Music

This section focuses on books containing Black music and the history of Black music in America in the WVRHC Rare Book Room, and the four-book collection is mostly songs of enslaved Black Africans that have been preserved.

Title: The Jubilee Singers, and Their Campaign for Twenty Thousand Dollars
Creator: Gustavus D. Pike
Date Created: 1873
Abstract: The Jubilee Singers are an all-Black a cappella ensemble that sings Black Spirituals. The group formed in 1871 and still exists to this day. They originally began as a group that toured to raise money for Fisk University, an HBCU in Nashville, Tennessee, and have become a staple group at Fisk. They have now won their first Grammy in 2021 for their 150th Anniversary Album. This book is a collection of statements from the original Jubilee Singers that recounts their experience touring for their fundraiser and celebrates the singers with beautiful hand illustrations of their portrait. There is also a score at the end of the book for the songs that they sang on the tour. This book would be useful for research on Black History, Black Music History, History of Fisk University, and Slave Songs.
Source: WorldCat

Title: The Second Book of Negro Spirituals
Creator: Rosamond J. Johnson
Date Created: 1926
Abstract: This book is a compilation of sixty-one Spirituals from enslaved African Americans that includes the score and lyrics underneath the notes for singing and playing. Rosamond Johnson and James Weldon Johnson were brothers that lived during the Harlem Renaissance, and James was a known civil rights activist that was the leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). James also wrote the lyrics for the renowned Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing," and the score was written by Rosamond. This source would be useful for research on Christianity and Slavery, Slave Songs, Music History, and Black History.
Source: WorldCat

Title: Slave Songs of The United States
Creator: William Francis Allen
Date Created: 1867
Abstract: William Francis Allen and Charles Pickard Ware were American song compilers and abolitionists. In the preface in this copy of Slave Songs of The United States, Allen and Ware credit enslaved Black Americans for being “creative” in their slave songs, and lament that though the songs themselves were extremely popular to the public, there had been no efforts to preserve them. The rest of the book includes 1,316 different scores and lyrics of songs by enslaved African Americans and is the first Slave Song compilation of its kind. This book would be resourceful for research on Slave Songs, Black History, Slavery, and Music History.
Source: WorldCat

Title: Songs of Yesterday: A Song Anthology of American Life
Creator: Philip D. Jordan
Date Created: 1941
Abstract: This book is a compilation of iconic American songs that shows the history of the country and its culture. From pp. 333-346 there is a chapter called "Ho, The Car Emancipation" which has four anti-slavery songs that “ridiculed" the empire of cotton and slavery. One of the songs is the popular “Get Off The Track” that was based off an old slave melody with the lyrics written by the Hutchinsons. These songs were all written and sung by the Hutchinson Family, based in New Hampshire, and the family was extremely involved in the abolitionist movement. The author, Philip D. Jordan, describes the Hutchinson family as blinded by propaganda, not truly understanding the reality of slavery and the South.
Source: WorldCat

For all Music Citations, see the following page: