"The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart, and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by tears." -Frederick Douglass
"It is hard to explain why no systematic effort has hitherto been made to collect and preserve slave] melodies. The public had well-nigh forgotten these genuine slave songs, and with them the creative power from which they sprung. These are the songs that are still heard upon the Mississippi . . . wild and strangely fascinating." -from the introduction
Many haunting melodies were created during the nineteenth...
"The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart, and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by tears." -Freder...
William Francis Allen Charles Pickard Ware Lucy McKim Garrison
First published in 1867, Slave Songs of the United States represents the work of its three editors, all of whom collected and annotated these songs while working in the Sea Islands of South Carolina during the Civil War, and also of other collectors who transcribed songs sung by former slaves in other parts of the country. The transcriptions are preceded by an introduction written by William Francis Allen, the chief editor of the collection, who provides his own explanation of the origin of the songs and the circumstances under which they were sung. One critic has noted that, like the...
First published in 1867, Slave Songs of the United States represents the work of its three editors, all of whom collected and annotated these s...
