https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/528c7bc7b85889ce572996b01acb4a81.pdf 1584fa37696e95d8a584bf09f7449528 PDF Text Text were forGed--especially the work of Jupiter Hammon, Phillis Hheatley and Geor ge Hoses Horton. IV Polk Seculars: Don wid massa•s hollerin 1 ; Don wid massa•s hollerin 1 ; Don wid massa 1 s hollerin 1 Roll Jordan roll. We observed that there is a thin line between the Black religious and secular worlds. This is true for many reasons-- some of them stemming from the African tradition of interrelating all aspects of life. As John M1 Biti (African Reli gions and Pbilosophies), Gabriel Bannerman-Richter and others point out, the African takes his relicion (his beliefs) with him where ever he goes. Hany investigators (Jahn, l1'Biti and others) · also remind us that most African languages have no word for religion or art. The tuo are inseparable. Again the ways o:r African peoples (see Nphahlele • s 1-J11irlwind) are expressed in 11 integrated II terms. True, in Black America there is some tension between secular and religious communities--but so often ( and most Blacks understand this well though they don 1 t always a.dmit it) they o.re the same: on different occasions. wearing different hats Study, again, the case of a Rev. Jesse Jackson or a Rev. Ike or a Rev. Adam Clayton PowellJ We have also observed that many motifs and components of Black expression are interchangeable. That is 1 songs and • 43 �speeches desig ned for church or other religious activity are lr-/ ~> often re-cut (modified) for a secular-jsocial affair. are numerous exa~~ les of this practice. IU c;ht s e ra., 110 There During the Civil i ronld s inr; I Hoke up tl1is mornin 1 ui th my mind stayed on freedom though Ho wore fully a:ware that church folk were used to sineine; it t h i:::i Hay: I woke up this mormin 1 with my mind stayed on Jesus liany of Curti s IIayfield 1 s (o.nd the I mpressions songs rely 1 ) strongly on the material of songs sung in Black chur•ches. Even M.o.yfield 1 s more r e cent tunes (see "If There's A Hell Below") carry the Black churcb flavor--with their warnings., admonishments., threats of societal destruction, and pleas for love (see also Narvin Gay's pieces like "Save The Children"). Some works by the Temptations ( "Run Auay Child Running Wild 11 ) reflect the historical th erne of songs. 11 searcbing 11 found in Black religious This so.me group I s "Poppa Has A Rolling Stone" describes poppa "steo.ling in the name of the Lord." B.B. King's 11 Woke Up This Mernin" is a blues treatment -of the idea expressed above in the Spiritual: "I Woke Up 1rhis Mornin. 11 When heard the old Supremes singing "Stop in the :Name of Love" we were tempted to replace "love" with "God." Often the songs contain exchangeable and inter-changeable words such as "Mother 11 ; 'Bapy II and 1 "Captain II und 11 11 God 11 ; 11 Lord 11 and "Sweet thing II and "Sweet .Jesus 11 ; M.o.kor 11 ; and "God II and "Man 11 • Tbe reasons for such usages, as wo have stated, are deeply enmeshed in the 44 �mythos of Blacks. Richard Wright's "Bright and Horning Star 11 (in t he Bible, a me taphor for Jesus) becomes the son of old Aunt Sue in the s h ort story by that name. Th e hero of John A. Williams' novel, Th e Na n Hho Cried I Am, says "tbank y ou man" to God after a sex act. "Sli pp ing into Darkness 11 ( Hhen we hear a tune like War 1 s "when I heard my mother say ") we must understand t~ h istorical significance and function of social (therapeutic) art--just as we must understand the function of t he mo ther-like voice that admonishes Isaac Hayes to "s he t yo mouf II in 11 Shaft. 11 mien conservative Black Christians complained of Duke Ellington's use of reli Gious the mes in jazz, he replied "I 1 1r1 just a ecumenical cat 11 -- meanin13 he avoided fine distinctions in where or to whom he played. The church has been the training ground (academy, if you will; see Frazler's The Ne r·ro Church in Amer ica) for most of the big (vocal) names in Black popular music as well as for important orators, race leaders and co mmunity businessmen. A~ai nst the foregoing discussion we can view the Folk Seculars in their right perspecti ve as a vital part of the rich st orehouse of' Black folklore. (my own gra ndmothe r: Throuch songs, aphorisms "You don 1 t bel ieve fat meat•s c;reasy! 11 and "If you ain't g on 1 do nothin g Get off the pot!"), fables (see Aen op), jokes (see minstrelsy and the Black comedy tra~ dition), h lues and other enduring for ms /B lacks capture severe hardships and tribulations, folk wisdo m, joys and tra ~e dies, ~ nd t l1 e lo nc;i n[;S and li opes of Blacks duri nc; s lavery;1 afterwards . • �The Seculars, more so than the Spirituals, give important clues to the inner-workings of the common Black mind. And a closer look at the total folk tradition will reveal t he structure and principles of folk psycholo~y. It is, after all, back and forward to these folk materials that researchers will have to g o if they are serious about delineating the feelin gs , emotions and thou gh t putterns of Blacks. The Seculars are surer indic es to the workings of t h e folk mind be cause t h ey are not as limited as the Spirituals. Though most Blacks in the United States are aware of and have heard t h e Spirituals, an even lar ger number b ave bad sustained exposure (directly or indirectly) to t he s ecular vocalizations and g estures of Black culture . Contemp orary Black popular music and culture con- tinue to be informed by the street and home utterances. An exciting reciprocity allows entertainers to borrow freely from what t hey hear while t he folks "run and tell that" once itfs recorded. Some examp les of songs, titles and oth er epithe ts borrowed d irectly from the people are: New Ba~ , 11 "Licking Stick" (see "Truant 11 ) , 11 11 boney stick" in McKay's story Gi ve It Up or Turn It Loose, "It's Hell 11 ; Marvin Gaye's 11 James Brown's "Drand 11 "The Payback 11 and What•s Going On" and "Let 's Get it On"; Curtis Hayfield's "Superfly 11 ; the Jackson Five's "Get It Tog ether or Leave It Alone"; Flip Hilson 1 s "What You See is 1'n1at You Get 11 (and the Dramatics' tune by the same name); Aretha Franklin's "Respect" and "Run and Tell Tl1at Kni gh t' s 11 IIr . BiG Stuff"--to nar,1e just a f ew . 46 11 ; and Jean �As with the Sp irituals, whites (primarily abolitionists) were among the first to collect Seculars of wb atever type. William Wells Broun, t he first published Black novelist and playHri gh t, collected "anti-slavery 11 songs. Thomas Hentworth Higginson, writer and abolitionist who led a Black re g i ment in the Civil War, coll e cted song s he h eard among his me n around campfires and during marches. Though primarily con- cerned uith religious songs, he also descri bed some of the properties of ge neral Bl ack song delivery. One of the most important collections of these seculars was put to geth er by Thomas H. Talley ( of Fisk University, as was Professor Uork). Professor Talley di d pioneering work in t h e identification and classificatio n of Hegre> Folk Rhymes. Describing the phi lo- sophy , s tructure and, in soma cases, orig in of t h e songs, the Fisk scholar coll e c ted well over JOO examples. / cf:..,~er i mportant examp l es a nd discussions of the artistic products of .t'ol Jr X secular folk life can be found in the works of Huc;hes a nd Bont er;1 ps , Brewer, Sp al d ing, Dodson, Chapman, Brown ( Negr o Poetry ), Ahrahar:is (Deep Dm-m in The Jun gle) and Bell (The Folk Roots of Contemporary Afro-American Poetry). Bell 1 s work is recent (from t h e new Broadside Press) and is soCTewhat vague in perspective a s a result of an i mposed ("forei gn") construct. Also valuable to an examination of t he Seculars are regiona l works (such as Abrahams') including Drums and Sh adows (Georg ia and South Carolina), Goldstein's (ed.) Black Life 47 �and Cultur e i n t he United St a tes, Lorenzo Dow Tur ner's work in t he Gullah cul t ure, Dorson 1 s Ne gro Folktales in Mich i gan, and oth ers ( s e e b i bliography). By far the most faithful r e pr e s entati on of se cular or reli g ious folk materials in t h e writt en po etry is i n t b e work of Sterling Br01m ( see h is Southern Ro ad, e specially Johnson's introductio n , a nd b is critical comments in Degro Poetry ). Brown takes exception to Joh ns on's comment that dialect poetry h as only two stops-uhumor and path os u--a nd i mplies that Black poets up until his time h ad b een re miss (or lazy) in not de veloping hroader use s and deepe n inc; the meaning of Black life t h rou gh t ll e use of fol k materials. The traditio n of 11 tall 11 tale-telling is, of course, sub- mer ged in t he American my tbos. So the Black narrator found a fl ex i b l e a t mos ph er e into which he could introduce his own manne r of s t or y t e lling a nd his own tradition of song . As he h ad d one i n th e S pirituals, he gained a resourcefulness in the u s e of langua ge , acquired instruments to accompany th e song or story, and developed an ab il~ty to seize upon a good or ame nable context in which to tell or sing his story ; h e also made use of t he me s and ideas fro m the vast ethnic potpourri of America. the Spirituals. Th e Seculars grew up side- by -side witb The Spirituals emerged fro m t h e atte mpt of the slav e to web to geth er his disparate (y et 1nutual) wou nds. Spirituals represent t h e slave's perserverence and (in many instanc e s) 11 is ho pe and fo.i th in mankind. The Seculars, also ' �develo ping in t he shad ows of t h e "bi g h ouse, 11 reflect the social l if e of t h e Black American on the plantation and later. In songs a nd dittie s , the Black American couched his long ings and bittern e s s e s , but v oiced bis h opes and cy nicis ms t h rou gh the obliqu e , e liptic a l and encoded words and seemin gly unintelli g i b le pho ne tic symbols. These Afr ican forms (see Rappin 1 a nd St y li n 1 Out, Koc hman) have continu ed up to t h e present. Few Black youne sters are abl e to side - s t e p t h e ri gorous (and someti mes painful) verbal dJ&c e rity dema nde d by playmates during verb al sparring rnatcll es that ine vita.b l y ta ke place. Tbe for ms of sucb b eh a v ior were in,_Ja ct during slave ry--when a slave mi ght be discussing a master's "mama" or 11 old lady 11 during a ratb er h armless "rap 11 (rhapsond? r a pport?) with his fellow field workers. Frederick Dou glass r epor ts (Narrati ve) t h at slave over-seers t h ought . slave s sang b ecaus e th ey were h appy. We know t h at such was not t h e cas e ( s e DuBois, S ouls of Black Folks) a nd that such re.fr a i ns a s 11 s teal ing away" i mplied a lot r11 or 0 t h an wa nti ng to r• each t ho ar ms of J e sus on t b e cr o-ss. similar cod e o i n h i:J :Jtori en a nd po ems. Henry Du mas c11ronicles And Mel vlatkin::.i (l\.mistad 2) discuss ed a n updated ve rsion of at l ea st part of t h is ,ph;n;;--;'.V ,._,...___ ""·' "..--- in b is article on folk singer-hero Jame s Brown. discu ss ing a □ e cul a r to Dr. Th ur ma n 1 s: Though h e is ch aracter, Watki ns' revelations a re s i milar t h at i n the ab surd context of b einc; ow ned by so meo ne el s e, it i s not lif e or death t h at loom so i mportantly. One li ve s, Elliso n su 13 0 e s ts (Invisi b le Ma n ), the day -to-day �? v r5a-. ab s urdi ty i n a sort of comic-trag ic d Hatkins say s: James Brown's initial acceptance by a black audience is fixed in t h is crucial factor. Frorn the moment he slides onto the stage, Hhether unconsciously or intentionally, his gestures, his facial expronsions and even the sequential arranc e me nt of h is materials are external affirmations of a shared acceptance of t h e absurd or, more inc enously, of jiv ing. The t mpe{c}i.bly tailored suits, Hl1tcl1 h e V brandishes at the outset, become meaninc less accoutre me nts a s l1is act proc;resses and, sweatln c a nd straininc; , lle c;et:J down, literall:r down on t l1 e flo or, to wri nc; t h e last drop of e motio n fro 111 Uatkins i::i i ncorrect a1Jout the dress bccomin~ "meaninc less 11 to a Black audi enc e , but his c eneral thesis is on tar g et. E lseHho1°e Hatki n::i , fir mly understundin c; the i 1n rortance of verbal n.e;ility a mo nc Blo.cl::s, sa:rs "it is comnon to h ear h lack lrornen discussinc a 1,ian•s 'rap' or as they <.lJ. ~i ctw n l ii :., 1)a nl~ acconnt. 'pr ci c;ra1r, ' on t he same l e v el 11 Dlacks c;c :i orally wlthl-i old their jnd t;J,ent on ( or nc coptance) of a s p enl·cr or cnt crt n ine r u n til h .; cx11ibi t::.:, in l i[; tlr e.'..l rJ- ce:;t 11r o -rn p , that 11 0 11 nc1cr- - :::t u rJu :J t' u 11cll::.:prt n~ t h a t l :coc.ln c ud the "n, 1 0. c l: nnd trnlcncm u bar ds . 11 :-:~.tur•n:i. n:.; br i e f l y, to our b i s toric a l a s sess ment, ·w e cn n noH :Jt.,u 1101r t bo f olk s tratn in Bl a ck wr·i t tcn o.r t e·,o J. \: ed.. �Fror;i tbis 11 so ng 11 recorded in tbe 1 9~0 ' s by Dou glnss, Dey git u~ de liquor, And so.~ dat 1 s aood enou~h for the n i ccer . 11 to the f oar of cl e Cun jah Han II ca ptured i n "Gul la.h II h~r Camp be 11 in t he latter pa.rt of the 190 0 1 s, De Cunjari r,1an, de Cunjah man, 0 ch ill en r un, de Cu njab man! the decoptlv0ly 11 s:1. n ple 11 e111plo:rmcnt of folk expressions 11a ve prevailed as an i nrortant antidote for the social trm lo.dles 11 inherit ed by Blacks in t he Western Hemispliere. De Cu nj al1 I-la.n II is, of cours o , oqui valent to the "th in1:'.: s that c; o bur.1 pi nc in tho n i c;l1t" in Ir e land--o.nd t hus -li a~ ti es to genera l folk supor•sti tion3 a.nd uy tholo u;y. But tr1o re was also t}1e "riugc:ah- rno.n" (Dun1>o.r 1s "Little Brown Baby"), t he "rac; 1:mn", "pe c:-le g, 11 "raw-hen.d and h loocly b ones 11 and (iQ places like Trinid ad ) t he 11 obeah i:m n, back □ 11 Host of these supernatural characters are throw- to var ious African religious and ritual practices. Of the neH c;encrati o n of poets, Ish mae l Reed (Catechis m of a neoa.merl c an hoodoo ch urch) is the innovator in t he use of supernatural t h e mes and vocabulary. The t heme of tho 2 nd Annual John Henry Memor ial Autl1entic 13luoLJ o.ncl Gos pc 1 Jubilee (110 ld in Cliff Top, ·1:1 . Va . , i n Au c us t and September of 1974 ) was 11 Tryin 1 to Get nome. 11 1I ow st ead - fastly the folk trad itio n runs like a ve in t hr ou c;h Black ll istory . Intl~ Se culars (a nd t he Spirituals) we repeatedly hear something similar to t he last stanza of 51 11 Rainb01-J Roun Ma h Sh oulder 11 : �I ' r,1 gonna break ri2;l1t, break ri c;b t pas that s h ooter, I' m gain b ome , Lai,-Jd, I'm g oin home. Again the us e of' the 1-10~ "Lawd II in a "secular II song f'urther bears ou t the communal inte gration of the folk expression. My own sisters ofte n interject or exclaim "Lord" or "Lawd" in everyday discussions about life. It is next to impossible to list all (or each type) of the Seculars. Wo h ave mentioned Professor Talley's pioneering efforts at classifying the m. But many obstacles lay in the way of recorders of secular folk life. of cenGureship of language . One problem was t h at Such censuring marked all types of Black creativity , from the slave narratives to religious songs. Hence the more "protesting" aspects of tbe works were deleted as Hero 11 offensive words. 11 Anyone who bas be ard ''authentic II Black folk songs knows tbat tbey reflect tl10 conver gence of madnesn, absurdity and hope in tbe Black body. Subsequently what are known as "curse" or "obscene" words are sprinkled t h rou gl10ut mu ch of the "secular II lore. Brown dis- cusses the "realism" in the folk rhymes along with an attempt to{jia:JSify at lea. s t some of them ("fiddle-sings," "corn-songs, 11 jig-tunes, 11 "upntart crows 11 ); ( Ballads, Ballads; ~ Nec;ro Heroes, John Henry (folldfied in sone;), 1:lor•k SonGs, Tlle Blues, Irony and Protest. Irony and protest, of course, run t h rou 01 Black folk and literary poe try fro m t he earliest days (V~itfi e ld, Harper, anti-slavery 11 sonc; □) to the mo □ t 52 recent ti me s (Josh l~1ite, �Leon Thomas, Don L. Lee, John Ech ols, Johnny Scott). Some ob ser v ers h ave poi nted to the silliness of many researchers who, white as ever, appeared in perso n to a sk Black folk song writers arrl singers if tbey endorsed "protest, away satisfied witb a "no" answer. 11 tl1en went Given the nature and history of race relations one can understand t he reluctance on the parts of Blacks to tell wl1ites the truth a b out "anything " let alone a b out such a sensitive area as "protest. 11 Yet in the doc-eat-dog world of survival, the folk person knows that "If he di es , I'll eat h is co 1 n; 1\. n ' if b o 11 v es , I ' 11 ride ' 1 m on. 11 In summary we can say that unlike other etbnic i mmi grant groups ( the Afro-American was not a willinr; i mmi grant!), the Black American did not simply transplant l1is stories--keeping them in t he ir exact :::ia1110 form. He fou nd American or European lanc;uace counterparts for his the mes a nd vocabularies. But h;i.s pho nolo i;ry , style and spirit were informed by the African tradition. The student of Black folk poetry will wa nt to compar e and contrast the Seculars to ·other ethnic stori e s and so ngs. Boasti ng or "ly ing , of the "tall" tale. "Shine, 11 for example, is one inc;redient How does the Black song or story (i.e., "S i g nifyinG Henkey, etc.) fit t h is motif? 11 11 "Dolomite, 11 "Frankie and Johnnie, How does it conceal deeper me a n in g s on the i!Jsues of sla very, inb u man wor k concli tions, or contradictio rw i n Cb r:tstin. ni ty? 1·n1at are the si mil ari t:tes hetween the Se culars und th e Sp irituals? Between t h e Seculars and • 53 11 �the literary poetry? These and other questions (on Black heroes, cultural motifs, blues themes, langua ge and endurance) will lead one throu gh exciting corridors of Black folk creativity and thought. V SPIRITUALS GO DOWU, MOSES Go donw, Mos e s, Hay doim in Esry ptland Tell old Pharaoh To let my people go. lnrnn Israel was in Egyptland Let my people r,o Oppressed so hard they could not stand Let my people go. Go down, l1ose s , Hay down in Egyptland Tell old Pharaoh "Let my people go." "Thus saith the Lord," bold Moses said, "Let my people: If not I 1 11 smite your first-born dead Let my people r_;o. 11 �"No more shall they in bondage toil, Let my people go; Let them come out with Egypt's spoil, Let my people g o, 11 'l1l·ie Lord told Mos es what to do Lot my people go; To lead the children of Israel through, Let my people go. Go dm-m, Hosen, Huy dmm in Egy ptland, Tell old Pharaoh, "Let my people go!" SIAVERY CHAIN Slavery chuin done broke at last, broke at last, broke at last, Slavery chain done broke at last, Going to praise God till I die. Way down in-a dat valley, Praying on my knocs; Told God about my troubles, And to help me of-a He please. I did tell him how I suffer, In de dungeon and do chain, And de days I went with head bowed down;, And my broken flesh and pain. 55 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) Slavery chain done broke at last, broke at last, broke at last, Slavery chain done broke at last, Going to praise God till I die. I did knoH 111y Jesus heard me, 'Cause de spirit spoke to me, And said, "Rise my child, your chillun, And you too shall be free. 11 I done 'p'int one mighty captain For to marshall all my hosts, And to bring my bleeding ones to me, And not one shall be lost." Slavery chain done broke at last, broke at last, broke at last, Slavery chain done broke at last, Going to praise God till I die. NO MORE AUCTION BLOCK No more auction block for me, No more, no more, No moro auction block for me, Many thousand gone. lTo rn or·e peck of corn for me, No more, no more, 56 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) No more peck of corn for me, Nany thousand gone. No more pint of salt for me, No more, no more, No more pint of salt for me, Many thousand gone. No more driver' □ lash for me, No more, no more, No more driver's lash for me, Many tbousand gone . SHOUT ALONG, CHILLEN Shout along, chillen! Shout along, chillen! Hear tbe dying Lamb: Ob! take your nets and follow me For I died for you upon the tree! Shout along, chillen! Shout along, chillen! Hear the dyin8 Lamb! SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT Swing low, sweet chariot, Cominc; for to cu.rry me home, Swing low, □ wcct chariot, Coming for to carry me home. 57 �SPIRITUALS (cont 1 d) I looked over Jordan and what did I see Coming for to carry me home, A band of an c els, coming after me, Coming for to carry Lile home. If you get there before I do, Coming for to carry me home, Tell all my friends I' m coming too, Corning for to carry me home. Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home, Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home. STEAL AWAY Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus, Steal awo..y, steal awo.y home, I ain't e ot long to stay here. My Lord, He calls me, He calls me by the thunder, The trumpet sounds within-a my soul, I ain't got long to stay here. Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus, Steal a.way, steal away home, I ain't got long to stay here. 53 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) Groen trees a-bonding, Po' sinner stands a-trembling The trumpet sounds within-a my soul, I ain 1 t c ot lo ng to stay here. DEEP RIVER Deep river, my home is over Jordan, Deep riv er, Lord; I want to cross over into camp ground. 0 children, O, don 't you want to c o to that cospel feast, 'l1hat promised land, tl1at land, ·wl1ere all is peace? Deep river, my home is over Jordan, Deep river, Lord; I want to cross over into camp Ground. I GOT A HOME: IN DAT ROCK I c; ot a home in dat rock, Don't you se e ? I got a h ome in dat rock, Don't you see? Botirnen de earth an 1 nlcy, Though t I l1earc.l tny Saviour cry, You got a ho me in dat rock, Don't y ou s ee? Poor n an Laz 1 ru3, poor as I, Don't y ou :ic e ? Poo~ma n Laz•rus, poor as I, 59 �SPI RI TUALS (c on t 1 d ) Don ' t ~, ou see? Po or man Laz 1 rus , poor a s I, Uhen he died he found a ho r,1e on h i gh , He h ad a ho me in dat r oc k , Don ' t y ou oee ? Tii ch man Dives , h e l ived so we ll, Don ' t yo u se c ? Rich 1.1cm Div e s , lie li ved so wel l, Don ' t :ro u se e? Tii c h rn an Dj_v co , h o li v e d so well , "\:Thon cllu c1 h e found a ho me i n He l l , 11 0 Ho had no houw in dat r o c k , Do n ' t y ou soc? God c o..vo lfo a l~ d e nainbow sic;n , Don 1 L yo u :.;cc? God .:;n ve No ali d e Ra1. nb01·1 s icn , Don ' t y ou :::iee? Gou Ho 1_, o. '10 LJOl'O 1,1 a t 1.;:c De tt o r de nai nboH :..d.,:n , lToi:d-1 c;o t 1,u t ll 11 0 1.ic fir·o ne xt tj_ we , in c1at roc k , Don ' t you ::.:cc ? 6n �S1'ITII TUALS (c ont 1 d) I BEEH .HEBUJillD AN]) I BEEN scommn I b 0en 1·cbukec1 and I heen s c orned , I been rebuked a~ I been scorned, Chlllun, I bco n r e bul: ecl and I been scor ned , I 1 sc 110.d a b arcl time, so's y ou born . Talk about me t:1u cl1 as you please, Tallc abou t t.,c r,mch as you please , Chillun, talk about me mu ch o.s you please, Gonno. talk a:)ou t yo u when I c;et on 1~1y knees. DE OL!~ SHEEP DEY KNOW DE TIOAD Oh, do ole sheep, doy know de road, De ole sheep, doy know de road, Do ole sbucp, c.1cy know de road, De younc; Lambs mu s t find de way. ify brother , better mind how you walk on de cross, De younc; lur,1bs must find de W(:l.Y, For your foot mi gh t slip, and yo f soul g it lost, De yo un g lo.mbs must find de Hay . Better mind dat snn , and see how she run, De youn g la1nbs must find de wo.y, And rai nd , don I t let he r catch yo u Hid yo ' work u ndone , De yo un c lambs must find de way. 61 �SPITIITUALS (cont 1 d) Oh., de ole sheep , dey know de road, De ole sheep, dcy know de road, De ole sheep, dey know de road, YounG lamb s must find de ·way. DE IIAMHER IillEPS RINGING Oh, de hammer k e eps rin g ing On so mebody's coffin, 011, de hammer keeps ringing On somebody's coffin, Oh, de bammer keeps rin r; ing On somebody' □ coffin: Good Lord, I know my time ain't lon g . Ob , de wagon keeps rolling Somebody to de g raveyard, 011, de wa g on keeps rollin13 Somebody to de g raveyard, Oh, de wagon keeps rolling Somebody to de graveyard: Good Lord, I known~ time ain't long. Oh, de preucber keeps preaching Someb ody's funeyal, Ob, de preacher keeps preacbing ~) omb ody I s funeyal, 62 �SPITIITUALS (cont 1 d) De preacher keeps preaching Someb ody's funeyal: Good Lord, I know my time ain 1 t long. MOTHERLESS CHILD Sometimes I feel like a motherless cbild, Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, A long ways from home, A long ways from home . Sometimes I feel like I I 111 almost gone , Sometimes I feel like I 1 m aln10st gone , Sometimes I feel like I' m almost gone, A long ways from home, A long ways from home. Sometimes I feel like a featber in the air, Sometimes I feel like a feather in the air, Sometimes I feel like n feather in the air, And I spread my wings and I fly, I spread my wings and I fly. NOBODY ID-TOWS DA TRUBBLE AII SEE Oh, nobody knows da trubble o.h see, lTob ody knows but Jesus. 63 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) lfobody knows da trubble ah see, Glory, Hallelujah! Sometimes I' m up, sometimes I'm down, Oh, yes, Lord! Sometimes I' m almost to the groun', Oh, yes, Lord! Although you see me goin along, so, Oh, yes, Lord! I bave my trubbles here below, Oh, yes, Lord! Nobody knows da trubble ab see, Hobody knows my sorrow. Nobody knows da trubble ah see, Glory, Hallolujo.111 One day when I was walldn along, Oh, yes, Lord! The elements open and his love came down, Oh, yes, Lord! I never shall forget dat day, Oh, yes, Lord! rn1en Jesus wash my sins away, Oh, yes, Lord! 64 �SPIRITUAI.S (cont'd) Oh nobody knows da trubble ah see, nobody knows my s orrou. Nob ody knows da trubble ah see, Glory, Hallelujah! DE BLIND MAN STOOD ON DE ROAD O, de blind man stood on de road and cried O, de blind man stood on de road and cried Crying "O, ry Lord, save-a me; 11 De blind man stood on de road and cried. Crying dat be migbt receive bis sight Crying da t be 111i2:ht receive his s ic;h t Crying 11 0, my Lord, save-a me;" De blind man stood on de road and cried. HE imvrm SAID A MlJI.IBALING WORD Oh, de wlrnpped him up de hill, up de hill, up de 1iill, Oh, de wbupped bim up de hill, and he never said a mumbaling word, Oh, dey wlrnpped h im up de hill, and he never said a mumbo.ling 1.-rnrd, He jes' bung down bis head, and be cried. Oh , dey crowned him wid a thorny crown, thorny crown, thorny crown, 01, dey crowned him wid a tborny crown, and he 65 �SPITIITUALS (cont 1 d) never said a mumbalinr; word, Ob, doy croimed h im wid a thorny crown, and be never siad a mumbalin g word, Ho j es ' hung down his head, and he cried. \Je ll, dey nailed h i m to de cross, to de cross, to de cross, Well, de~ nailed him to de cross, and be never suid u 1 u mb uling word , Well, dey nailed him to de cross, and he never naid a mumbaling word, He jeD I hun c; down his head, and he cried. Well, dey pierced h i1i1 in de side, in de side, in de Dide, Well, dey pierced h i m in de side, and de blood co me u-twink:lin13 down , Hell, dey pierced him in de side, and de blood cor.1e o.-twinkling down, Den be hun g doHn 11is bend, and he died. JOSHUA P IT DE BATTLE OP .JERICHO Joshua fit de battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua fit do hut tle of Jericho, And de uall::: cowe tumblin g down. 66 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) You may talk about yo 1 king of Gideon Talk about yo 1 man of Saul, Dere's none like g ood old Joshua At de battle of Jericho. Up to de walls of Jericho, He marched Hith spear in hand; "Go blow dem ram horns, 11 Joshua cried, "Kase de battle am in my hand. 11 Den de la mb ram sheep horns begin to blow, Trumpets b c c in to sound, Joshua commanded de chillen to shout, And de Halls come tumbling down. Dat morninG, Joshua fit de battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua fit de battle of Jericho, And de Halls come tumbling down. OH, HARY, DON r T YOU \·JEEP Oh I1o.ry, don't you weep, don't you moan, Oh Hary , don 1 t you ·ueep , don 1 t you moan, Pharaoh I s army got drownded, 011 Hary, don't you weep. �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) One of dese 111ornings, b:cight and fair, Take my win gs and cleave de air, Pharaoh's army eot drownded, Oh }~ry , don't you weep. One of deso mornings, five o 1 clock, Dis ole world gonna reel and rock, Pharaoh's army got drownded, Oh Nary, don I t you weep. Don I t know uho.t my motl1er wants to stay lier fuh, Dis ole world ain't been no friend to bub, Pharaoh I s army got drownded, Oh Mary, don't you weep. Oh Hary , don't you weep, don't ·you moan, Oh Mary, don't you weep, don't you 111oan, Pharaoh I a army got drownded, Oh :Mary, don't you weep. VT. FOLK SECULAn3 HE IS NY HORSE One day as I wus a-ridin' by, Said dey: "Ole t; an, yo' boss will die. " "If he dies, Ancl if 110 }1 e is my loss; lives, lie is my hoss. 60 11 �FOLK SECULARS (cont 1 d) Nex' day w 1 en I come a 1 ridin 1 by, Dey said: "Ole man, yo' boss may die. "If he dies, I 1 11 tan 1 is 11 skin; 1\.n 1 if be lives, I'll ride lim a g 1 in. 11 Den aG'in w1 en I come a-ridin' by , Said de:r: "Ole man, yo' h oss mou c;·h t die. 11 "If he dies, I'll eat his co•n; An' if he lives, I'll ride 'im on. 11 DID YOU FEED HY COU? "Did y0r feed my cow? 11 "Yes, I1am!" ''Yes, Ha m! 11 "Will yer tell me h ow?" 11 01 l , u 1 at tlid yor g ive 1 cr?" "cawn an hay. II 11 011 , , er?" "Cawn an hay. II ll I D..t clid ycr• g i ve "Did yer milk 1 er g ood?" "Yes, Mam! "Did yer do l ak yer sbould?" 11 0h, how did ycr milk 'or? 11 Swish! "Yes, Ham! 11 S:wisb ! 11 Swish! 11 "Did dat cow r; it sick?" "Yes , !!am! 11 Hus she kivcred Hid tick?" 11 11 11 "Yes, Ham !" 0b, h ow wus she sick?" "All b loated up. II "Oh , how HUS she sick?" "All b loated up. II 69 �FOLK SECULARS (cont 1 d) SONG (From Frederick Douglass, Hy Bondac e and I1~r Preedo: n, 11353) Ue r aise de 1-1l1eat , Dey gib us de corn: He hake de hreo.d , Dey c;ib de crust; U!3 'He s if de mea l, Dey c; i b de huss; UE.: He peel de meat, Dey g i h us de skin ; And dat• s de way Doy tak e no in; Ho skim do pot , Dey ~ib us de liquor, J\.nd say dat 18 c;o od e nou ch for n i c2;er . SONG (Pro:11 Viu.1~ tin R . Delany, "Bl ake ; or, The Huts of At~1e ric a ," in The Anclo-Afrlcan lio.c;az l ne, June H 159) Cone all my ln•e t brcn , let us ta'trn a re st, Olu. u astci:· died a t.L1 J.r_;ft us u ll at last , And l h:J con0 nt the bar' to appear ! 01<.1 , :o.s t cr· 13 J\.nc.l our b l ood cleac1 an<l l :ri.n.3 in 1i i s gra vc; 1-1i 11 now c ease to flou; Ee uill no t.tore tramp on the ne; ck of t110 nla•;e , f.'01• he I c; [;One \-Jri cre slave-holders 7n £.:;O ! �FOLK SECULAri.S ( cont I d) Earnl up t he sbove 1 and the hoe-0 -0- 0 ! I don 1 t care whether I work or no! Old tr,nstor ' s .:;one to t11e slave-holders rest-He':::; 0 one w110re the:r all ou~ht to SELLI H t TII!E Goodbye, Goodhyo, Ii' I n0val1 , ncvah see you any tao. Goodbye, Good ~ye , I will meot you on t he utha oho. Pray fo r Ille , Pray for tr1e , If I ncvah , ncvah see you any Pl O. fray .for r11e , Pray .for !1l C, I will meat you on the utha sho. Do stronG, Bo str on g , If I nevah, nevah see you any mo . Be strong, Be s trong, I will meet you on the utha sho. Fare tbce well, Fare thee we ll, If I nevah , nevah see you an:r mo . Po.re th:..;c Hell, 71 L,;O ! �FOLK SECULARS (cont 1 d) Fare thee well, I will mee t you on the utha sho. l½.ANY A THOUSAlID DIE no r.:ore driver call for me, Ho more dri ver call; No more driver call for• me, I1any a thousand die; No more peck of corn for me, No more pock of corn; No more peck of corn for me, Many a t h ousand die! No more 'h undred lash for r1e, no more bundred lasl1; No more hundred lanh for me, I1any a tl1ous and die! Fm;EDOTI Ahe Lincoln freed the nigger, Wid da gun o.nd wid da tri gger, An I ain't g inna c; it whipped no mo. Ab c;ot mah ticket Out of dis heab thicket, An I' m headin for da golden sho. 0 freedo m, 0 freedo m, 72 �FOIJ~ SECULA.i'1S ( cont Id) 0 freedom after a while, And before I 1 d be a slave, I 1 d be buried in my erave, And go home to my Lord and be free. The1 e 'll be no more moaning , no more moaning, 1 No more woaning after a while, And before I 1 d be a slave, I'd be buried in my grave, And go home to my Lord and be free. No more weeping, no more crying, No more weopinc; after a while, And before I'd be a slave, I 1 d be buried in my grave , An<l go home to my Lord and be free. There'll be no more kneeling, no more bowing, No more kneeling after a while, And before I'd be a slave, I 1 d be buried in my grave, And c; o borne to my Lord and be free. There'll be shouting, there'll be shouting, There'll be shouting after a while, And before I'd be a slave, I 1 d be buried inn~ grave, And go home to my Lord and be free. WE 'LL SOON BE FREE We'll soon be free, He 1 11 soon be free, 73 �FOIJ( SECULARS (cont I d) We'll soon be free, 1vhen de Lord wi 11 call us home. Hy br•udder, how long My brudder, how long, Hy brudder, 110-w long, 'Fore we done sufferin' here? It won't be long (Thrice.) ' Fore de Lord will call us borne. We'll walk de miry road (Thrice. ) Wbere pleasure never dies. Hy brudder, how lone; (Thrice.) 1 Fore we done sufferin' here. We ' ll soon be free (T11rice.) ) When Jesus sets sets me free. We 1 11 fic;ht for liberty ('rl1rice.) When de Lord will call us home. DOH WID DRIBER 'S DRIBIN' Don wid driber 1 s dribin 1 Don wid dribor 1 s dribin' Don wid dribcr's dribin' Roll, Jordo.n, roll. Don Hid massa's hollerin 1 Don wid mo.::isa 1 s hollerin 1 Don Hid tr1 cw [l a ' ::i lJollerin 1 Roll, Jordan, roll. 74 �FOLK SE CULARS ( cont I d) R.ADTBOW ROUN HAH SHOULDER Evahwhuh I, ::,huh I look dis mawnin, Looks lak rain, looks lak rain. I gotta rainb ow, tied 1111 roun mah sl1oulder, Ain gonna rain, ain g onna rain. I don walk till, walk till mah feets 8 one to rollin, Jes lak a whee l, jes lak a sheel. Evah m11ilday, I gets a letter, "Hy son come home, my son come home." Dat ol letter read about dyin, Mah tears run down, mah tears run down. I 1 m gonna break rie;ht, break ri c;h t pas dat shooter, I 1m goin r1orno, LuHd, I 1 1:i g oin h ome. RAILROAD SECTION LEADER'S SONG Ef ab could, al1 sholy Hould, Stan on da rack Hhuh Moses stood. Viary, Martha, Luke and Joh n, All dem sciples dead an g on. Ah g otta Ho man in Jennielee Square, Ef yon wanna die easy, lemme ketch you there. �FOLK SECULARS (cont 1 d) Lil Evaline, settin in da shade, Figurin on da money I ain't made. Jack de rabbit, Jack de bear, Cancha move it jus a hair? All ab hate b out linin track, Dase ol bar3 b out to break mah back. You keep tal k in bout da joint ahead, Ir ever nay nuwtbin bout mah ho g an l)read. Uay down yond er in da b olla of da fiel, Angel::; wuklcin on da chayet wheel. nc ason I stay ·w id my cap' n so lone; , He giv me bi s cuita to rear b ack on. Jc rJ le111rno tell ya whut da cap' n jes done, Looked at his watch and looked at du sun. Ho, Boys, it ain time. Ho, Boys, you cuin't qu:i.t. Ho, Boys, it ain time. Sun ain gone down yit. GO DOUH, OL' IIAlnTAH Go down 01 1 Hannah., u on you riDC no mo? �FOLK SECUL.l\.TIS ( cont 1 d) Go down ol' Hannah, Won you rise no mo? Laud, if y ou rise, BrinG Jud c;t:1ent on Lawd, if y ou rise, Bring Judi:;ment on. Oh, did you hear Hhat tbe cap 1 n said? Oh, did you hear What t he cap 1 n said? That if you work He 1 ll tr ea t you well, And if you don He 1 11 give you hell. Oh, g o doun 01 1 Hannah, Won you rise no mo? Won you go down, 01 1 Hannah, Won you rise no mo? Ob , lon g-ti me man, Hold up ye haid. We ll, you may ge t a pardon And you may drop daid. 77 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) Lawdy, nobody feels sorry For de life-time man . Nobody feels sorry For de life-time man . J{,)IIN I-illNRY I-IAMH8R SONG Dis is de hammer Killt John Henry, Twon 1 t kill rne , baby, Twon 't ki ll me . Take dis hammer, Carry it to de captain Tell 11im I' m g one, baby, Tell him I 1 m gone. Ef he axe you, Has I running Tell him how fust , baby, Tell him hoH fast. Ef he axe you Any mo ' q u es t i o ns , Tell him you don 1 t know, baby, You don't know . Every lila i 1 duy, Gits a letter, �FOLK SECULARS ( cont I d) "Son, come home , baby, Son come home. 11 Been al 1 nic;ht long Backing up timber , Ha nt to co home, baby, Want to go home. Jes 1 wait till I make Dese few days I started I 1m going home, baby , Is going home. Everywhere I Look dis morning Look lak rain , baby, Look la k ruin. I got a rainbow Tied 'round my shoulder, Ain 1 t e onna rain, baby, Ain't g onna rain. Dis ole hammer n ing lak silver, Shine lak go ld. Take dis hammer 79 �FOLIC SECULARS ( cont I d) Throw it in de river, It'll rin g ri cht on, baby, Ring ri c;ht on. Captain, did you hear All yo' men g onna leave you, Next pay day, baby, Next pa~,r day? SHINE AND THE TITANIC It was 1912 uh en the awful news g ot around That the great Titanic was sinking down. Shine came running up on deck, told the Captain, "Please, The water in the boiler room is up to my knees . 11 Captain said, "Take your black self on back down there' I got a hundred-fifty pumps to keep tl1e boiler room clear. 11 Shine went back in the hole, started shovellin g coal, Sinr;ing , "Lord, have mercy, Lord, on my soul! 11 Just then half the ocean jumped across the boiler room deck. Shine yelled to the Captain, "The water's round my neck!" Captain said, "Go back! Neither fear nor doubt! I got a hundred more pumps to keep the water out." '~our words sound happy and your words sound true, But th is is one ti m.e, Cap, your words won't do. 80 �FOLK SECULATIS (cont 1 d) I don't like chicken and I don 1 t like hamAndi don't be lieve your pumps is worth a damn!" The old Titanic was beginning to sink. Shine pulled off his clothes and jumped in the b~ink. He said, "Little fish, big fish, and shark fishes, too, Get out of my 1.-rn:r because Ir m comi.nc; through. 11 Captain on bridge hollered, "Shine, Shine, save poor me , And I 1 11 make you as rich as any man can be. 11 Sb ine said, "There's more gold on la nd than there is on sea. And he sivirnmed on. Jay Gould's millionaire daughter came running up on deck With her suitcase in her band and her dress •round her neck. She cried, "Shine, Shine, save poor me! I 1 11 g ive you everything your eyes can see. Sbine said, 11 11 There 1 s more on land than tbere is on sea. And he swimmed on. Bi g fat banker begging, 11 Shine, Shine, save poor ne! I 1 11 give you a tbousand shares of T and T. 11 Shine said, "r-Tore stocks on land than there is on sea." And he swi mmed on. 1-nien all tlw m white folks went to heaven, Shine was in Sucar Ray's Bar drinking Sea grams Seven . Sl 11 11 �FOLK SECULARS ( cont' d ) TI-IB SI GNIFYING 1-lONiillY Tbe monkey and Lion Go t to t alkinc one day . Honkey looked down and said, · Lion , I hear you 1 s l in~ i n every way . Bu t I know sot1ie b ody 1Jho do not think that is true Be to l d me he c ould whip The living daylich t s ou t of you . Lion sa id , Hl10? Monkey said, Lion , He talked a b out y our• mamma And talke d about your grandma , t oo , And I 1 m too po lite to toll you Hhat he said about you . Lion said, '\'n10 said wlrnt? 1D10? ~-IonL:0y in t he tree , Lion on the cr•ou nd . !Io nlrny kep t on siGnif~,ing But he d idn ' t co: :e d oun . ~.i:onlrny sai cl , J-T:Ls n a,,ie is Eleplrn.ntTTe stone s ur e in not your friend . Lion :Ja id , He don ' t need to ;)e Because toda~ wi ll b e his end . Lion took off throu gh th e juncle 32 �POLK SE GUIA11f3 ( cont I d) Lickity -s plit, Me aning to c rab Clepb ant And t ear h i ~ b it to b it. Period! He c oi,:e ac r oss E lephant copping a ri e;h teous nod Und e r a fi ne c o ol shady tree. Lion said, You b i g old n o- g ood so-and-so, It 1 s eithe r you or me. Lion let out a solid roar And bopped Elephant with his paw. Elephant ju □ t took his trunk And busted old Lion's jaw. Lion let out a nother roar, Reared up six fe e t tall. Elephant ju c t kicked hi m in the belly And lau ghed to see hi m drop and fall. Lion rolled ov er, Copped Eleph ant b y tbe throat. Elephant just shook bim loose And butted him like a goat, Then he tromped him and he stomped 11im Till the Lion yelled, ffil, no! And it was near•-nigh sunset When Elephant let Lion go. Tbe si g nifyinc Honkey Was still settin g in bis tree 33 �FOLI~ SECULARS ( cont I d) 't·JJ:i en be looked down and saw tbe Lion, Sa i d , l-n1y, Lion, uho can tbat t h ere be? Lion s aid, it' s me. Mon key rapped, Wh y, Lion, You loo k more dead than alive! Lion said, r!o nkey , I don't wo. nt To hear you r j ive - end-jive. Monkey j us t kept on si c nifying , Lion, you fo r sur e caught hellMist er El e~1 0. nt 1 s done wh ipp ed y ou To a far e -tlw o-wcll! ~fuy, Lio n , y ou look like to me You be en i n t h e pr e cinct station And had t he t h ird-de gre, Else you look li ke you been h i gh on ga ge And do ne c;et caught In a mon k ey cage! You ain 1 t no king to me. Facts, I don't think that you Can even a s much as roarAnd if you try I 1 m liable To come down out of tbis tree and 1,n1i p your t a il some more. Th e Honkey st o.rted laughing And jumpine up a nd dow n . �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) But he jumped so hard tbe limb broke And he landed--bam!-on the ground. When he Hent to run, bis foot slipped And be fell flat down. Grr-rrr-rr-r! The Lion Has on him With his front feet and his hind. Monkey hollered, Ow! Lion said, You little flee-bag you! l'fl1y, I 1 11 eat you up alive. I wouldn't a- b een in this fix a-tall Vasn 1 t for your signifying jive. Please, said Monkey, Mister Lion, If you 1 11 just let me go, I got something to tell you, please, I think you ought to know, Lion let the Monkey loose To sec wbat his tale could beAnd Monkey jumped rigbt back ori up Into his tree. ·what I was gonna tell you, said Honkey, Is you square old so-and-so, If you fool with me 1 1 11 get Elephant to whip your bead some more. Monkey, said the Lion, Beat to his unbooted knees, �FOLK SE CULATIS (cont 1 d) You and all your signifying children Better stay up in them trees. Whicb is why today Monley does his signifying A-way-up out of the way. FRANIITE AHD JOHNNY Frankie and Johnny were lovers, Lordy, how they could love, Swore to be true to each other, True as the stars up above, He was h er man, but he done her wron G. Prankie went down to the corner, To buy ber a bucket of beer, Frankie says 11 Mister Bartender, Has my lovin 1 Johnnie been here? IIe is my man, but he ts doin g me ·wronc;. 