The SocialImplications ofthe NegroSpiritual* JOHN LOVELL, JR. Odum,HowardW. and Johnson,Guy B., The Negro and His Songs. Chapel Hill: May 30, 1867is an important date Universityof NorthCarolinaPress,1925. Scarborough,Dorothy,On the Trial of in the history of Negro culture. On Negro Folk-Songs. Cambridge: Harvard that date, in the New York Nation, UniversityPress, 1925. White, Clarence Cameron,Forty Negro thereappeareda noticeofthefirstat- Spirituals. Philadelphia: Theodore Presser, temptto collectandunderstand Negro 1927. EARLY CRITICISM OF SPRITUALS

*Literatureon the Spiritualand on the II-Pictures and Explanation8of Spiritual Backgrounds relatedtopics I discusshere is voluminous and ubiquitous.The bibliography I suggest Aptheker,Herbert,Negro Slave Revolts hereis farfromcomplete,but is fullyrepre- in the UnitedStates,1526-1860.New York: sentative. InternationalPublishersn.d. (c. 1939). ReScience and Society,I (1937): I-Basic Collectionsand Studies of Negro printedfrom 512-538;II (1938): 386-392. Spirituals Douglass, Frederick,My Bondage and Allen, William Francis, Ware, Charles My Freedom.New York and Auburn:MilPickard,and Garrison,Lucy McKim, Slave ler, Orton and Mulligan,1855. Songs of the United States. New York: Hare, Maud Cuney,NegroMusiciansand PeterSmith,1929(c. 1867). Their Music. Washington:AssociatedPubBarton, William E., Old Plantation lishers,n.d. (c. 1936). Hymns,n.d. Higginson,Thomas Wentworth,Army Brown,Sterling,The Negro Poetry and Lifein a Black Regiment.Boston: Houghton Drama. Washington:Associates in Negro Mifflin and Co., 1900(c. 1870). Folk Education,1937.BronzeBookletNo. 7. Jackson,GeorgePullen, WhiteSpirituals Dann, Hollis Ellsworth, Fifty-Eight in the SouthernUplands.Chapel Hill: UniSpiritualsfor Choral Use. Boston: C. C. versityof NorthCarolinaPress,1933. Birchardand Co., n.d. Macon, J. A., Uncle Gable Tucker; or, DuBois, W. E. Burghardt,"The Sorrow Reflection, Song,and Sentimentin theQuarSongs" in Souls of Black Folk, pp. 250-264. ters.Philadelphia:J. B. Lippincott,1883. Chicago: A. C. McClurgand Co., 1903. Metfessel,Milton,Phonophotography in Fenner,ThomasP., FiftyCabin and Plan- Folk Music. Chapel Hill: Universityof tationSongs in Hamptonand Its Students, North Carolina Press,1928. ed. by Armstrong, M. F. and Ludlow,Helen Mitchell,Margaret,Gone Withthe Wind. W. New York: G. P. Putnam'sSons,1874. New York: Macmillan Co., 1936. Harris,Joel Chandler,Uncle Remus,His Nation,IV: No. 100,Thursday,May 30, Songs and His Sayings.New York: D. Ap- 1867: "LiteraryNotes." pletonCo., 1892. Robinson,Avis P., Social Conditionsof Higginson,Thomas Wentworth,"Negro Slavery as Taken from Slave Narratives. Spirituals"in AtlanticMonthly,XIX (June (UnpublishedMaster'sThesis,HowardUni1867),685-694. versity,1938.) Krehbiel,HenryEdward,Afro-American Siebert, William H., The Underground Folksongs.New York: G. Schirmer, n.d. (c. Railroad from Slavery to Freedom. New 1914). York: MacmillanCo., 1898. Johnson,JamesWeldon and Johnson,J. Still, William, The UndergroundRailRosamund,The Book of AmericanNegro road. Philadelphia:Porterand Coates, 1872. Spirituals.New York: Viking Press, 1937 Talley,ThomasW., NegroFolk Rhymes: (c. 1925). Wiseand Otherwise. New York: Macmillan, Johnson,JamesWeldon and Johnson,J. 1922. Rosamund, The Second Book of Negro Texas Folk-Lore Society Publications, Spirituals.New York: VikingPress,1926. Nos. 1 to 7 (7 v.), 1916-1928. Alain The Locke, Leroy, Negro and His Weatherford, W. D., The Negro from Music. Washington: Associates in Negro Africato America.New York: George H. Folk Education,1936. Doran, n.d. (c. 1924). 634

