When the Spirit Says Sing!: A Brief History of African Slave Songs in the Americas

By Truuke M. Ameigh

When the Spirit Says Sing! tells the fascinating story of spirituals and their relationship to enslaved people of the United States, the Bahamas, and Mexico. It begins with the voyage from Africa as it explores the earliest remnants of African song, surviving in America as the ring shout, native to South Carolina and Georgia.

Most of the spirituals mentioned in the book, including ring shouts, are accompanied by printed lyrics and suggestions for listening on the web. Performers recommended for listening include Kathleen Battle, Mahalia Jackson, Paul Robeson, Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and Moses Hogan.

The book covers a wide range of topics, including slave arrivals from Africa, the Underground Railroad, codes and symbols in spirituals, the development of different styles, and the relationship between religion and slavery in the South. The author also describes the roles of abolitionists, stationmasters, and conductors on the Underground Railroad. Each of the abovementioned is accompanied by the depiction of at least one, and usually several, relevant spirituals.

When the Spirit Says Sing! celebrates spirituals as a compelling expression of art and culture. Those with little knowledge of this music will find themselves informed, and those well acquainted with it will find new material to explore. It delves deeply and comprehensively into the role of singing in the lives of enslaved people and is accessible to both novices and scholars.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 12, 2024
• ISBN: 9798890611123

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Preface

Chapter 1: African Origins and the Ring Shout

Chapter 2: Sorrow Songs

Chapter 3: Jubilee Songs

Chapter 4: Work Songs, Field Hollers, and Shanties

Chapter 5: Spirituals Referencing Jesus's Life

Chapter 6: The Underground Railroad in Code

Chapter 7: More Codes, Symbols, and Masking

Chapter 8: Florida and the Bahamas

Chapter 9: African Americans at Sea

Chapter 10: Mexico and Black Seminoles

Chapter 11: Abolitionists

Chapter 12: Local Stationmasters

Chapter 13: Spirituals without Codes

Chapter 14: The Development and Evolution of Spirituals

Chapter 15: Styles of Spirituals

Chapter 16: Religion and Slavery in the South

Chapter 17: Artists Who Helped Popularize the Spiritual

Chapter 18: Harriet Tubman

Chapter 19: Frederick Douglass

Chapter 20: Summary

Acknowledgments

Appendix A: Included Spirituals

Appendix B: Selected Recordings

Bibliography

About the Author

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When the Spirit Says Sing!

A Brief History of African Slave Songs in the Americas

Truuke M. Ameigh

Copyright © 2024 Truuke M. Ameigh

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2024

ISBN 979-8-89061-111-6 (Paperback)

ISBN 979-8-89061-112-3 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

To the thousands who sing or have sung these remarkable songs

Preface

I first became acquainted with African American spirituals as a young person in my church, and my first memorable experience was in high school with the singing of Soon Ah Will Be Done' arranged by William T. Dawson. I delight in that arrangement to this day. I have directed and arranged spirituals for choirs and soloists ever since.

In 2009, I was teaching in an elementary school with a large African American population. My students enjoyed singing spirituals and the stories about the Underground Railroad that were associated with some of them. I decided to write a book for them. It was called Gonna Sing! and they enjoyed it immensely.

Later, I taught a course at a community college and began a more scholarly investigation. I became even more enamored of the subject. This manuscript is the product of that research.

When the Spirit Says Sing! A Brief History of African Slave Songs in the Americas is a description of differing forms of African spirituals as they developed in America. Among them are ring shouts, shanties, field hollers, jubilee songs, sorrow songs, work songs, and rhyming spirituals. This music found its way to Florida, the Bahamas, and Mexico, as well as the southern plantations with which they are usually associated, and evolved into styles that suited their cultures.

This book aims to share with the reader the story of spirituals as they took on the trappings of folksong and life associated with the Underground Railroad. It begins in Africa where the heritage of song and dance, so important to the spiritual, began.

I describe some of the early spirituals not necessarily associated with the Underground Railroad. I also include code songs and a discussion of spirituals up to the mid-twentieth century. For example, Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child is a song about the feelings of an enslaved person in captivity. Steal Away is a code song that survives as a hymn in churches today with its original intent. La Bamba has African, Mexican, and Spanish roots but was a popular song in America in the 1950s. I have included information about Black Seminoles and their music as well.