11 11 I don't want to cause you no trouble Don't want to tell you no lie, I saw your Johnnie half-an-hour a go Making love to Nelly Bly. He your man, but he 's doing you wrong. Frankie went doun to the botel Looked ov er the transom so h i gh , 86 11 �FOLK SECUL/\.RS (co nt rd) There she sau he r lo vin ' Jobnnie Haki ng love to Nelly Bly Ile was her nill n; he was doing her wron g . Frankie threw ba ck her ki~ono, Pulled out her big forty-four; Tooty-toot-toot: three ti mes she shot Tiight t h rough that hotel door, Sl1e s l10t ber man, who was doing her wron g . rrRoll me over c;ently , Roll me over slow, Roll me ov er on my right side, Cause th ese b ullets hurt me so, I was y our rrian, but I done you wroni:; ." Bring all your rubber-tired hearses Bring all your rubber-tired h acks, Th ey're carrying poor Joh nny to ·the burying gr ou nd And they ain't gonna bri ne him b ack, He was he r man, but be done h er wrong. Fr ankie says t o t he sheriff, "What are they goin o; to do? 11 The sher iff he said to Frankie, 11 It 1 s t he 1 lectric ch o.ir for you. He was your man, and he done y ou Wl'onc." • �FOLK SECULAES (cont'd) 11 Put r.1e i n t hat dun.c;eo n, Put lile in t h at cell, Put me where the north east wind Blows fro m the southeast cor ne r of h ell, I sho t my 1,mn, 'cause he done t11e wrong . S T. JAHES INFIR1-1ARY BLUES I went down to St. James Infirmary, Hy b aby t11er e she lay, Out on a cold , cold table. Well, I looked an I turned away. Hl1 at 1 s my baby 's chances, I asked old Dr. Tharp. '~y six o 1 clock this eve nin She 'll be playln a g olden harp. 11 Let h er go, let h er s o, God b l es s h er, W11 erever she may be. She can hunt this wod e world over, But she 1 11 never fi nd anoth er man like me. JUST BLUES I got a sweet black gal Liven down b y t h e railroad track, A swe e t blac k gal 88 11 �FOLK SECULARS (cont 'd) Down by the railroad track, And everytime she cri es The tears run down her ba ck. Cryin 1 , baby , have me rcy, Baby , have mer cy on me! Baby, baby , baby , Have mer cy, mercy on me! If this is your mercy, Hha.t can your pity be ? BLACK W0r-1AN We ll, I said come here, Black Woman, Ah-hmmm, do n you hear me cryin, Lawd, Laud! I say run heah , Black Woman, Si t on yo ur Black Daddy's k nee , Lawd! Hmrnmm, I kn oH yo h ouse f e el lones ome, Ah, don you heah me whoopin, L~wd, Lawd, Do n yo h ouse feel lo nesome , Hben yo biscuit roller gon, Lawd, he lp my cryin time Don yo house f ee l loneso111e , Hmmm , l~en yo biscui t roller gon. �FOLK SECULARS (cont 1 d) I say rny house feel lonesome I know you heah me crying , ob Baby, Ah-hmmm, ah, when I loolrnd in r,1y ki tcl"Jen , I-1ama , An I wen all t h oo my dinin room An-mmam1, when I woke up this mornin I faun my b iscuit roller done gone. Goin to Tex as, Mama, Justo heah t he wild ox moanLaHd help mah cry in time -Goin to Texas, Mama, Jus to beah the wild ox moan, An if they moan to suit me, I'm c;oin to bring a wild ox home. Ah -brnmm, I sa:r I I m got to go to Texas, Black MamaI know you heah me cryin, Lawd, Lawd- Ah-hmmm, I'm got to f!,O to Texas, Black Ma ma, Ah m-jus to heah the white cow, I say, moan! Ah-h mmrn, ah, if they moan to suit me , Lawd, Lawd, I bleeve I'll bring a white cow ba ck home. Say , I f ee l superstitious, Mama, 'Bout my hoggin bread, Lawd he lp my h ungr y time, I feel superstitious, Baby , ' b out my h ogg in bread! Ah-hrnmm, Baby, I feel superstltious, 90 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) I s ay'stitious, Black 1fo111an! Ah-bmrinn, ah y ou b eab me cryin Bout I do n c; ot h ungry, LaHd, Lawd Oh , Mama, I fee l superstitious Bout my b og , Lawd Gawd, it's mah bread. I want y ou to tell me, Ma ma, Ah-b 11mm, I he ah me cry in, oh Ma ma! Ah - hmmm , I wa nt y ou to tell me, Black Woman, 0 wh e ah did y ou stay las ni gh t? I love y ou, Blac k woman, I tell the wh ole Herl I do. Ah -h ~nm, I lo ve y ou, Black Woman, I know you h eah me wh oopin, Black Baby ! Ah -h tnm.m, I lo ve y ou Blac k Woma n An I'll t e ll y o Daddy , I do, Lawd. YOU}W BOY BLUES I 1 m a real young boy, jus sixteen years ol, I 1 m a r eal y oung boy, jus sixteen years ol, I need a fu nky black woman to satisfy my soul. ·1y fath er was no jockey but he sure taugh t me h ow to rid e . I s ay my fat her· was no jockey bu t h e sur e tau gb t me h ow to ride. 91 �FOLK SECULARS ( cont I d) He said first in the middle, Then you suay from side to side. BACiillOOR BLUES I left my baby standin in the back door cry in 1 Yes, I left my b aby sta ndin in the back door cryin' Sh e said, baby , y ou g otta h ome jus as long as I Bot mine. A BIG FAT HAHA I 1 m a b i g fat ma ma, [sOt the meat s h akin on ma1) b ones, I 1 m a b i r; fat ma ma, got t h e meat shaki n on mall bones, And ev er y ti me I shakes, s oti1e skinny g irl loses lrnh 11otrte. HOU LONG BLUES How lo nr; , how l onG, has t h at eveninc; tr a in b i n c one? Hou l one; , hou lo ne; , b aby, h ow lon13 ? Had a c al li ved up on tbe hill If she 1 c t her e , uhe loves me still Baby, how lonG, hoH long , boH lon g ? Sta nd in at the station, watch my b a by c;o Feel dis c ustcd, b lue, ~e an a n low II oH lone , h ow lo ne , b a by , 11 011 92 lone ? �CHAPTETI III AFRICAN VOICE IN ECLIPSE: IMITATION & AGITATION 1746 - 1865 Slaves, thou gh we be enroll 1 d Minds are never to be sold --from David Ruggles• Appeals, 1835 I Overview As we embark on a survey of the chronolo g ical development of Black written poetry, it is important to remember that any study of such li t er•a ture concerns that which is "available. 11 11 wri tten II and The fact that one writer has made more works accessible to the public than another writer does not make · him/her the "greatest" or even "greater. 11 In every era, quiet and important writers have been passed over in favor of literature that is more "timely, 11 'flamboyant" and "relevant "--to use ;,.., ..f.p/1.,..,'~ an overworked contemporary term. Here and fellewiM~ chapters, I am including brief representations of the poetry. And while this book certainly is not an ~nthology, /"samples" are g iven to reinforce comments on styles, themes, subjects, language and other aspects of the poetry. The poems included, it is hoped, will allow student, gene ral reader and teac ber immediate acces s to comparisons, contrasts and tentative analyses. also is no over-riding effort to explain the Horks in a 93 There �poem- by- p oem b r e a kdmm. h istori ca l Howe v er, Cha pter VII will offer an "running " analysis of several poe ms with e wpb asis on how t h e p o ems can be r e ad s ilently and aloud. Also to b e examined ar e s ome of t h e cons istencies (a nd si milariti e s) i n th emes that can be found i n many of the poems. II Lit e r a ry and Social Landscape Blacks h ave bee n in the Western He mis phere almost as lon g a s whites . Aft e r 1501, most of the Spanish ex pe ditions to the New World included Black explorers. By the ti me the 2 0 sla ves- to-be were b rou ght on a Dutch vessel to Jamestown in 1619, the pre se nc e of Blacks had been felt for at l e ast 100 years (see Be nne tt, Fr a n klin). Cruci a l to a n und e r s tanding of early Black poetry are t h e circums ta nc e s surrounding slavery and the political and reli c iou s mood s of both E ng land and Colonial-Revolutionary Amer1.c a . Briti s h Ame ric a did not follow t h e Greco-Roma n tra- dition of t h e we ll i nformed slave . It was quit e unlikely , thep, that a "r e volutionary" Black poet would e mer g e from a social and lit e rary landsca pe so char ge d with self-ri ght e ousness and Neoclass icis m (or from the Ro manticis m of t h e Lucy Terry' s "Bars Fi gh t 11 1noo r3 ). (written in 1746 and pub li s hed in ll39.5) could h a rdly be called "protest"; neither could th e work of Phillis Wheatl ey , co tJ sidered the finest Black talent of the coloni a l era, cau ght b etween contrivances of the Ag e of Enli ghtenment and the approaching g rip of the ro mantics. • 94 The neoclassical �tradition that reached its height in the poetry of England's Alexander Pope, had already be g un to die out with the death of Pope himself in 1744. All over Colonial America, however, white poets were i mitating the stiff-collared conventionality of that period. The moral issues considered by most of the poets (Black and white)--universal brotherhood of man, quest for reason and order, the Jeffersonian ideals of freedom, liberty and representative government--were removed from the everyday brutality of slavery. Some of the most liberal men of the day (Jefferson, Washington, Hume) implicitly justified slavery by suggesting that Blacks were in some ways inferior. Despite Jefferson's pontifications on humanitarianism, he was unable to reconcile the disparity between his public stands and bis failure to manumit bis own slaves. Althoush Jefferson carried on a written correspondence with Black astronomer and mathematician, Benjamin Banneker, he considered Phillis Wheutley 1 s work "beneath criticism. 11 On the g eneral American scene, the Revolution behind, a national literature bad begun to emerge. Fascinated with American employment of new technology (Franklin's li ghtning experiments, printing presses, etc.) and the prospects of unexplored regions of the New World, writers started recording travels and observing the mixture of races and religions. Although religious fervor was still hi gh (Calvinism, Weslyanism - - and deism had run their courses), political problems dominated. Between 1790 and 1832 the new American government was being consolidated and the writings of men like Willian Bradford, 95 �John Winthrop, Cotton Mather, Thomas Shephard, Roger Hilliams, Edward Taylor> and Jonathan Edwards were succeeded by t11e embryonic nationalistic works of Franklin, Jefferson, William Byrd, William Cullen Bryant, Charles Brockden Brown, Washington Irving, William Gilmore Simms an:l James Fenimore Cooper. Irving, Cooper and Bryant were to become the early writers most taugh t to American school children. "New England Renaissance, 11 Often called the the early decades of tl1e 19th Century saw increasing tens ion behrnen New England puritan ism and Southern aristocracy over the question of slavery. over s lavery Debates continued up to the beginning of the Civil War. The early part of t he century also saw tbe birth of many of -Ht .tut IQ eA-- 1 white America's greatest writers , along with 1 romanticism and rug ged individualis m. Mystified by the noble sa va ge (Indians and sometimes Blacks) and cballenged by the "new frontier, 11 Americ ans be gan to romanticize their situation and especially that of explorers Hho became the first ori g inal folk her oes. "W'hi te writers who dominated the period fro m 1826-1 865 included Edgar Allan Poe (poet and short story writer, credited with creating the first detective in American fiction), Nathaniel Hawthorne (consid ered the first i;reat American novelist--The Scarle t Letter), John Greenleaf Whittier, Henry Hadsworth Longfellow, Jarnes Russel LoHell, Oliver Hendell Holmes, Harri e t Beecher Stowe ( one of the first wl1i te American novelist s to feature a Black pro ta g onist in fiction--Uncle Tom's Cabin), Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, �Herwan 11e l vi ll e (c onsidered to have Hritten one of th e l7andf u l of "grea t" American nove ls-- Moh:r Dick), Halt 'h7hit man. (t eru;ed th e "gre atest II American poe t--Lea ves of Grass). Otl1e r writers, pr• i ri1ar ily po litic al act ivists or ahol iti on i s t s , included John G. Calhoun, Hi l l iuu Lloyd Garris on, and Abrnhar,1 Lincoln. Us i. ng th e ir mm and Black ma terial, n nm,11)er of 1-1bi te comp osers i mmor t a liz cc.1 t h0 ern in songs -- 1.1an:r of t ber,1 nationrtli.sti. c. It Wf.t. , dnr i nc; t )1i. c p c: r-'Lod tl'ia t Francis Scott Kc:r wrot e "T1 e St ar {:ip t,ngl(jcl Banner . 11 S teplrn n Pos t er l7as since 1eo 11 a ccu sed of r.1ere ly puttinc; to music the s on c;s that we1°e sun e; by slaves. Tl10re rn:1.s no ._:;cnoral encourageme nt, bow8ver , for Blacks to l earn to read; but many slave owner•s i ndu l ge d their cha ttel in uritine; ex e rci nes as personal pastti mes nnd bobbies. So many of the earl y Black poets , t hen , g rew u p in relati ve sec urity. To be totally free , Dav id Walker observed in h is Appeal (1 029) was to bo e conomically insecure, socially ostracized and psycholo gically oppressed . Co nsequ en tly, those sla ves priv iled c;ed to r ead and write i nvar iably took European literary models . Poet s , of course , were not the only ones writin g . In a dd ition to aholitionists-essayists, like Wa lker and Frederick Dou g lass, tbts perioc.1 of Black literary acttvity was h i gh li e;hted by exciting slave n a rratives: or freed slaves. autobiographical accounts of es caped The most popular of these, and one of the first recorded, was T~ Interestin e Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African {17 09 ). Bontemps includes it in his Gre a t Slave Narrativ es 97 Arna (1969). �Vassa, wh o also i p~J ~d oo. penned so me notab le verses, co n structed a s tor y patt e r n t hat was to b ecome fa miliar to read e rs of early America: th a t of t h e escaped, freed or run away sla v e wh o reported his or her hardships and struggles. Vassa descri b es his life in Africa u p until the ti me of his kidnapping . With vivid memory and d e tail, he e stab lishes the ori g inal b ases for what we hav e come to call t h e "African Continuum" in America. It is not just mere coincidence t h at t b is state ment fro m 1789 almost fits parts of Black America of today. We are almost a nation of dancers, 111usicians, and poets. Thu s e very great event ••• is celebrated in pub lic dances which are accompanied with song s and music suited to the occasions. Vassa 1 s debut into this literary g enre was followed by hundreds of other narratives, many of the m fakes. Early Negro Hritin g : Dorothy Porter, in 1760-1837 (1971), has dj_scussed tbe problem of det e r mining authe nticity of tbe narratives. Mrs. Porter is librari a n of the Hoorland Foundation at Howard University--which houses an outstanding collection on t h e Black past. book she included: constitutions and laws of b eneficial societies; speeches before nrutual aid and educational societies; t he report of the earliest annual convention for the improve ment of free people of color; ar g uments for and a g ainst colonization; printed letters, sermons, petitions, orations, lectures, essays, reli g ious and In h er �moral treatises, and such creative manifestations as poems, prose narratives, and :::ihort essays. Mrs. Porter thus sums up the intellectual and literary output of the ear•ly Africans. The word "African, by most writers and speakers of the era. 11 was used generously Hhen "African" was not employed it was ir.1plied throu gh the use of "Coloured, "Black, 11 "an Ethiopian Princess" and other terms. 11 Placed against the sometimes sophomoric and h eretical accusations of some of today's Black critics, these early displays of pride in the African heritage makes one want to send many a loudmouth back to school! In addition to the plethora of pamphlets, hroadsides, books r and news organ! tbat emerged from Black individuals and institutions durin g the period up to the end of the Civil War, there was also much political-social consciousness - raising throu gh oratio n . In the ear ly years great reli g ious and political lead ers s uch as Ri ch ard Allen, Peter Williams, Ab salom Jones, Prince Hall (founde r of Black Masonry), Paul Cuffee and Daniel Coker, took up projects of "mutual aid" for Africa ns . Their work se t the stage for missionary, abolitionist and self-help programs undertaken later by people like Jarena Lee, Frederick Douglass, n. Martin Delaney, Sojourner Trutl1, and Alexander Crumme ll, to name only a handfull. The intellectual, reli g ious and moral work of Blacks in the North was paralleled by t he development of folk materials 99 �(the songs and stories) of Blacks on Southern plantations. In general few states, Nort11 or South, allowed educational or vocational opportunities for Blacks. Thus the energies of early Black writers and intellectuals, Mrs . Porter and Hilliam Robison point out, 110r0 aimed at setting up of various "African" societies and free schools , and the promotion of literacy and self-betterwent amonc; neHly freed slaves. Many educated Blacks of the North also acted as conduits for the Underground Railroo.d . The R0v . Allen, popular relic;ious crusader and founder r of tm Bet11el African He t hodist Episcopa,n} Church, seems to ,J have been referrinc; to the same Black "sensibility" described by Vass a when he said ( in 1793) that 11e was conf ident that there was no religious sect or denomination that would suit the capo.city of the colored people as well as the Methodist; .•• Sure I am that reading sermons will never prove so benefi cial to the colored people as spiritual . or extempore preachi nc; ...