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE NEGRO SPIRITUAL

635

andAlainLocke4havesketched com- rison,8 Oneoftheprospective spirituals. pilersannounced theforthcoming vol- the periodsof the creationand apume,and addedalmostshamefacedly: preciationof the spiritual.They tell "No one up to thistimehas explored us that the spiritualswereprobably for preservation the wild,beautiful, startedon theirway about100 years and patheticmelodiesoftheSouthern beforeslaverydied; thatthe heyday wasabout1830to 1865; slaves."' Sincethen,a thousandpens ofthespiritual have dippedthemselves in the sun- thatfrom1865to 1880arousedAmerithem,likefineorlight,andtheyhavescribbledat least can werecollecting a millionlines,in praise,in defense, chids or trampledold masters;that in explanation,in interpretation, in from1880 to 1910,men like Harris, eulogyof the Negrospiritual.They Page, and Smithwereusingthemfor have minedout its religion,its psy- local color;that since1910,Negroes, chology,its philosophy. But the vast notablyDuBois and Johnson,have wealthofthespiritualin termsofthe rolledthemthroughtheirsubjective social mindof a verypowerfulcul- consciousnesses, with admirablereturalunithas just beenscratched. In sults. White critics,like Krehbiel, that respect,we have piercedonly DorothyScarborough and Guy Johnslightlydeeperthanwe had on May son,have gonethroughthemwitha 30, 1867. advance comb.The farthest fine-tooth JamesWeldonJohnson,2 R. C. Har- any of thesewritershave made into the social meaningof the spiritualis and DuBois. KrehWeeden,Howard,SongsoftheOld South. foundin Krehbiel, (Versesand Drawings.)New York: Double- biel wrote:5 day,Page and Co., 1900. Woodson,Carter G., The Negro in Our Is it notthemerestquibbleto say thatthese History.Washington:AssociatedPublishers, songsare not American?They werecreated n.d. (c. 1931). in AmericaunderAmericaninfluencesand people who are Americansin the same by BooksandArticles III-GeneralBackground sensethat any otherelementof our populaAustin, Mary, The AmericanRhythm. tion is American-everyelementexceptthe Boston: Houghton,Mifflinand Co., 1930. Barnes, Nellie, AmericanIndian Verse. aboriginal. Lawrence:University of Kansas Humanistic Concerningthe spiritualDuBois Studies,Vol. II, No. 4, 1921. Child, Francis James,English and Scot- wrotesomeofAmerica'sfinest prose.

tishPopularBallads.5 v. Boston:Houghton

He hintedat the Africangeniusfor Mifflinand Co., n.d. (c. 1888). Hoffmeister,Karel, Antonin Dvorak, transmuting troubleintosong.His only translatedby Rosa Newmarch.London: on the American comment social JohnLane, n.d. (c. 1928). Kennedy, R. Emmett, Black Cameos. spiritual, concerns"Nobody however, New York: Albertand Charles Boni, 1924. I've Seen," and Trouble the Knows Linton,W. J., Poetry of America.London: George Bell and Sons, 1878. is incidentalto a gorthat comment Lovell, John,Jr.,"Negro-True"(review of RichardWright.Uncle Tom's Children) geouspicture:7 in JOURNAL OF NEGRO EDUCATION, VIII (Jan. 3Texas and SouthwesternLore No. 6, 1939): 71-73. Pound, Louise, American Ballads and 1927,pp. 144-153. 'The Negroand His Music,pp. 10-21. Songs. New York: Charles Scribner'sSons, Folksongs,p. 26. n.d. (c. 1922). 5Afro-American 1Nation,May 30, 1867,p. 428. 0"The Sorrow Songs" in The Souls of 2 The Book of American NegroSpirituals, Black Folk, 1903ed. 7Ibid., p. 255. 1937ed., pp. 10-23.

