Not only did Negro Spirituals reflect the slaves’ evangelization, but they also marked a significant milestone to emancipation, because that music, in the service of the Blacks’ cults, reflected a denial of the mainstream culture. The masters regarded them as songs of resignation while they actually conveyed hopeful messages only understandable by the slaves. The most striking example is the classic Go down Moses. Later on, the apparition of black churches made the evolution of the occidental chants towards the Negro Spirituals possible.Īctually, Negro Spirituals were the occidental hymns revived by the slaves who imposed their own hymns, rhythms and habits.īorn in the 18th century, many Spirituals compare the situation of the slaves in the New World to the captive Jews’ one in Egypt in biblical times. But, their evangelization and consequently their admission in places of worship led them to sing in a western way. At first, they were rejected as they were not regarded as human beings. So, very early, the Blacks tried officially to be part of their masters’ religion. The African cultural practices and especially religious rites were forbidden on plantations. The evangelized Negro and the Negro spirituals They died out after the breaking of the plantation system, but are said to have persisted in southern penitentiaries until the 1960s. The work songs reflected the situation of the Blacks as slaves. They were, for the most part, improvised and characterized by the call and response pattern. These songs, essentially sung a capella, used to put rhythm into the slaves’ work. They dated from the second generation of slaves and were used as the link between original African music and the one developed when the slaves got in touch with the Euro-American society. The work songs, sung by the slaves, were born from the transformation of African chants and litanies on American fields. Singing while working has always been part of African traditions.

By 1640, most Africans in Virginia were slaves.

The Europeans, satisfied with that cheap workforce, enslaved them very early. They came from western Africa and were employed on the plantations as indentured servants: black American history had begun. In August 1619, a Dutch ship landed around twenty negroes in Jamestown, Virginia.

That was the starting point of The young African-American and the rap phenomenon, a study conducted by Pascal Archimède, trainer in english and author of the book « Music in professional language training ».įrom Work songs on plantations to Rap music today, this research takes a behind-the-scenes look at black American history. At every stage of their integration on American soil, black people have created the kind of music that reflected their social integration as well as their state of mind. Black music History: from plantations to the White house Sociétéīy Pascal Archimède.

Work from home song genre