• Huch evidence oxists, then, of Blacks bandinc; toc;ether for "mutual II concerns in the enrly days of America. The horrors of slavery , the psychological pressures of Northern "fr eedom , 11 white reprisals ln wake of slave revolts (such as those led hy Gabriel Prosser in 1800, Denmark Vesey in 1 822 and Nat Turner in 1831), ma.de for a most unsettling atmosphere (s ee Halker 1 s 100 �Appeal). Reporting on wbite America's "need" to vent its fears and hatreds on Blacks, Winthrop Jordan (tn, ite Over Black, 1968 ) noted that wbites initially feared tbree thin 13s: loss of identity, lack of self-control and sexual license. In an effort to e.scape the "animal within himself t11e white man debased the Uegro, surely, but at the sar,1 e time he debased himself. 11 And a youn[s Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, visitin g America in 1831, said racial prejudice was "stronger in tbe states t h at bave abolisbed slavery than in those where it still exists. 11 {.,.; ( - 'Needless to say, creative literature of the "arty" sort (thou ch much of it Has being done at the ti me) was not the number one priority for Blacks facing hell from all sides. Nevertheless a literary tradition did develop and flourish in Black America. Th e exa mple of the narratives (including those by }Tarrant, Doue;lass and Truth) led to publications by the first Black noveli s t and playwright, Will1am Wells Brown. novel was Clotel: Brown 1 s or The President's Daue;bter (1 853) and his play was called Escape: Or A Leap to Freedom (1 857). The second novel by a Black American Has The Garies and their Friends (1857) by Frank J. Webb. Delaney published the third novel, Black, or the Huts of America, in 1059. Webb Here both published in England. The works by Brown and Brown also worked on in the cause of abolition and other social reform pro grams. His Anti-Slavery Harp (1 848) contained songs and poe ms whose the mes are implied in the book's title. The pattern of the Black educator, intellectual or artisan carrying on tbe dual role of creator and activist, characterizes the history of Black • 101 ,.f:, �creativity in Atnerica. ) Yet many critics, Black and whit e , unaHur e of.' the stresses and demands on Black artists) do not approach their sub jects with the understanding required. r also, ~ Political journalism (see Dann's The Black Press, 1827-1 890), was a strong vein in the development of Black American writing . Beginninc; with John Russwurm (the second Black colle ge graduate and first Black newspaper editor, Freedom's Journal, 1827-29), and e volvine.; througb Ru ggles' Mirror for Liberty (first Black ma gazine, 1838), Douglass' Monthly (1 844) and North Star (1847), to Hamilton's Anglo-African Macazine (1 859), the tradition of Black journalism and research on the African experience was firmly established. Huch of the journalistic writing (like the poetry) took pros or cons on the question of imigration, colonization or the elevation of the Black manls pli ght in America. During tbe early and middle years of the 19th Century, white travelers throu~1 the Soutb collected and compiled slave songs-Seculars and Spirituals. These songs would later form the nucleus for much of the Black and white writing the mes. On the eve of tbe Civil Har, the Dred Scott decision (a hlow to slaves and abolitionists) help step up the demands for the abolishment of slavery. Brown's The Black Han ( 1863) was a capsule of one era which closed on the b lasts of cannon and another that opened on tlle sound of jubilant shouts. 102 �III THE VOICES ON TIIE TOTEM "mean mean mean to be free 11 --Tiobert Hayden Ae;ainst tbc forec_;oing background, tl1e poets of ColonialRevolutionary -Slavery America appear curious, tearful, exciting, paradoxical, fri~1tening and puzzlinc. Biblical i mac ery, classical allusions and themes, llatred of slavery and ai.~bi 13uous praise for s lav c - n1nsters, recollcctionn of Africa, appeals and condemnations, all become enmeshed in the intricate ling uistic and psycholoc;ical 11el1binc; of' this early poetry. In 1770, at 17 y ears of a ge , the privileGed slave cirl Phillis 1,n1eatlcy became the first Black "exception to tbe rule 11 j in Enc lish and American poetry. And for decades students of' American pootr:r had Gone about their recitations and research Ile ,,>,/ as thoui:sh nothinc; or no one of i 1poptat1ce l iapper:ed~ I1iss Hbea tley and Dunbur. It wa:J not until 1 8 C)J tl1at Lucy Terr•:r 1 n 11 Bar 1 s Figbt 11 - - t:;bo account of a 17L1.6 Indian taas:::acre in Deerfield, Ha:::isaclrn:rntts--cnr..c to public li c> t. c1.notl1or• 27 ~r0t:Lr·s to Jupttor IIat,1111011 1 c 11 11 A:x1 readers 1·1ad :rot a :i. t bcf ore O:-~cnr Hcce l i n i. n 101:; discovered .r1l. n Ti'v T'JJ, ou u·1,·t:; ~ . et,iL~,:-· • ~ - , Salvation h:· C1~ri:::it, Hith Penit en tial Cri.::: :-~11 (1761) in tbo 1T011 York Historical Society, tlrns establishinc Hmnmon as the first publ lsbed African roe t in Amer'lca. 103 �H e :,e n tio ne: d c arili or• th at :.:a n:" a n t }1 olo i3 ies 0::1. i t Fi c;li t. n 11 Bnr I s Th is i s lll1ck rstanda1' l e si n c e Hi s s Terr7 (1730-1 ° 31) never u ro t e; , or a t lea s t presented, anymore l i terar:r works. Americ a I s "first Ne g ro poet, be inc; ju s t tha t--f irs t. 11 then, is L;1porta nt prilimril:r for Like ITiss 1'n1ea tle:r, Vas sa and ot11er New EnGland sla v es, s he was kidnapped as a child and br6u gh t to UcH England (Rhode Island). She witnessed t h e Indian raid reported in h e r 2 8 -line do g cerel and h ns a flair for storytelling . Hence clc:::ipi tc tbe poe m I s 11 ol"lViously Heak literary :rieri t, 11 t h is Black Hri ter perfo1~n: ccl one of the earliest services of the poet--that of a sing er of history-- in recordinc actual names and places in her narrative. Since she was 16-:rears-old and a ser v ant c;irl, writing i1us surely not h er pri r.1arily responsibility. Yet "Bar's Fi ght," achieves some success when seen against the oral tradition in poetry: Listen my children and you shall hear Of tlie n idnight ride of Paul Tievere. or HoH, cbildren, I 1 m g oing :to tell you t110 story about raw-head and bloody-bones! and There uas an old woman wl10 lived in a sboe .She had so many children she didn I t know what to do. Compare the fore g oing lines to Au c ust 'twas, the twenty-fifth, Seventeen h undred forty six, 104 �Tb e India ns did in ambus h lay , Some ve r y valient me n to slay , The no.me s of wb om I'll not leave ou t: Samuel Allen like a hero fout, and the ele mental connections will readily be seen. One h as only to re ad t h is poem aloud to get b oth t h e effects a nd Miss Terry's appar en t i nt e ntions . Uhen s h e wrote "Bar's Fi gbt" Miss Terry worked for an Ebenezer Wells of Deerfi e ld, }fussac b usetts, but was c;iven h er freedo m ten years later wh en she married a free Blac k man, Abijah Prince, by whom she had six childr en . Prince later became the owner of considerab le land and was one of t h e founders of Sunderland, Ver mont. 1-Jilliam Robinson (Early Black American Poets) lists Miss Terry with t h e "orator" poets and ri gh tly so. Oth er details about Niss Terry and t he Princes can b e obtained from George Sheldon's A History of Deerfield, I-1 assachusetts, 1 895. Slave poet a nd intellectual, Jupiter Ha mmon (172 0 ?-1 000?), provides yet another look into the capab ilities, mind-sets and limitations of Africans in Colonial America. Ha mmo n is c;enerally not r e gard ed as an "i mportant" Black writor-- but is dis t inc;uish ed for bei nc; t h e first African i n America to publis h his verses. This b e di d in 1761 ( "An Eveni ne; Thou gb t, 11 composed i n De cemb er or 1760); 177G ("An Address to Miss Phillis W110atley"); 17 B2 ("A Poctn. for Ch ildren"); and in the mid-17 80 1 s ("An Eve ning 's Improvement"). I n h is 11 Address to the Ne c;roes of t ll e State of New York 11 (written in 1 786 and pub lished in 1 30 6) Hatmnon . linked in with a tradition t h at i ncluded pamph leteers, like 105 ;- �Quinn, Ualker, Ruggles and others of the period. Hammon's "Address II sought freedom for younger Blacks, claimin[-s tba.t "for my own part I do not wish to be free. 11 This statement appears, on the surface, to be the ultimate in self-debasement and self-denial; but one has to view it in the context of statements by de Tocqueville, \Jalker, and others, aloni with the circumstances of t b e aging and relic;ious Hammon. That Hammon himself was deeply reli ~ious is reflected in his poetry--as with many Black poets, e.g., Hayden today-and he obviously labored under the influence of Methodism and the Wesleyan Revival (see Early Ne gro Hriting ). In the poem to Miss Wheatley, he notes that it was throu gh that rI 11 God 1 s tender mercy" that she was kidnapped from Africa and bro.ught to America as a slave. ~ / re:flect tinent: ~ And Hammon seemed, generally, to prevailing white attitude toward the "dark" con- one engulfed in ignorance, barb aris m and evil. Obviously not as well read as Miss 1.{hea tley, Hammon was unable to take his themes to universal and intellectually arresting levels. fJ He was born a slave and belo~ged to -t-l-l-e influential family of Lloyd's Neck on Long Island and was encouraged by bis masters to write and publish poetry. T11ere is not a great deal of information available on the life of Hammon; but it is difficult to understand why an intelli g ent Black man, Hho li ved such a lone; life, mirrored al most complete ignorance of the horrors of slavery--despite the almost daily local newspaper and verbal accounts and discussions of the 106 �"peculiar institution. 11 Har,m1on I s li terar:r mode ls Here primarily the co nven tional mate1"ial of hymns of the period. So his re- ligious fer vor --at the time of reli e ious re v i va ls in Europe and Colonial America--coupled with his stylistic borrowi ngs fro m hymns con i:iti tute his major poetic effort. "An Eveni n13 Thougl1t," "L·Il1ich Hrs. Porter tells us was probably "chanted during tl1e deli very of a sermon, 11 beGins: S al vat ion come s by Christ alo ne The only Son of God; Redemption now to every one, That lo ve h is only word. Dear Jesus we would fly to thee, And leave off every Sin, Thy tender ~cr cy well a gre e; Salvation fro1 ,1 our king; Like Hiss Ter•ry, Hamr,1on iras not primarily a poet. And hence, unlilrn n.pproachint; Phillis vn:ieatley, one should not spend too mucb ti me or be too barsh in criticizin.s (or complainin g about) him. The basic structure of the Enc;l~sh bymn--wbich merr;ed witb the Spiritual--as Hammon interprets it, is an alternation of iamhic tetrame ter and iamb ic tri meter combined with a ratber clumsy ab ah rhyme scheme. Compared to other hymns , it is no worse and is better than many. .D~i te the ti mes , pressures and censures, hoHever, one is bardprbssed to accept Hanu;10n I s assuranc e to the s lave that: In Christian faith thou hast a share, TTorth all the g old of Spain. 1 07 �Ha.mmon 1 s works can be found critically introduced in Robinson's anthology, in Stanley Ransom's America's First Ne gro Poet, the Complete Works of Jupiter Hammon of Long Island (1970) (and in Barksdale 1 s and Kinnamon 1 s Black Writers of America, 1972); critical-biog raphical attention is in Vernon Lo cgins 1 The Negro Author (1931) and J. Saunders Redding 1 s To Make A Poet Black (1939). Yet anotber slave , Pbillis 1:Jheatley (1753?-l 78Ld, has to be examined. There has been substantial critical-biographical treatment of Hiss Wheatley, so no atte mpt will b e made here to give her full consideration. By far the most gifted and com- plex poet until Dunbar , Phillis Hheatley was also priviledged as a young child and allowed access to the Boston library of 1 John 1fueatl0.~ ,_,., --to whom she ·w as sold after being brou g1Jt from Senec al when she Has six or seven years old--where she read voraciously. By the time of her teens she had learned to speak and write Eng lish, and acquired a New Eng land education which put great emphasis on the Bible and the classics. Her poetry, like Hammon 1 s ) reflect~ deep interest _in and knowled g e of religion; but it is also steeped in classical allusions and conventions of the neoclassical writing school. Critical attention to Miss Wheatley (who, like Dunbar, lived a short life) has been both ravine and unkind. Benjamin Brawley (The Negro Genius) reports that Jefferson vieued her as beneath the dignity of criticism. Yet, other great personalities of the day generously praised and received her work. lO G Geor e e �Washington, so moved by her poetic tribute ("To His Excellency General Washine;ton"), invited the young poet to visit him at his camp at Cambridge, Hassachusetts--an invitation which she later accepted arrl was treated as royalty. Miss v.Jheatley I s earliest verses were penned during~ ~l!P~ 0.'.h her adolescence. Wbi tefield: 1770, 11 much of her poetry. "On the Death of the Rev. George reflects the elegaic the me yhi cl;i e"to ~ Manumitted and sent with other membe rs of the v.Jheatley family to London in 1772, because of frailness and poor health, Miss Wheatley was received like a visiting dignitary in London's literary circles o.nd bailed as t11e The next year ( 1773), while in London, she "Sable Muse . " I became (at 20 ... years-old) the first African, arrl tbe second woman from America, to publish a book of poems: Poems on Various Subje cts, Religious and Moral, by Pbillis Wheatley, Negro Servant to I'-Ir . ltlheatley of Boston. The volume, the only one she ever published, became an i t;1medtate success in both England and Amer ica and won her an everlasting place in the history of English poetry in America. Upon her return to America, Miss Wheatley 1 s misfortunes seemed to come in such liGhtning succession that one wonders how she withstood adversity as long as she did. First, there was the death of Mrs. Wheatley and then, during the 1770 1 s; the deaths of t he relllaining Uhea tleys. The poet then 1;1arried a Job Peters, 1.vbo "proved to be both a r:ibitious and irresponsible, 11 for whom she bore tl1r oe children--all of uhom died in infancy. 1 C9 �Add iti onally , the Pe t ers fara ily li ve d in s qua l or a nd pove r ty , li ke s o ma ny New Enal a nd Bl a c ks . Co~nen t inc on the cir c um- s t an c es surround i nc he r dea t h , Bar ks d a l e a nd Kannamon (Bln c k Wr i ters of Ameri c a ) obse r ve with s t oma ch - c urd li nG a cc ura cy that : Hor oa1°l y d e a t b prov i des a c or,unen t ary on tl1e desp era t e war· t.: inal i t y of life a1,10n g Bo ston ' s free Bl acl:s at t h a t t i me . To Pl1i l lis l ll:o atley , at one t :hie a prLr i l e :;ed se r\·a r1t ul, o e n jo:re<.l an cxt:i •~t .. c l :r benign ma:::; t 8r-::;or~. n nt re l at i on - sh i p , freedo m's uncertainities and insecur- ities were overwhelming . Certainly, h ad she been initially free in Boston, she would probably ne ver have had the time, the opportunity, or the peace of mind to write poetry. For the state of freedom for the Black man in the 1780 1 s--even in godly, liberty-loving Boston--was indeed precarious. The preceding explanation, coupled a gain with the observations of Walker, de Tocqueville and others, make Hanimon 1 s statement about preferring not "to be free" somewhat more tolerable if not plausable. We noted that Phillis Wheatley bas been praised as well as condemned. Some critics denounce her for not being inventive and orig inal enough, claiming that she simply followed the conventions and themes associated with neoclassicism: Salvation, Mercy and Goodness. 