636

THE JOURNALOF NEGRO EDUCATION

When struckwith a sudden poverty,the is thathe tooka goodlook at thisworld UnitedStates refusedto fulfillits promises and toldwhathe saw. a brigadier-general of land to the freedmen, went down to the Sea Islands to carrythe But thepursuitof thispointlay outof the side the scopeof Brown'sbook.And news.An old womanon the outskirts throngbegansingingthissong; all the mass so we stillhave 800 to 1,000original joined her,swaying.And the soldierwept. in an epic tradition songs,comprising

the class of the Iliad, the Songs of No literature canfailto lookstunted Roland,or theLays oftheNibelungs, whendeprivedof its social strength. withno clearanalysisofthesoil from Take away the fireof Elizabethan whichtheysprungoroftheprocessof Englandand the grandtragediesof In otherepic traditions, theirgrowth. tales. Shakespeareare just twice-told patientscholarshave foundthe seeds Milton's"Lycidas" was just another of racial and nationalculture.They elegybeforeTillyardcame along in Andyetforhowmany looktherefirst. the1920'sand showedthatit was the yearshave the dabblersin American cryof a youngmanagainsta system "Negroitis"ignoredor treatedwith that threwstumbling-blocks before cavaliernessthe heartof disgraceful him on his road to fame.The high theNegrospirituals! priestsof the spiritualhave worn themselvesout with appeals to the SOIL OUT OF WHICH SPIRITUALGREW andthepeople godsofartandreligion, What is thissoil,capable ofsuchrich havenotheardthem,fortheylivein a products?Descriptionsof it are fully socialworld.The resultis thattoday available. There is, firstof all, the whitepeoplelookaskanceat explanathe roandNegroesare African environment-not tionsforthespiritual, mantic Africa of the movies but the ashamedto discussit. Africawhichputs blood and sand into SterlingBrown,8two shortyears the bodies of its natives. Woodson"0 ago,preparedthe firstdirectcase for the social and political the social implications of the Negro tells us of genius of the African tribes, from Frederick He brought Dougspiritual. recruited. lass and HarrietTubmanto thestand whomAmericanslaves were He describes their metal workers, to testifythatthese"religious"songs had socialmeanings:forexample,de- architects,their expertsin industrial liverancefortheIsraelitesmeantfree- arts. None of the vicious tactics of whiteor black; noneof dom for the slaves; Canaan meant slave-mongers, of things or traducers the patronizers Canada.Withgoodevidenceandkeen can obscure the cultural acAfrican he says:" insight, Againstthe traditionof the plantationas a state of blessed happiness the spirituals speakout withpowerand tragicbeauty.Too manyrash criticshave statedthat the spiritualsshowedthe slave turninghis back on thisworldforthejoys ofthenext.The truth 'Negro Poetryand Drama, ch. IL "Ibid.,P. 18.

complishmentsof these people who, undernew conditions,expressedthemselves in the Negrospiritual.They left their imprinton America before the whiteman came, as seen in such terms as canoe, buckra, and tobacco.1"In 10The Negro in Our History,1931 ed., pp. 37-52. 11Ibid., p. 58.

