All Formats & Editions

First published in 1867, this landmark book represented the first systematic effort to collect and preserve the songs sung by the plantation slaves of the Old South. To ensure authenticity, the editors notated most of the melodies and words directly from the singers themselves... Read Full Overview

136 songs of African-American slaves, collected and compiled a few years after the Emancipation Proclamation, are presented here complete with their musical notation in this superb edition.

In the introduction, the chief compiler of this music, William... Read Full Overview

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely... Read Full Overview

Originally published in 1867, the book is a collection of songs of African-American slaves. A few of the songs were written after the emancipation, but all were inspired by it.

"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... Read Full Overview

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely... Read Full Overview

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... Read Full Overview

This extraordinary anthology of antebellum slave songs provides musical settings for 136 musical texts and variants, in the process devoting much commentary to the regional variations in black folk music, the social settings in which the songs were customarily performed, and... Read Full Overview

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely... Read Full Overview

This extraordinary anthology of antebellum slave songs provides musical settings for 136 musical texts and variants, in the process devoting much commentary to the regional variations in black folk music, the social settings in which the songs were customarily performed, and... Read Full Overview

Slave Songs of the United States is a book first published in 1867 by William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison. It is a collection of African American spirituals, work songs, and folk songs sung by slaves in the United States during the antebellum... Read Full Overview

The musical capacity of the negro race has been recognized for so many years that it is hard to explain why no systematic effort has hitherto been made to collect and preserve their melodies. More than thirty years ago those plantation songs made their appearance which were so... Read Full Overview

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this... Read Full Overview

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for... Read Full Overview