110 Truth, Some resent her so-called "pious �sentimentality" and accuse her of calling on Christ when she should be calling for the abolishment of slavery. Still others, during the current period, have accused her of not being "Black enough. 11 Considered on the landscape of the times, however, Miss Wheatley comes off as a genius--witb hardly an equal among !{~ck or white contemporaries. James " Weldon Johnson, during a comparison of Miss Wheatley's "Imagination II to Anne Bradstreet I s "Contemplation, 11 said 1 ~e do not think the black woman suffers by comparison with the white 11 ( Ne gro American Poetry). Durini:; ber lif e ti rne Miss Wheatley published some 50 poems, almost half of them elegies, five or six political and patriot pieces ("General Washington" and "Liberty and Peace"), and the remainder consumed by religious and moral subjects--as she states in her title. Though she never den~s with the question of slavery--and makes only tentative reference to her own predicament--her work sustains a high level of emotional, linguistic, religious and general poetic force. Since her greatest models were Pope, Dryden, Mil~on and the earlier classical writers, one must examine these sources to uncover some keys to her techniques arrl allusions. But one only has to read (aloud) the following passage from "Rev. George Whitefield 11 to feel impact: "Take him, ye ur e tched, for y our only good, "Take h i m, y e starv ing sinners, for your food. "Ye tbrifty , come to this life- gi v in~ stream, 111 �'1Ye preach ers, take hi m for your joyful t h etne; "Take l1i m, my dear Americans, he so.id, "Be y our complaints on l1is kind bosoi:1 laid; "Take him, ye Africans, he longs for y ou, "Impartial Savior is his title due; '~ashed in the fountain of redee ming blood, "You shall be sons and kings, and pries ts to God. 11 More will be s aid of this poem in Chapter VII; but we should state that some of t he previously harsh criticism of Hiss Wheatley lia s been t empered in li c;ht of increasing fe minis m and, especially , efforts by Black women writers, scholars and intellectuals to reevaluate her. Huch of h er work is done in the heroic couplet which dominated the period of poetry-writing . Th e se pentameter couplets (which would be popularized in the 20th Century as "unrhymed iambic pentameter 11 by Robert Frost) call for end-line rhymes to appear in twos, with 10 syllables per line. Roger Whitlow (Black American Literature) complains that Hiss Wheatley Pope called the 1 11 falls short in what correctnessf of diction and meter, that near-perfect choice of word and measurement and weighing of syllable. 11 One could agree., if Miss v-!heatley 1 s sole aim were simply to imitate. But there is a great evidence that she--like Black poets always seem to be doing--was trying to achieve a readable poem without losing the essence of the couplet. After all, as Stephen Henderson (Understandines the New Black Poetry) bas suggested, many Black poets have their ears and thought rhythms attuned to the spiritual and phonological 112 �demands of the audlence that loves "extempore" delivery, even when the written lines are strict and tight. Also, in placing "Their colour is a diabolic dye" in quotations ("On Being Brought from Africn to America"), Miss Wheatley suggests that others deem her color ne gative but that she may not. This remains a possibility despite her closing couplet: Remember, Christians, Ne groes, black as Cain, May be refined, and join the angelic train. Yet there is firm evidence that Hiss Wheatley was not insentJ sitive, at least to her on predicament as a. slave without a fundamental and genealogical identity. Honourable William, Earl of Dartmough, In "To The Ri ght 11 she says Should you, my lord, while you peruse my song, Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung, Whence flow these wishes for the common good, By feelin g hearts alone best understood, I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate Was snatch'd from Afric 1 s fancy'd happy seat: What pangs excruciating must molest, What sorrows labour in my parent's breast? Steel 1 d was that soul and by no misery mov'd That from a father seiz 1 d his babe belov 1 d: Such, such my case. And can I then but pray Others may never feel tyrannic sway? The capital "F" in "Freedom, 11 the phrase "cruel fate, 11 the sorrow felt for her parents and the reinforcement of the a gony 113 �via repetition ("such, such"; see Margaret Walker's lines "How Long ! 11 ) , place her alongside other Black voices that searched for answers to the pall of racial insanity that - -- enwebbe ~ Hi ss Wheatley also experiments with the them. hymn for m. In 11 A Farewell To America" and 11 An Hymn To Humanity'' one bounces along her alternating lines and r hythms. We stated earlier that Miss Wheatley's critical i ma ge h as somewhat shifted. Perhaps the capstone of t h is shift was the Jackson State College Poetry Festival, held in November of 1973 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Hiss Wheatley•s Poems. Eb ony ma gazine (March , 1974) did a five-pa ge picture essay on the festival, organized and hosted by Mar garet Walker poet-novelist and Director of Jackson State's Institute for the Study of History, T,ife and Culture of Black People. According to F.bony "ei ghteen Black > women poets converged" on the Black colle ge campus to salute Miss Wh eatley, read their own poems and discuss poetry and life. Writer Luci Horton noted that recently there has been more respect for the "slave girl who, under unspeakable circumstances, was able to write poetry or any literature at all. 11 In addition to Dr. Alexander, the list of poets included -k- Naomi Long Madgett, Margaret r,. Burroughs, Marion Alexander, Margaret Esse Danner, Linda Brown Bragg, Mari Evans, Carole Gre gory Clemmons, Lucille Clifton, Sarah Webster Fabio, Nikki Giovanni, Audre Lorde, June Jordan, Gloria C. Oden, So nia Sanchez, Alice Walker, Malaika Ayo Wangara (Joy ce 1rJ'bitsitt Lawrence) and Carolyn M. Rodgers. 114 Gwendolyn Brooks• absence �was conspicuous. The festival was also the subject of a six-pag~ picture essay by Carole Parks in Black World {Webruary, 1974). One of the most revealing comments was made by Paule Giddings, a young editor at Howard University Press: There is something wrong with a critical tradition that makes Phillis Wheatley an historical footnote ..•• Phillis Wheatley was black and this is the difference (between her and other poets of her day) and also the contradiction: the contradiction between her blackness which she reco gniz ed and never was free to for ~e t by a thousa nd humiliations and white mercan- tile Enc;lnnd, a world that was never to be hers, but whose values she seemed to accept. She was in a slave world, but not truly of it .••. It does no good to reproach a child for yielding to attractive influences when within herself there is no strong residue of any other influence or tradition. It is easy to say she had no racial consciousness. It would be fair to look at the choices she had and ascertatn whether or not she wan capable of end urin~ even more intepse isolation. Ms . Giddin~s has us □ e rted what appears to he a hn lanc ed answer to t he protestations of Redd inc; , Br01,m, Brawley ( "no racial 115 �valu e 11 ) and ot hers . It retains to he seen as to whetber curr e nt and futur e ~e nerations of Black and wbite students Hill keep Hiss Wh e atley a "sta tute in tbe park" or br in g her to the tabl e and "exat,d. ne her blood and ljeart." Critical tr eatme nt of t h is first Bl a ck woman of lett ers already has be e n cx tvn s i v0: Julian Ha s on I s Th e Poems of Ph illi s 'l,fheu tley ( 1966); Dm,.ks clo.lo I s and Kinn amo n I s critical l ntr oclu ction; Rober t C. Ku nc io I s 11 S ot,,e Unpnhl is hed Po etns of PJ·, l lli s 1lhea tle:,r " (Neu Entlnrn1 Qt1 0..Fter l:' , XLIII, June, 1 C:'7t"'\ , 2 °7 -2" 7 ) : J o~· ..· it1:J Th e lT0 ,··1 •0 .'\.11tho1 1 1 (1931); Brawley's The N0c;ro Genius; Redding's To Hake: A Po0t Black; Shirley Graham's The Story of Phillis Wh eatl ey (1949); and Jerry Ward's and Charles Howell's article in the Summ er , 1() 74, issue of Fr·eedomways. 1fo have alr e ady mentioned Gustavus Vassa (1745-1001), one of the mos t interesting of the early writers, in another cont ext. Born the seventh and youngest son of a chieftan (in Es sake.,, now Eastern Nigeria), Vass a (African name: Olaudah Equiano) was first sold to a Virginia plantation owner. His journeys later took him on several A~lantic voyages and then to th e Mediterranean where he served in the Seven Years War. Vassa held technical jobs on ships as a result of his adeptness at th e English language and his mastery of basic mathematics. He became a tireless worker for the abolition of slavery and worked, briefly, in behalf of efforts to colonize poor blacks of England in Sierre Leone. Vassa is chiefly known for his Narrative (1709) which was a best-seller among abo- 116 �litionists in England and America. Slave narratives, we have observed, were a part of a branch of Black writing which gave rise to the more sophisticated autobiographies (that stretch from Douglass through Baldwin and Cleaver) which in turn laid some of the foundation for American fiction. Vassa was not the first writer of a slave narrative, as is popularly thought. Briton Hammon (no relation to Jupiter) published in London A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings and Sur•prising Deliverance of Briton Hammon, A Negr•o Man ( 1760) and John Marrant published (also in London) A Narrative of the Lordls Wonderful Dealings with J. Marrant, A Black (1785). I / Vassa, wbO"l/e turn to briefly for his efforts in poetry, included "Miscellaneous Verses" in his Narrative. His verse is interesting because it helps to establish the portrait of a complex and many-sided man; it also provides further insight into the workings of the African mind making contact with white culture and especially Christianity. While in his prose and speech-making Vassa was firm in his attacks on slavery, he proves in the end to be a believer in some ultimate force of "deliverance. 11 In the last line of the last stanza of bis "Verses" he reminds us that "Salvation is by Christ alone! 11 vfuicb is, of course, reminiscent of Hammon 1 s opening line: Salvation come by Christ alon~ Nevertheless Vassa 1 s language is less saturated in Biblical terms than Hammon 1 s. And the former, as verse writer, bas a better control @the language. 117 In the "Verses II be applies a �driving iambic tetrameter meter with an a ab b rhyme scheme: Those who beheld my downcast mien Could not guess at my woes unseen: They by appearance could not know The troubles I have waded through. Lust, anger, blasphemy, and pride, With legions of such ills beside, Troubled my thoughts while doubts and fears Clouded and darken'd most my years. In the first stanze quoted Vassa presages the duality and mental pressures that more skilled writers would describe in years to come. Implying that the job of the oppressed Black is to keep his head even and up, Vassa says even those who see him in his sorriest stat e cannot envision the sufferings he has e~dured. Dunbar would say the same thing in a different way in 11 We Wear the Mask" more than a century later. And Countee Cullen would state it more than 130 years later in yet a different way. This apparent ability of Blacks . to "keep cool" and adapt (see Johnson's The Autobiography of An Ex-Coloured Man) under the most trying circumstances has been promoted, nurtured and praised by leaders of the race. Vassa, then, is important as an early writer, not only because of bis skill, but for the insight and understanding he brings to the social and religious pressures, demands and choices around him. There is a r e leasing therapy in Vassa 1 s work which acts as only one of numerous 118 �conduits for Black anguish and outrage when the options were slavery or death. Vassa 1 s Narrative is most accessible in Bontemps' Great Slave Narratives (1969)., In 1967 Paul Edwards published an edition of the Narrative including a comprehensive introduction., Edwards also did a two-volume facsimile reprint of the first edition (1969)~ See also Africa Remembered: Narratives by West Africans from the Era of the Slave Trade, edited by Phillip D. Curtin (1967). Loggins assesses the Narrative and Robinson provides a handy biographical-critical introduction. Hore on Vassa can be found in Marion L., Starkey's Striving to Make It Hy Home: Tbe Story of American fro,n Africa ( 1964) and in Whitlow I s Black American Literature. In the summer of 1974, Darwin Turner conducted a graduate and postgraduate seminar on Slave Narratives at Iowa State University \iliere he directs the Center for Afro-American Culture. The early and middle years of the 19th century witnessed the maturation of Black autobiography, political journalism and abolitionist activities. George Moses Horton was 34 years old when William Lloyd Garrison found~d The Liberator (1831), the most influential and famous of the abolitionist newspaper.s. And by 1830 there ·i-rere more than in America. 50 Black antislavery societie s 7 Blacks in the United States had been stirfed bN___ slave rebellions both here and in places like Haiti, the Carribean and Trinidad. Especially inspiring during this period was the 1839 revolt of slaves aboard the Spanish schooner L 1Amistad. Led by Joseph Cinque, a Mendi-speaking 119 �,,! prince, the fifty slaves~ killed the captain, set the crew adrift and demanded that ship owners steer the ship to Africa. Apprehended, the Africans were escorted by a United States brig to New Haven where the would-be slaves faced murder and other charges. Ex-President John Quincy Adams defended the Africans' right to return to their homeland and in 1842· they sailed to Sierre Leone. Ironically, neither the international press nor most Blacks knew of the connection between Cinque of the Symbionese Liberation Front, apparently headquartered in northern California during 1973-74, and the Cinque of the L 1Amistad revolt. In light of the growing consciousness among Blacks, it was to be expected that (5 George Moses Horton (1797-1883) would appear to inveigh against tyranny and slavery. Born a slave near Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Horton is considered to be the first Black to employ protest themes in a volume of verse. His Hope of Liberty (1829) ranged over the whole area of general and personal protest. The poet was first owned by a planter named Horton who later rented him in the service of a janitor to the University of North Carolina. Horton exploited the academic environment by reading the English classics and composing poems. Often called the first professional Black writer·, Horton hired bis poetic skill out to students who paid him rather handsomely for composing "personal" poems. His second book of poems, Poetical Works of Geor ge M. Horton, the Colored Bard of North Carolina, was published in 1845. 