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE NEGRO SPIRITUAL

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thereis an Afri- tages of resistance.16 Their physical music,says Locke,12 ofrecorded seenin hundreds flowingcompletely reaction, can gulf-stream of unrethousands the coast and slave revolts aroundSouthernAmerica, enough.It islands,Hayti,theBahamas,theEast- cordedones,17is important ern provincesof Cuba, Vera Cruz, destroysthe almostuniversalbelief such thatthe AfricanNegrois docilebeYucatan,Guiana;andinfluencing dancesas thetangoofthe cause he "accepted"slavery.Almost well-known he did notacceptslavery, and universally thecariocaofTrinidad, Argentine, everyable-bodied the beguineof Guadeloupe.Weather- andlawscompelling fordl3speakshighlyof the Africans' whitemanto patroldutyaroundthe tradingand militaryability,their plantations-ora sum for a substiand fear science,andoftherevela- tute-and the consternation agricultural tionsof theirsocial life throughre- in every nook and crannyof the proof. slavocracyaredevastating ligious activities. But the physicalrevoltsare notso The horrorsof the slave trade-in as the mentalrevolts.UpAfrica,on themiddlepassage,and in important America-couldnottakeawaytheso- risingslaveswereshotor hangedand ofthesepeople.Nor thatwas the endofthemphysically; cial consciousness wastheirmoralfibreloosenedthereby. but the mind of the slave seethed factor and was a powerful They realizedthat if they reached ceaselessly, GoneWith America,each of themhad 15 to 20 intheabolitionmovement. partnerswhohad beenblottedout in the Windresoundswith"Go Down, Theysaw Moses" and "Jesa fewmoredayster theprocessoftransferrence. as wellas with stead- totede wee-ryload'"18 system theAmerican plantation ofthe stored evidenceofthepitilessprogress ily and whole.Theirmemories black in: "that intelligence group overseers, masters, the of pictures up dewhich system-" telegraph grapevine and patrollers, andbuyers, auctioneers Linda otherbrutalizersof men. Read the fies white understanding." slave narrativesfortheirsocial im- Brent,Douglass, Lewis and Milton plications,as Mrs. Robinson has Clarke, Josiah Henson, Elizabeth done,14and you will see thisremark- Keckley,SolomonNorthrup,and a tell what slaves were dozen others20 able mindat work. menas sensitiveas these thinking,and how their thinking Naturally, slaves weregoingto reactdefinitely,stimulateda greatsecretmovement. to all these Siebert2land Still22 clinchthe belief andsometimes turbulently, things.Sometimesthey howledwith thatthe majorityof slaves werecolandplanplotting alarm at brutalities;1-5but oftenthey lectinginformation, foughtback, and learnedthe advan- ning, seeking outlets, ammunition, op.

cit., p. 138.

18 The NegrofromAfricato America, pp. 33-36,43.

4"Social

Conditions of Slavery as Taken

fromSlave Narratives"-unpublished Master'sthesis,HowardUniversity, 1938. 15 FrederickDouglass, My Bondage and My Freedom,p. 123.

16Ibid.,p. 95. NegroSlave Revolts HerbertAptheker, in the UnitedStates,1526-1860. 1

18

Pp. 306, 308, 349, etc. 19Ibid., p. 813.

Robinson,op. cit.,passim. Railroad fromSlavThe Underground ery to Freedom,1898. 21

2

The Underground Railroad, 1872.

