch-tone language and were skilled drummers, could participate in the talking drum (87). There were often drum conversations where the master talks and others respond, which turned to talk between plantations that would spread “gossip” or make plans (88). Aside from the drum, there were many songs of protest in the slaves’ vocabulary. Along with “Steal Away to Jesus,” “Drinking Gourd” was one of the most famous escape songs that supposedly had hints about the whereabouts of the Underground Railroad (89). There was also some anti-slavery activity that slaves participated in such as speeches, petitions to Congress for grievances, and one revolt that stands out in particular, the Stono, SC Revolt in 1739. This revolt began with a small group or slaves who rose up against their masters, but quickly expanded when the original slaves began to dance, sing, and beat drums to attract others (90). Upon hearing the music of their brothers and sisters, the slaves were soon to come join in and offer their help and support. Most rebellion was not in the form of actual uprising, but in little ways that proved to the slaves that they could not be controlled. Whether it was holding a secret midnight meeting or an escaping from a master, the slaves knew that with no rebellion at all, they would be trampled.

The music of the slaves was, above all things, a tool used to aid the slaves in overcoming the reality of their enslavement. Whether it was sung to organize a rebellion or simply to comfort a small child with a lullaby, music accompanied the slaves through their struggle. Stemming from African traditions of music for religion, work, festivals, celebration, sorrow and pleasure, the music in America applied to many of the same things. The first accomplishment of music in the new land was to create a culture for these alienated people who only shared the common bond of the loss of their families, home, and freedom, and from there music went on to aid them in their work, worship, and everyday life. Though the slaves were not free, they had music to be their voices and to liberate them in one small way.

Footnotes:
1. Waldo E. Martin Jr., “African American Music,” Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) : 3, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

2. Robert Palmer, Deep Blues (New York, NY: The Viking Press, 1981) 28.

3. Dena J. Epstein, “Folk Music,” Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (1996): 1, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

4. Cecelia Hodges Drewry, “Music, Afro-American,” in Dictionary of American History (1976): 1, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004. I-1.

5. Robert Palmer, Deep Blues (New York, NY: The Viking Press, 1981) 33.

6. ibid., 28.

7. Waldo E Martin Jr., “African American Music,” Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) : 6, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

8. ibid, 5.

9. Cecelia Hodges Drewry, “Music, Afro-American,” in Dictionary of American History (1976): 1, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

10. Robert Palmer, Deep Blues (New York, NY: The Viking Press, 1981) 27.

11. ibid, 26-27.

12. ibid., 28.

13. Dena J. Epstein, “Folk Music,” Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (1996): 2-3, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

14. Waldo E Martin Jr., “African American Music,” Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) : 2, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

15. Robert Palmer, Deep Blues (New York, NY: The Viking Press, 1981) 26.

16. Edward L Ayers, ed., The American South (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997) 8.

17. Michael Bane, White Boy Singin’ the Blues: The Black Roots of White Rock (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 1992) 22.

18. Waldo E Martin Jr., “African American Music,” Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) : 4, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

19. Edward L Ayers, ed., The American South (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997) 9.

20. Dena J. Epstein, “Folk Music,” Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (1996): 1, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

21. Waldo E Martin Jr., “African American Music,” Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) : 4, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

22. Cecelia Hodges Drewry, “Music, Afro-American,” in Dictionary of American History (1976): 1, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

23. Hebert Aptheker, ed., A Documentary History of The Negro People in the United State. (New York, NY: First Carol Publishing Group, 1990) 207.

24. Paul Oliver, The Story of the Blues (London, N.W.: Design Yearbook Ltd., 1969) 11.

25. Robert Palmer, Deep Blues (New York, NY: The Viking Press, 1981) 31.

26. ibid, 32.

27. Paul Oliver, Blues Fell This Morning. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1990.) xiv.

28. Michael Bane, White Boy Singin’ the Blues: The Black Roots of White Rock (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 1992) 26.

29. ibid, 25.

30. ibid, 27.

31. Waldo E Martin Jr., “African American Music,” Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) : 3, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

32. ibid, 2.

33. Dena J. Epstein, “Folk Music,” Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (1996): 1, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

34. Waldo E Martin Jr., “African American Music,” Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) : 9, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

35. ibid, 4.

36. Paul Oliver, The Story of the Blues (London, N.W.: Design Yearbook Ltd., 1969 20.

37. Michael Bane, White Boy Singin’ the Blues: The Black Roots of White Rock (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 1992) 22.