120 �Horton's hopes that he would gain enough money from the sale of his books to secure his freedom were never realized; and he was not freed until Union soldiers arrived in 1865 when his last volume, Naked Genius., was published. Horton's themes are not devoted exclusively to protest and he has been criticized., along with Phillis 'Wheatley., Hammon and Vassa, for writing such lines as those that appear in "On Hearing of the Intention of a Gentleman to Pur•chase the Poet rs Freedom 11 : When on life's ocean first I spread my sail., I then implored a mild auspicious gale; And from the slippery strand I took my flight, And sought the peaceful heaven of' delight. Hard was the race to reach the distant goal, The needle oft was shaken from the pole; In such distress who could forbear to weep? Toss'd by the headlong billows of the deepJ Horton goes on to say that "Eternal Providence" saved him when he was on the "dusky verge of deep despair" and when "the last beam of hope was almost gone." Yet Horton writes bit:terly of slavery as well as lightly of love and humorously of life in general. Inf'luences on his poetry are Byron, Wesleyan Hymnal stanzas., and other sources from books that he had read. In the poem from which the stanzas above were taken he pursues a rather monotonous iambic tetra.meter.. llletsl?. But in a poem like "Slavery" (published in The Liberator, March 29, 1834), he can vary the hymn pattern in the way that Phillis Wheatley does in • 121 �her hyi.:m-inspired works .. The effect is almost ballad-like: Uhen first my bosom glowed 1vith hope, I gazed as from a mo untain top On some d el ightful plain; But ohJ how transient Has the scene-It fled as though it had not been And all my hopes were vain .. I s it because my skin is black, That t hou should 1 st be so dull and slack, And scorn to set me free? Then lot me hast en to t h0 grave, ~le only refuge for t he slave , Ul10 t.10urns for libe1~t::_r. Also 0ffe ctive and sustaining i n pouer is "The Slave's Complaint" wh en featu1'es seven thre e -line stanzas with a final indented one Hord r·cfr•ain: "Forove1~" which is followed by either question mark, colon or exc lau!ation mark . Horton handles well so,,ie of his love poems and in "The Lover's Farewell" is able to touch base ·with that broad and painful understanding of Hhat it means to say goodbye: I leave n:y parents here behind, And all ~~ friends--to love resignad-1Tis grief to go, but death to stay: Farewell--I 1 m gone with love away! In this and oth er pieces Horton makes good u se of dashes--which allow him to dev e l op suspense and render his statements more 122 �dramatic. Because of its various uses, the dash has arrived as an important ingredient of modern and contemporary Black poetry. Contrary to many of his learned contemporaries and predecessors, Horton apparently consciously thought of, and worked toward, his freedom. This fact is reflected both in bis life's work and bis poetry. His own position, coupled with his sanguine delivery of folk wit and emphasis, can be seen in the fallowing stanza from "The Slave": Because the brood-sows left side pigs were black., vfuo sable tincture was by nature struck., Were you by justice bound to pull them back And leave the sandy-colored pigs to suck? For appraisals and selections of Horton•s works see Robinson's anthology, Collier Cobb I s An American Nan of Letters--George Moses Horton (1886), comments by Barksdale and Kinnamon, vfui tlow' s study, Brawley's Negro Genius, Loggins' work, Redding's study, Richard Walser 1 s The Black Poet (1967)., Brown's assessment and Jean Wagner's Black Poets of the United States ( 1973). Horton., of course, trails and precedes a long line of orators and poets, many of whom we know very little about today. In fact, comparatively speaking, there is a wide disparity between the readily available insignificant information on white writers of the period and the lack of vital data on Blacks. We do know that the early decades of the 19th century witnessed a developing Christian and political consciousness among Blacks 123 �and that most northern Black writers, intellectuals and educators turned their attention to th(educational, physical and e ~ n a ~ ne eds of free and enslaved Blacks_ Of these and other matters, Mrs. Porter provides ample proof and discus sion in Early Negro Writing., Occasional verse was also J_ somewhat of a tradition among many learned Blacks as was the ~ One such recorded item is "Spiritual Song" by Rev. Richard practic e of writing hymns, psalms and other spiritual songs. Allen, probably sermon~" 11 r sung during the delivery of a Re v. All e n employs internal rhyme by repeating similar sounds in the middle and at the end of lines. Varying his meter and using an irregular end-line rhyme scheme, he expresses the reli g ious fervor that consumed many Blacks of the period: Our time is a-flying , our moments a-dying ., He are led to i mprove them and qu ickly app ear, For the b less•d hour wh en Jesus in power, In glory shall come is now drawing near, Me t h inks there will be shouting , and I' m not doubting , But crying and screaming for mercy in vai n : 124 �Therefore my dear Brother., let 1 s now pray together., That your precious soul may be fill 1 d with fla me. Another such example is a 11 Hew Year I s AntbemII v-Tri tten by Michael Portune a nd "sung in the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas II on January 1, 1808. Fortune rs anthem is tra- ditional in its use of materials from Ne thodist hymns. tells the congregation to 11 He Lift up your souls to God on high 11 Wh o., with a tender f'ather• 1 s eye Looked down on Afric's helpless raceJ 11 Robery Y. Sidney composed two anthems For the National Jubilee of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, January 1st, 1809. 11 "Anthem. I" be g ins: DRY your tears., ye sons of Afric, God has shown his gr•ac ious power; He has stopt the horrid traffic, That your country's bosom tore. See thr•ough clouds he smiles benignant, See your nation's g lory rise; Though your foes may from indignant, All their wrath you may despise. This stanza is followed by a "Chorus, 11 "Sole" and "Recitative. In ."Anthem II II an abbreviate form is employed and Sidney drops the solo and recitative--keeping only the chorus: Chorus. Rejoice that you were born to see, 125 11 �•, This glorious day, your jubilee. Sidney also wrote a hymn which Mrs. Porter includes along with hymns by religious leaders Peter 'H illiams Jr., and 1-Jilliams Hamilton. Both men, using the English for ms, celebrate freedom, call for mutual aid among Blacks and preach the virtues of the Christian God. Williams praises the "eloquence/Of' Wilb.e rforce" after whom a predominantly Black university was named in Ohio .. For de tailed information on sources for these and similar 1:1ritings see Mrs. Porter's Early Negro Writing: 1760-1873. The collection includes two very touching examples of writings "On Slavery 11 and "On Freedom II by 12-yea.r- old boys from the . . New York African Free School established in 1786. In reading into the life and works of Daniel A. Payne (1811-1893), one is immediately struck by his dedication to the task of upgrading Blacks. Educator, university president, missionary and poet, Payne was born in Charleston, South Carolina of free parents. He was orphaned at 10-years-old, apprenticed to a carpenter and then to a tailor. Later trained in classical education at the local Minor's Moralist Society's school, he taught free Black students for a fee and slaves free of charge at night. Payne's travels took him to various places (New Orleans, Baltimore, Canada and twice to England) where be helped expand the programs of the African Methodist Church. Trained in the Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, he was ordained in 1839, Arter preaching for several years, be was made an M.M.E. Bishop in 1852. In the political and educational spheres he helped ~rge Lincoln 126 �(on April 14, 1862) to sign the bill to emancipate slaves in the District of Columb ia., and spearheaded the purchase of Wilberforce University--serving as its president for 16 years. Payne devoted most of his life to the cause of free and enslaved Blacks and to writing poetry and religious history. \J\¼ Pleasures and Other Hiscellaneous Poems Has publish~d in )Baltimore in 1850~ He also wrote books on the history and mission of the A.M.E. Church. Especially valued for its social and intellectual insight into 19th century Blacks is Paynets Recollect ions of Seventy Years published in Nashville in 1888. As a poet Payne is erudite and imitative. Robinson correctly observes that a major problem with the poetry is 11 the repe- tition of end stopped lines, and his diction, a hybrid of classical and Biblical vocabularies, can prove distracting to many readers. 11 Much of this we can forgive, ho1vever, when we understand Henry Dumas ' remark that 11 a Black poet is a preacher. Certainly a preacher--in fact or as poet--knows very well the meaning of and need for repetition. convince us of h is seriousness . Yet Payne never fails to So hurt was he in wake of the 1834 South Carolina law that, effective in 1035, made Black literacy illegal, Payne wrote "The llot.u-.nf ul Lute of t h e Preceptor 1 s Fo.rewell. 11 He find hi oncern for students in these lines: Ye lad s , uhom I have tau gh t Hi th sacred zeal, For yoin-. hard fate I pangs of sorroH feel; Ob, Hho shall now your rising talents guide, Hhere virtues reign and sacred truths preside? 127 11 �Pay n e i s a h a ndler of t he language , ob s e r v i ng t b at "tu o revolv i ng mo o ns s rw.1 1 l i gb t t he shor e s la1-1 11 s1i ut t he do ors 11 II af te r t he dr e ad on e ducatt on f or S outh Caro lina Blac ks . E ngu lf 0d i n tbo r- c l i c; i ous and r:1oral f er vor of 111a ny Bla ck mi ni s t e1°s of tbe p er i od , t he poe t o. nd or at or refl e cts a g e-old conc e r ns a bout de c e it a nd mistru s t i n sucb pi e c e s as rrTba Plcasu:i. e s. 0 n He c omp lains tha.t I-IE::: n talk of Love! But f e11 do e v er f e el Th e s p ee chle s s r a p tures u h ich it s j oys r e ve al. I1en "u i s tak o l ove, 11 Payne no t e s, F or grove lling lust, that vile, t h at fi l t h y d a me, Hh ose bo som n e ' e r eve r f e lt the sacr e d flame / ;--+ 1 For i ns i ch t into Pay n e rs lif e a nd works one could g o to any one of' bis @consid erable numbe;@ of' writing s. Among others, they include The Ser.ii- Cen t enary and th e Retros pe ction of the Africa n Methodist Ep iscopal Church (Baltimore, 1866) a nd Th e Histor y 6f the A. M. E . Church (Nashvi~le, 1866). Josephus R. Coam•s 1935 (Philidelphia) biography: S ee als o Daniel Alexand e r Paynej Christian Educator, Robinson 1 s comment s and Brawl ey' s Ne gro Genius. Unfortunately too little is known of romantic poet John Boyd; esp e cially since his work reflects genuine g ifts and talents. Boyd's poetic imag es ar e brilliant, sustained, searing and generally accurate even if they are not always 128 �connected in a way that makes them readily acessible .. The only record of Boyd is made available by C.R .. Nesbitt, Esq .. , Deputy Secretary and Registrar of the Government of the Bahamas. Nesbitt must have recognized the talent and the promise and he aided Boyd 1 s poetry through publication in London in 1834,. Boyd, it seems, was self-taught on New Profidence Island where he remained all his life. His poem "Vanity of Life" was published in the February 16, 1833, issue of the Boston-based Liberator .. His 1834 volume is entitled The Vision/ and other/ Poems,/ in Blank Verse/ by John Boyd/ a man of Colour/. Practically unedited, the manuscript is what Robinson calls a "publishing scramble." Like most of the poets of the period Boyd's work owes debt to Milton, the Bible and classical influences. "The Vision/ a Poem in Blank Verse" is immediately reminiscent of Milton's Paradise Lost .. Boyd skirts a rhyme scheme but employs a. fairly regular iambic pentameter meter. All things considered, his work partially cancels the criticism by Sterling Brown that Black poets lag in their stylistic awareness. opens brilliantly with: Me thought the Hoon, pale regent of the sky, Crested, arrl filled with lucid radiance., Flung her bright gleams across my lowly couch; 129 "Vision" �And all of heaven's fair starry fir ,1 ament Delightful shone in lmes of glittering light, Reflecting ) like to fleecy gold, th e dewy air. In his "Vision" Boyd encounters characters of both the heavens and the hells. Uh e n the narrator, "dreamer" joined the train Fervent hosannas struck the astonish'd ear., As wben in the midhour of calmest night, Stillness pervadeth the awakened wave., Roused by the secret power that moves the deep, It heaves its loud surge on the sounding shore; The "vision" is also peopled by 11 grin:i death and ghastly Sin" who "lay coiled, like snakes in one huge sco.ly fold, consider their "inexpiable doom--. 