638

THE JOURNALOF NEGRO EDUCATION

supplies.A hostof Americanwriters, no different.25 Casey Jonesserenely like Mark Twain, are furtherevi- mentions his"tripto theholyland,"26 dence. If the Negro spiritualcame and many Americanballads, nonfromtheheartof theslave,it should Negro,beginlike "CharlesGuiteau": be coveredwithsuchsentiments. It is. "Come all you tenderChristians."27 Miss Poundrefers The demonstration of that fact in In herintroduction, in everyparticular to thesocialrevelations is necessary. generously dediand songs, all-American these THE SPIRITUAL AS CRITICISM OF to, amongothers, cates hercollection EVERYDAY LIFE pieces carefortraditional "those who The spiritual, then,is thekeytothe the whichreflect as social documents slave'sdescription and criticism ofhis ofthosewhopreserve lifeandtradition environment. It is the key to his Religionenhancesthe power them."28 revolutionary sentiments and to his and desireof the folkto revealtheir desireto flyto freeterritory. Withit, deepestsocial selves.This is trueno we can smashtheold romantic molds, moreofNegroesthanofanybodyelse. whichare stillturning outreadymade Negroes.28 But let us notputthe emWHATIS WRONGWITHEXTANT phasison thenegativeside.Most imINTERPRETATIONS portantof all, the Negrospiritualis This bringsus to what is wrongwith a positivething,a folkgroup'san- theextantinterpretations of thespiritswerto life. ual, excludingSterlingBrown's.The Many studentsof the spiritualare answer is: two formsof sentimentalmisledby the religiousand folkele- ism, one fromthe gone-with-the-wind mentsinto believingthat the social South, the other fromthe we-foughtcontribution is nil. We have already for-freedom North.The firstis rather quotedWeatherford to theeffect that obvious in Natalie Taylor Carlisle:29 theAfrican Negromixedhissociallife theold haveobserved, As manySoutherners and his religionso thoroughly that time religiousfaith,his loydarky'strusting neithercan be said to dominateper- alty to his daily tasks, his love for "ole petually.Thatis trueoftheAmerican marse" and "ole mist'ess,"and his richly Negro,and of nearlyall peoples.The flavoredsayings make a very attractive Englishand Scottishpopularballads memory. are solid folkstuff:hardlya one is It is less obvious,but no less present, withoutmysticaltone,or reference to in Howard Odum and Guy Johnson.80 some religiouspracticein everyday The second is plain in Higginson,81 life,andseveralareexclusively Christ2 Louise Pound, AmericanBallads and ian stories,e.g., "St. Stephenand Songs, 1922ed. Herod," "Judas," "Dives and Laz2Ibid., p. 133. 27Ibid., p. 146. arus." Their social implicationsare 'Ibid., p. vii. multitudinous.24 American folkstuff is MTexas and SouthwesternFolklore No. 5, 1926,p. 137. ' The Negroand His Songs: chapterson " See the presentwriter'sreviewof Richard Wright'sUncle Tom's Childrenin JoUR- "Presentingthe Singerand His Song,""The NAL OF NEGROEDUCATION, VIII (Jan. 1939): ReligiousSongs of the Negro,"and "Exam71-73. ples of ReligiousSongs." '4FrancisJ. Child, English and Scottish '8 "NegroSpirituals"in AtlanticMonthly, PopularBallads, 1888ed. XIX (June1867): 685-694.

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE NEGRO SPIRITUAL

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that and Kreh- abolition,colonization-anything Allenand his associates,82 biel,33who wrote:"Slaverywas the mightprovidea way out of thedark. in surrender sorrowof the Southernblacks; re- Buttherewasnoexclusive ligionwas theircomfort and refuge." songsand dreams. It is lessplainin JamesWeldonJohn- GeorgeP. Jackson35has shownthat son,DuBois,Locke,and Maud Cuney some spiritualsare perhapsderived Let us acHare,34 who wrote: "These were fromwhitecampmeetings. meeting camp white hynmsthat glowed with religious cept that. The The froninstitution. fervorand constant beliefin ultimate was a frontier victory through thegatewayofdeath." tiersman'sreligionwas one of his In theselast, it is impassionedand weapons.He enjoyedit ecstatically. butsentimentalism still,and But he did not separateit fromthe beautiful, therefore thin as literaryinterpreta-restofhisworld.Mr. Jacksondemonhymn tion. stratesthatinthecampmeeting ESCAPE AND RELIGION the companionshipsof the rough These interpretations harp on two journeyto campbecamethe common to Cannan; the meetings connected theories:that the spiritual pilgrimage becamethe and ontheground partings was exclusivelya methodof escape and Heaven; in of believers reunion froma troublesome worldto a land of encampthe suggestions military of dreams,beforeor afterdeath;and hostofthe themilitant that its chiefmotivation is pure re- mentsuggested of life werethe The sweetnesses Lord. ligion.'In oppositionto the escape of life, pains Heaven; the of delights theory,let me submitthe realistic meeting camp The of hell.36 the pains interpretations of the whole system thatare foundintheslavenarratives. hymnparallelsthe spiritualin every poetexceptthatit is inferior These slavesknewthattheirmasters respect, meeting camp left the The whites ry. suffered as muchas they,economically and mentally, and said so. They did and wentout to conquerthe wildernot pereniallycommiserate theirlot, ness.The Negroesleftspiritualsingand they rarelywishedthemselves ingand plottedto upsetthesystemof anyoneelse. They werenot the kind slavery.In eachcase,thesongwas just forthe march. of peopleto thinkunconcretely; and a stimulation the theoryof purereConcerning the idea thattheyput all theireggs no evidence intothebasketofa heavenafterdeath, ligion,thereis practically theAmerican is thattheslaveswallowed as the resultof abstractthinking, and muchto religion, of philosophies absurdto anyreaderoffirsthand maBrownfinds the Professor contrary. oftheslave. terialsinthesocialhistory up side by growing satirical parodies This is notto say thattheywerenot this:37 like side with the spirituals, intrigued bythepossibilities ofvarious I golden chariot, don't want to ride in no in reescapes.They wereinterested I don't golden crown, want to wear no ligion,underground railroads, swamps, Slave Songsof the UnitedStates. cit., p. 29. ' Negro Musicians and Their Music, p. 54. '