38. Waldo E Martin Jr., “African American Music,” Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) : 4, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

39. ibid, 5.

40. Cecelia Hodges Drewry, “Music, Afro-American,” in Dictionary of American History (1976): 2, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

41. Paul Oliver, Blues Fell This Morning. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1990.) xv.

42. Paul Oliver, The Story of the Blues (London, N.W.: Design Yearbook Ltd., 1969) 10.

43. Waldo E Martin Jr., “African American Music,” Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) : 3, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

44. Robert Palmer, Deep Blues (New York, NY: The Viking Press, 1981) 36.

45. Eugene D. Genovese, Roll, Jordan, Roll (New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1972) 250.

46. Robert Palmer, Deep Blues (New York, NY: The Viking Press, 1981) 37.

47. Waldo E Martin Jr., “African American Music,” Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) : 9, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

48. Paul Oliver, The Story of the Blues (London, N.W.: Design Yearbook Ltd., 1969) 11.

49. Dena J. Epstein, “Folk Music,” Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (1996): 1, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

50. Michael Bane, White Boy Singin’ the Blues: The Black Roots of White Rock (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 1992) 27.

51. Paul Oliver, The Story of the Blues (London, N.W.: Design Yearbook Ltd., 1969) 14.

52. ibid, 19.

53. ibid, 14.

54. ibid, 9.

55. Eugene D. Genovese, Roll, Jordan, Roll (New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1972) 210.

56. ibid, 10.

57. Eugene D. Genovese, Roll, Jordan, Roll (New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1972) 251.

58. Michael Bane, White Boy Singin’ the Blues: The Black Roots of White Rock (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 1992) 31.

59. Waldo E Martin Jr., “African American Music,” Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) : 7, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

60. Eugene D. Genovese, Roll, Jordan, Roll (New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1972) 167.

61. ibid, 214.

62. Hebert Aptheker, ed., A Documentary History of The Negro People in the United State. (New York, NY: First Carol Publishing Group, 1990) 36.

63. Waldo E Martin Jr., “African American Music,” Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) : 8, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

64. Eugene D. Genovese, Roll, Jordan, Roll (New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1972) 246.

65. Michael Bane, White Boy Singin’ the Blues: The Black Roots of White Rock (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 1992) 32.

66. Betty Collier-Thomas, ed., A Treasury of African-American Christmas Songs. (New York, NY: Henry Holt and Co., Inc., 1997) xv.

67. Paul Oliver, The Story of the Blues (London, N.W.: Design Yearbook Ltd., 1969) 10.

68. Michael Bane, White Boy Singin’ the Blues: The Black Roots of White Rock (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 1992) 34.

69. Robert Palmer, Deep Blues (New York, NY: The Viking Press, 1981) 38

70. Dena J. Epstein, “Folk Music,” Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (1996): 4, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

71. Perry Bradford, Born with the Blues (New York, NY: Oak Publications, 1965) 21.

72. Cecelia Hodges Drewry, “Music, Afro-American,” in Dictionary of American History (1976): 1 History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

73. Dena J. Epstein, “Folk Music,” Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (1996): 2, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

74. Paul Oliver, Blues Fell This Morning. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1990.) xv.

75. Waldo E Martin Jr., “African American Music,” Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) : 7, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

76. Michael Bane, White Boy Singin’ the Blues: The Black Roots of White Rock (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 1992) 28.

77. Eugene D. Genovese, Roll, Jordan, Roll (New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1972) 249.

78. Waldo E Martin Jr., “African American Music,” Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) : 8, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

79. ibid, 7.

80. Michael Bane, White Boy Singin’ the Blues: The Black Roots of White Rock (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 1992) 31.

81. ibid, 30.

82. Cecelia Hodges Drewry, “Music, Afro-American,” in Dictionary of American History (1976): 1 History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

83. Michael Bane, White Boy Singin’ the Blues: The Black Roots of White Rock (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 1992) 29.

84. ibid, 30.

85. Eugene D. Genovese, Roll, Jordan, Roll (New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1972) 236.

86. Waldo E Martin Jr., “African American Music,” Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) : 4, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

87. Robert Palmer, Deep Blues (New York, NY: The Viking Press, 1981) 29

88. Michael Bane, White Boy Singin’ the Blues: The Black Roots of White Rock (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 1992) 26.

89. Waldo E Martin Jr., “African American Music,” Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) : 9, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.

90. Dena J. Epstein, “Folk Music,” Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (1996): 2, History Resource Center, database on-line, Gale Group, accessed 26 February, 2004.