Abolitionists, stationmasters, and conductors of the Underground Railroad such as William Still and William Lloyd Garrison are mentioned. I also include abolitionists and conductors such as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass.

I have referred to artists who helped to make spirituals well-known. Among them are Marian Anderson, Harry T. Burleigh, and Kathleen Battle. Most of the songs are available on a computer or smart phone search. I suggest you use performances by African American artists in your searches as they are generally truer to the original intent of the spirituals.

A note concerning the suggested recordings: Some people may say that most of the arrangements selected are not authentic because, originally, spirituals were sung as a single line of music and a cappella. Slaves, for the most part, were not allowed instruments, and nearly all the spirituals I have chosen are arrangements with instrumental accompaniments. They are usually concert versions. I believe that the songs are so strong rhythmically and melodically that the intended spirit doesn't get lost in translation. Those who want to hear them as originally sung need to access a research library such as the Library of Congress. Few examples are available, even in that kind of search.

The lyrics printed in this book do not always match the spiritual suggested for listening. For the most part, the lyrics I have selected are more representative of renditions by enslaved peoples. Dialect is used, but not consistently. There are always numerous versions of lyrics in most spirituals, and those in this book are selected for their accessibility.

It has been marvelous to listen to and learn about these wonderful songs. It has been amazing as a professor, teacher, choir director, and composer to know exactly how impactful these songs are. They are songs that will never die. The history surrounding them is a testament to the invincible character of the slave in a world that opposed him at every turn. Today, as Black Lives Matter and other such groups raise the consciousness of the general population, this study should lift African American spirituals to new heights and bring recognition of a rich heritage to people everywhere.

Chapter 1

African Origins and the Ring Shout

There is a genre of song in America referred to as the African American spiritual. African citizens created it. People were shipped to America as early as the sixteenth century, not as settlers but as enslaved persons. Traditionally, the first enslaved people in America came ashore in 1619 at the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. There were twenty of them. The first slaves actually arrived in Florida in 1539. Since Florida belonged to Spain at that time and was not associated with the slavery familiar to the rest of the continent, that fact is not often mentioned.

In Africa, tribes frequently fought one another and sometimes captured other Africans, keeping them as slaves. Some say that the enslaved were well treated by the African community. Others say that enslaved persons in Africa were treated more cruelly than in America.2 Whether either is true, we do know that Africans were familiar with slavery long before enslaved persons reached American shores. In this text, however, we will explore the music of Africa as it pertains to the road to freedom in the Americas.

The journey to America was horrendous for enslaved persons, who generally spent their trip in the bowels of a ship. The conditions were extremely crowded and unsanitary. Quarters were often so cramped that they could not stretch, much less stand or walk. The people were usually kept in irons. If any person was perceived as ill or weak, he was thrown overboard. Their only belongings were, literally, the shirts on their backs. When they reached America, they were sold to the highest bidder with no thought as to family connections or concern for personal welfare.

The enslaved were imported mostly from Western and Central Africa. Few of them spoke the same language, and they certainly did not speak English or Spanish. Those who spoke the same language were separated to prevent revolt. Ultimately, the ability to verbally communicate was lost, so they turned to song and dance for communication. It was the perfect choice because the roles of music and dance in the countries of Western and of Central Africa were amazingly similar and essential features of daily life. Remnants of this kind of song continued well into the twentieth century.

An example of a song and dance that lasted for days in Africa is the ring shout. A ring shout is a dance with a song, performed in a counterclockwise circle either by a group or by an individual. Visitors to Africa recognize a strong resemblance between indigenous African dance and this American cousin. The content of the songs that evolved from the African ring shout eventually came to include material drawn from the Bibles of the singers' captors, and especially from stories of the Old Testament. When people talk about spirituals, they are usually referring to songs created in slavery, containing themes from Jewish and Christian traditions. It is probable that the following ring shout, Oh, Eve, Where Is Adam, is an African song and dance with American lyrics.

Oh, Eve, Where Is Adam

Oh, Eve where is Adam?

Oh, Eve where is Adam?

Oh, Eve where is Adam?

Adam in the garden Pinnin' leaves.

Adam in the