88Op

'White Spiritualsin the SouthernUplands. 'Ibid., p. 216. '7Brown,op. cit.,21.

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THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO EDUCATION

I wantto stay downhereand be Justas I am withoutone plea.

slave's religion.That religionstruck farmoredeeplythanthegorgeous display of externals with little effect upon Nat Turnerwas a preacherand knew his Bible well; but his religionwas everydayliving,whichthe American not purein the bestsense,forit led whitemanhad setup. The presentday him to bloody massacres, coldly Africanis cynicalof Americanrein thesame planned. Douglass thinks Master ligionand itsmissionaries Thomas'sreligioncheap and worth- sense.The slave's religionis in his yes,butnotin theexternals. less whenit did not improvehis at- spiritual, he livesby,hid titudetowardhis slaves,38and his It is in theprinciples deep beneath the soil, and meaning thinkingwas representative on this It is a hard,thickly-rooted subject.How could the slave accept something. seriously a religion whichhe sawmak- plant,not a flowerof the empyrean. ingbrutesof thosewhowerehanding The things called religiousin his spiritualarehisartisticfancyat work. it to him? Most slaves,as mostpeople,were Witnesshis "Singin'wid a Swordin mildlyreligious;a few,as always a Ma Han'," forits marvellousflights or hisinfew,werefanatical;but in the spirit- and subtledouble-meanings, of troduction modern arrangements, ual, religionis chieflyan arsenalof pointeddarts,a storehouse of images, likea train,insteadofboatsandcharithat Americagot her a meansof makingshrewdobserva- ots. Remember first railroad only in 1828. Witness tions.Everybody talksaboutthekeenalso his revision of camp meeting nessofimagery intheAfrican, whether hymns:42 at homeor in America.39 Higginson CAMP MEETING shows40 thatan Africanword,Myo(same as old MethodistHymn) frommawa, to die-is oftensubstiAnd thenaway to Jesus tuted for Jordan.Natalie Carlisle, On wingsof love I'll fly Harrison,Bales41 present sharplyNEGRO SPIRITUAL chiseledsongs about woodchoppers, take wingsand flyaway, Dey'll "long-tongue liars,"and deathscenes For to hear de trumpetsoun' withdoctor,mother, father, sister,acIn dat mornin' The slave had a tivelyparticipating. genius for phrase-making and dra- THE TRUE SOCIAL INTERPRETATION maticsituations;theBiblicallorewas Approaching theheartofthespirita goldmineforhim;he neededit to ual, we must recognizethree fixed make a social point;thatjust about stars.First,thereis the Negro'sobtellsthe story. session for freedom, abundantly This is notto distortor belittlethe provedby everyfirsthand document connected with himself. the slave O8Op. cit., 193-200. 9Notableexamplescan be foundin Kreh- Douglasssays ofthespirituals:43 biel, op. cit., p. 45; Hare, op. cit., p. 64; Book of AmericanNegro Spirituals,15-16; . . . they were tones,loud, long and deep, breathingthe prayerand complaintof souls 23-24; etc. 4 Life in a Black Regiment,pp. 274-275. 4 Texas and Southwestern Lore, No. 5, 4 Jackson,op. cit., p. 302. 1926,pp. 88, 140,143, 150-151. 43Op. cit., P. 99.

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE NEGRO SPIRITUAL

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getyou"-it is easy,bythecodefound here,to workout intothe openfield of spirituals. Of course,the chariotin chains. "SwingLow" is somearmof freedom Secondwas the slave's desireforjus- reachingoutto drawhimin; and the tice in the judgmentupon his be- numberof timesit succeededshows trayers whichsomemightcallrevenge. thatitwas no hopelesshope.Ofcourse Andthirdwas histacticofbattle,the "My Lord deliberedDaniel . . . why strategy by whichhe expectedto gain can'the deliberme" meansjust what an eminent future. Thesethreearethe it says. And the fallingrocks and leit motifof nearlyeveryspiritual. mountains hittheslave'senemies. You Higginson saystheslaveswerejailed wouldneverget the communities all in Georgetown, S.C. in 1862forsing- overtheSouthwhichtastedslave reing "We'll Soon Be Free." This song volts,especiallyin 1831, 1856, and opens "We'll soon be freeWhen de 1860,46 to believethattheserocksand Lordwillcall us home"and continues mountains wereetherealor thatthey withsuch phrasesas: "My brudder, couldn'tfall at any time.You would howlongforewe donesuffering here" nevergetpost-Sherman Georgiato be. . . "It won'tbe long Fore de Lord lievethattherewas no firein hell for will call us home" . . . "We'll walk de sinners.The slave songwas an awemirydoadWherepleasureneverdies" someprophecy, rootedin the knowl. . . "We'll walk de goldenstreet edge of what was goingon and of Wherepleasureneverdies" . . . "We'll humannature,and not in mystical soonbe freeWhenJesussetsme free" lore.Its deadlyedgethreatened; and . . . "We'll fightforlibertyWhende struck. Lord will call us home."Higginson S FINEST TOUCH was told by a little drummer-boy: THE SPIRITUAL "Dey tinkde Lord mean forsay de These,however,are not the finest Yankees."4'Aptheker,45 on thissame touchesof the spiritual.The really thattheslaveswerecer- significant point,reports poetryis foundintheplans tainas farback as 1856thattheRe- forthefuture. Take a simplespiritual publicanpartywouldfreethem.They like "I Got Shoes." "WhenI get to smiledwhenwhippedand said that heav'm"meanswhenI getfree.It is a Fremontand hismenheardtheblows WaltWhitman "I," meaning anyslave, theyreceived. If I personally present orfuture. don't, Beginning witha songand a back- my childrenor grandchildren, or my ground likethis,andothersinthesame friendon theotherendoftheplantacategory-suchas "Many Thousands tionwill.What a glorioussighthese Go," a farewellto "peck o' corn," people breathedwhen one of their "pinto' salt," "hundredlash," "mis- group slipped throughto freedom! tress'call;" and thespirituals on "the Whata tragicintensity theyfeltwhen ole nigger-driver" or "the pater-rolerone was shotdowntryingto escape! " Atlantic Monthly,XIX (June 1867): So, the group-mind speaks in the

boiling over with the bitterest anguish. Everytone was a testimonyagainstslavery, and a prayerto God for deliverancefrom

692. 4

Op. cit., p. 58.

" Aptheker,op. cit.,p. 72.

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THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO EDUCATION

groupway, all forone, one for all. cheattheslave.KingJesusis notjust "WhenI getto heav'm,gonnaput on the abstractChrist; he is whoever my shoes" . . . that means he has helpstheoppressed and disfranchised, talents,abilities,programsmanufac- orgiveshima righttohislife.Babylon tured,readyto wear. On Douglass's and Winterare slaveryas it standsplantation, theslavesbossed,directed, note "Oh de winter,de winter,de charted everything-horse-shoeing, Hell winter'll soonbe ober,children;" cart-mending, plow-repairing, cooper- is oftenbeingsold South,forwhich ing,grinding, weaving, "all completely the sensitiveNegrohad the greatest done by slaves."47But he has much horror. Jordanis thepushto freedom. finershoesthanthatwhichhe has no The "great'sociation,"the "welcome chanceto wear.He doesnotmeanshe table," the "big baptizin'," the willoutgrow work,butsimplythathe "union,""viewin'theland" wereconwill make his workcountforsome- cretethingswhichfitintothescheme thing,whichslaveryprevents.When at onetimeoranother. he getsa chance,he says,he is going A fewspirituals wereswinging, narto "shoutall ober God's heav'm"- rativeverse."Dust and Ashes" is a makeeverysectionofhis communityveryimaginative storyof the crucifeelhispower.He knowshe can do it. fixion,and "In dat Great Gittin'-up Herethisslavewas,tearingdowna Mornin"'revealsa finefancyat work wreckand buildinga new,solidworld, on a fewfactstakenfromRevelations. and all along we thoughthe was Eitherofthese,in someversions, may romanticizing. We gavehimcreditfor runbeyonda hundredstanzas.Good daintylittlefantasiesofsong.He was narrativeverseis a compositeof wit writingsome of the stoutestpoetry and awarenessofstriking experiences. ever created.His subjectsare social That compositeis muchin evidence living,democracy, revolution, morals, here. Nature,Death, Love, the subjectsof SUMMARY: THE SPIRITUAL IS all greatpoets.48 Whichdo youprefer, ESSENTIALLY SOCIAL gentlereader:the sentimental spiritLet us try to sum up. The Negro ual, or the thumping, two-fisted, upslave was the largest homogenous roarious, not-to-be-denied: "O noman group in a melting-potAmerica. He can hinderme! 0 no man,no man,no analyzed and synthesizedhis life in man can hinderme!" In hundreds Andso,we cannotacceptthepretty his songs and sayings.49 of songs called spirituals,he produced littleplatitudesto be foundin such an epic cycle; and, as in every such excellentlywrittenbooks as Odum instance,he concealed therehis deepand Johnson'sThe Negro and His est thoughts and ideas, his hardSongs.Satanis nota traditional Negro finishedplans and hopes and dreams. goblin;he is thepeoplewhobeat and The explorationofthesesongsfortheir Op. cit., p. 69. ' The presentwriterhas projectedfour social truths presents a tremendous articlesto followthis one, as follows:"De- problem.It must be done, for, as in

mocracyin the Spiritual,""The Fighting 4 See Thomas W. Talley, Negro Folk Spiritual,""The Slave Looks at Progress," 1922. and "The Heav'm of the Negro Spiritual." Rhymes: Wise and Otherwise,

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE NEGRO SPIRITUAL

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thekernelof theIliad lies the genius than I did in these.They were as true as of the Greeks,so in the kernelof the steel, and no band of brotherscould have been more loving. spirituallies thegeniusoftheAmericanNegro.Whenit is done-whenthe Douglass tells how they resisted Negro and his white helper have oppressionand tyranny,how they learnedabout the large soul of the workedtogetherand never moved respectforthe withoutmutualconsultation. Negrohereimprisoned, He proNegrowillrise,and his giftswill not videsanotherbasis forourcontention Men will know thatthespiritualwas a languagewell be held in contempt. that he was fullycivilized,thougha understood by import in all itsburning theglowing the slave initiate,but harmlessand slave.Men willappreciate words of Douglass:50 outsider. to an unthinking graceful absenceof For muchof thehappiness-or Douglass capturedthe all-round whichI passedthisyearwith greatness misery-with in the of theslave,reflected to thegenial I am indebted Mr. Freeland, Roland Antonin Dvorak, spiritual. ofmybrother andardentfriendship temper Paul Robeslaves.Theywere,everyoneofthem,man- Hayes,MarianAnderson, in handling their it son have captured andbrave,yes; I saytheywere ly,generous It is sel- of spirituals. brave,andI willadd,finelooking. Whensomemoreof us domthe lot of mortalsto havetruerand do, American Negroesand Americans thanweretheslaveson this betterfriends will want to seekdemocracy generally to chargeslaves farm.It is notuncommon on the tracklaid by moving out and by towardeachother, withgreattreachery sang: in theseslaves,who to believethemincapableof confiding each other;but I mustsay,thatI never in men,more or confided loved,esteemed, ' Op.cit.,pp.268-269.

You got a right, I got a right, We all got a rightto the tree of life.