11 11 and Boyd's tones are sacred and surreal and he assembles harmlessly complex subordinate clauses that help build an exciting linguistic crecendo as in "Ocean 11 : \fuen the fiat of the most High., Thy fountains burst., a copiously 130 �Thy secret springs, with ample store, Pourtd forth thair waves from shore to shore Wide as the ·waters roll, oh, wave. co MM e,JI/S<IV',4 f e,_,,, Boyd's work has yet to be appraised in t e r m s ~ with its importance. Robinson makes brief but significant comments on his poetry. Ann Plato, another romantic poet, is also one for whom r- ) there exists 11 ttle g,:;f' th~ important factual data. This second Black American female to publish a book almost skirts the racial theme completely .. Her Essays:/ Including/ Biographies and Miscellaneous Pieces,/in/ Prose and Poetry was published in Hartford in 1£341. What little is known of her comes by 'l;,Tfl.Y of an introduction to her book 'Wllieb --rn.s HFii5ten by Rev .. J. W. C. Pennington.., pastor of the Colored Congregational Cburch in Hartford, of which she was a member. First of August, 11 Except for her "To the 1-1ritten in celebration of the 1833 abolition of slavery in the British Hest Indies, there are only allusions to slavery. Her book also contains ~ssays on religion, mod- eration, conduct and other conventional themes. These same themes are pretty much paralleled by the 20 poentV in her boo which deal with home life, deaths of acquaintances and moral issues. "Tieflections, Written on Visiting the Grave of a Venerated Friend" begins: Deep in this grave her bones remain, She's sleeping on, bereft of pain; 131 / �The language and the subject matter are stock but Not, 11 11 For•get Me each stanza of which ends with the title, is well handled and has flashes of the preachment of self-control that Vassa alluded to in his verses: lfuen bird does wait thy absence long, Nor tend unto its morning song; lfuile thou art searching stoic page, Or listening to an ancient sage, i·! hose spirit curbs a mournful rage, Forget lfo Not. Her interest in oral literature and the storytelling tradition is a.ppar·ent in 11 11 The Natives of America II where she asks: Tell me a story, father, please., 11 And then I so.t upon his knees. Again, as in her contemporaries, we find the inf]uences of English writers of a preceding generation or so, the debt to Biblical learning and much imitation. For brief critical notes on Niss Plato see Robinson's Early Black American Poets. LJ,'fS Another abolitionist-minister an<;l orator-poe;,1Elymas Payson Rogers (1814?-1861) who, after teaching public schools in Rochester, New York, took up pastoring in Newark, New Jersey. One of Rogers' students &8 e teae~or was Jerimiah w. Loguen ·who later become an important social-religious leader and a Bishop of the A.M.E. Church. Fugitive slave Loguen's bio- graphy (see Negro Caravan) appeared in 1859, in Syracuse, under the title, The Reverend J.W. Loguen, As a Slave and as 132 �a Freeman.. Known, as were many of the orator-poets, for reciting his poems orally, Rogers' themes are unashamedly abolition, Black betterment arrl political hypocrisy. Working politically on behalf of Blacks, Rogers apparently designed The Fugitive Slave Law (Newark, 1855) and Repeal of Missouri t Compromise Considered (Newark, 1856) to be read aloud from platforn~. Like., James H. ·whi tfield, who came later, Rogers gave up hope in America's ever giving Blacks a fair deal and / sailed for Africa where he died after contacting a. fever a few days after he arrived there,. His incisive no-hoi{s-barred approach to the political climate and conditions of the time is seen in 11 0n the Fugitive Slave Law": LawJ What is Law? The wise and sage, Of every clime and every age, In this most cordially unite, That 'tis a rule for doing right. And the ringing cry of the elocutionist can be heard later in the poem when, in discussing the fugitive bill, he asks and answers: That Bill a law? the South says so, But Northern freeman answer, NoJ Anticipating the fiery and torrential 1,J bitfield (and 20th century "angry voices 11 ) Tiogers continues: That bill is law, doughfaces say; But black men everywhere cry 11 Na:,r: We'll never yield to its control While life shall animate one soul 133 �At times bi ting and o v e ~ n g l y harsb as a poet, Rogers resounds in "The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise Considered 11 with these words: > "I want the land, 11 was F~edom 's cry; And Slavery answered, "So Do I J By all that's sacred, I declare I 1 11 have my just and lawful share. The Northern cheek should glow with shame To think to rob me of my claim." With built-in drama and careful cuts, Rogers assessed the state of the nation during his time. In a line like "LawJ What Law? 11 he purposely begs the question in order to wring the emotional and rhetorical pouer from the words and to evoke responses from audiences. References to Rogers can also be found in Robinson's Early Black American Poets. Iw.tbematicia.n., poet, educator and Black community worker, Charles L. Reason (1818-1898) uas born in New York City of Haitian parents. He attended the New York African Free School Hhere he later returned as a member of the all-Black faculty. Seeking the ministry, Reason was, for racial reaso ns , forbidden full time attendance at the ~1eological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Eventually, however, he became eligible for a professorship in ?~thematics and Belle Lettres (1849) at the Ne1v York Central College in NcGrauville, Courtlandt County. William G. Allen and George B. Vashon Here also on the faculty ther e . Ile held various educational jobs including a princi- palship of tho Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia 134 �and graurnar sb co ol Ho. 80 in Hew York City Hhile H. Cordelia. nay uas a teacher• thero. neason uas a.n intellectual and a sch ol ar but was not blind to the practical needs of Afro/\.t11or ica ns . Irv oppos0d plans to colonize Bl acks, c lailili ng inst ead that th ey nee~ded to pursue vocational careers here in Amer• ica. Again, not primarily a poet, Reason is competent as a poe t in "The Sp irit Voice II which opens with: Come ! r ouse ye brothers, rouse! a poal nou breaks Prom lowe s t island to our gallant lakes: 1 Tis summoning you, who in bonds have lain, To stand up ma nful on the battle plain, and ur ces Blacks to fight for freedom and opportunity. The poem (whos e comple te title is "The Spirit Voice or, Liberty Call to th e Disfranchised") is indebted to the rhyming couplet so famous dm.. ing the era and which had been used with great skill by Phillis \·n1eatley. It appears in William Simmons Men of Nark (Cleveland, 18B?). r Like that of other orator-poets, Reason's work is designed to be read aloud in order to stir and move poeple to action. Therefore he exhorts, reinforces, demands, warns, admonishes and issues veiled threats. 11 His s piri t voice" (see the idea of African Spirit Force) longs for the time when freedom's mellm• light 135 �Shall bre a k, and usher in t he e ndless day , Th a t f r om Orleans to Pass 1 maquoddy Bay, Despots no more may earth ly homa ge claim, No slaves exist, to soil Columbia's name. The poem was ·w ritt e n in 1841 and shows Re as on I s poetic abilities etched out und er the strain of racis m and the countless chores demanded of an educated Black of the period., Elsewhere ("Freedom") he gave this familiar cry: 0 Freedom: Freedom! Oh, how oft Thy loving children call on TheeJ ~ 7 In wailings loud a~d breathings sf oft, Beseeching God, th ~y face to see. I How r eminisc e nt of and 11 not unlike" the Spirituals this burst isJ Certainly the student of this peirod of Black poetry will want t o ke ep his rhy thmic lyres attuned to the Biblical and innovative cadences of those "Black and unknown bards." For assessments of Reason see Robinson, Brawley and Kerlin. :More of Reason's work appears in A Eulogy on the Life and Character of Thomas Clarkson (1847) and in Auto graphs for Freedom (1854). Anticipating the .Ure-American poignancy and humor in this line by Langston Hughes, America never was America to me 136 �and this one by Lance Jeffers to make me more American than America James M. vJhitf'ield (1823-1878) voiced some of the most powerful and angry protest yet heard in Black American poetry when / he publish ed America and Other Poems in Buffalo in 1853. V Barber, worker for Black colonization, poet and pioneer journalist, Whitfield had earlier authored various types of writings: Poems in 181~6; "Hm-;r Long? 11 ( publisbed in Julia Griffith rs Autographs for Freedom in Rochester, 1853); "Self-Reliance, Delusive Hope, and Ode for the Fourth of July" (in The Liberator, November 18., 1853); 11 Lines--Addressed to Mr. and Mrs. J.T. Holly, on the Death of Their Two Infant Daughters 11 (In Frederick Douglass' Paper, February 29, 1856); and Emancipation Oration (San Francisco, 1867). lrJhitfield is known chiefly for America which was received so favorably that he was able to leave bis barber shop and devote full time to making speeches for the abolitionist cause, working for colonization programs and general Black develop- > ment. He had personal contact with b~th DoL,lass and novelist :Martin Delaney who called the 1854 National Emigration Convention of Colored Men which Whitfield attended. respected and admired Hhitfield., Douglass apparently But the two men differed on the question of colonization and participated in a lively debate. Pursuing his own position with vigor, Whitfield established the African-American Respository, in 1858, as a pro-colonization propaganda organ. Though born in Exeter, New Hampshire Whitfield ) 137 �spent most of bis life in Buffalo uhere be barbered and conducted most of his colonization efforts. He apparently died on bis way to look into the possibilities of colonizing Black Americans in Central America. Delaney had changed bis mind and the emigration scheme was never realized. Like most of the orator-poets, Hbitfield is 1.;riting to be heard, listened to and read aloud. Consequently much of his poetry (though not lacking in religious fervor) reinforces his ideology and negative vieus of America. America, the Street land of liberty becomes for Uhi tfield, "America 11 Thou boasted land of liberty,-and To thee I sing becomes It is to thee I raise my song, Thou land of blood, and crime, and wrong. Like Rogers, \·Jhi tfield did not believe America was capable of redemption; and, ac;ain like his pred_e cessor, he died on a > journ~, to find something better. The idea of 11 giving 11 • up on America would uppear thematically in the poetry of later writers like Fenton Johnson, Lee, Baraka and sor,1e of the Muslim poets. It would also be implicit in the expatriation of wri te1°s and artists such as Paul Robeson, Wright, Baldwin, Chester Himes and Katherine Dunham. In a driving iambic pentameter "'18:b::P' (in couplets), whiah has o.11 the openings for spontaneous interjections and expletives, ·whitfield in 138 11 Amer\ca, 11 accuses �the United States of killing the Black sons uho fought for her and of general hypocrisy. Here one can see Whitfield CV anticipating; current slogan, which Hayden makes use of in "Words in tho Hourning Time 11 : Killing people to save, to free them? Though more general, \Jhitfield continues a similar assault (stating life is hell) in "The Misantbropisi~,'' but tones down 11 to a reverent salute 'I, I All bailJ To Cinque 11 : thoui;h truly noble chief, ·who scorned to live a cowering slave; Tby name shall stand on history rs leaf, Amid the mighty ani the brave: Whitfield praises the revolutionary Cinque who "in freedom's lJ1ight II Shall beard the robber in his den; and ••• fire anew each freeman's heart_ Since Whitfield's primary goal is to get o. political "message" over, bis poetry, as art, leaves some_ things to be desired. Robinson points out that Hhitfield "is genuinely angry" (despite the inf'luence of Byron) and that the bitterness and force in his work is not to be mistaken for romantic or linguistic cosmetics_ Lastly, we must note that Uhitfield expressed concern for global oppression; quite modern in this, he s~rved, more or less, as a chronicler of world turbulence and a harbinger of the direct and emphatic assaults that today's Black poets heap upon tyranny. He viewed the 139 11 Russian Bear" (reflecting �on European despotism of the mid 1800 's) in bis poem "Holl Long? 11 : I see the "Rugged Russian Bear" Lead forth his slavish hordes, to war Upon the right of every State Its own affairs t-o regulate; To help each despot behind the chain Upon the people I s rights again., And crush beneath his ponderous paw All constitutions, rights am law., Selections of vfuitfield's poetry can be found in the Robinson anthology., in Negro Caravan ( 1941), and in the Barksdale and Kinnamon text. Hhitlow discusses Whitfield's poetry and im- pact as does Loggins, Brown, Brawley, Wagner., and Ruthe Hiller (Black American Literature., 1971). The most popular Black 19th century poet before Dunbar was Frances E.W., Harper (1825-1911), the first Black American to publish a short story ( "The Two Offers, 11 1859). Born free in Baltimore as Frances Ellen Watkins, she was educated in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and spent most of her adult life in the · cause of antislavery and other types of social reform. She worked in turn for the abolition movement, the Underground Railroad, the A.M .. E. Church and the Women's Christian Temperance league. According to Dunn (The Black Press) she contributed to ne,;-rn and propaganda publications. Her• reform work was slackened by her marriage to Fenton Harper in Cincinnati in 1860., But after his early death in 1864 she resumed her efforts, lecturing in all but two southern states and promoting Black �• self-help p1"ograms. Her fame rested primarily on her Poems on Hiscellaneous Subjects published in 1854 in Philadelphia. A very popular volume, it wcrnt through twenty editions by 1874 (William Still 1s Undergr·ound Railroad, H372). Her literary activity was stepped up after the Civil War and included Hoses, A Story of the Hile which went through three editions by 1870; a volume entitled Poems came out in 1870 followed by a second edition in 1900; and attempts at prose fiction including Southern Sketches (1872, enlarged in 1896) and a novel, Iola LeRoy, published in 1892. has not been located. Her first work, Forest Leave~, Critics generally agree that Hrs. Harper's poetry is not original or brilliant. But she is exciting and co'.Iles through wi tb powerful flashes of imagery and statement. Her models are lh"s. Hemans, Hhittier and Longfellow, and so ue find an overuhelming influence from the ballad. In reading her poetry in public, Hrs. Harper ·was · able to appeal to what ) Johnson (God's Trotnbones) called a 11 higbly developed sense of sound" in Afro-Americans (see, again, sta t e1r1ents by Rev. Allen and Vass a). She apparently kneH her l .i mi to.tions, for Robins on tells us that her popularity ••• was not due to the conventional notion of poetic excellence, 11rs. Harper wo.s fully 0.1·1are of her limitations in that kind of poetry, it 1ms du e more to the sentimental, e:,1otion- freishted populari t~r uhat sbe had given the lines Hith her clisarmingly dramatic voj_ce and gestures und si~1 s and tears. �Up until t he Ci v i l 1far•, Hrs. I-Iarper 1 s favorite t hemes Here slavery, it s harshness , and the hyp ocris es of Amarica. She is car efu l to place graphic details tfuere they will 3et the great est result, especio.lly wb0n t he poe,;w are read aloud. An oxauple of' tb i s is found in "Tl1e S lave Eo tl1er ": Ho is not hers, f o~ cruel ~a~tls The onl~r 1-n-eu.t h of hon o el:old love ~1at binds he r bre a k i n~ heart. A. sir.lilar play on tho emo tio ns is seen in poe u s like in a T1re8 Land, 11 "~-io ncs for the P0ople, 11 (Hi th its sth rine;s of fe minis 1;1 ) and 1 11 1 11 • Bury He ''Doubl e S ta nd ard" Tbe Slave Auction. rr A woman is not solely responsible for her in 11 11 fall, rr s he suggests Doub le Standard II a dding that And uhat is ur onc in a woman I s life In man •s cannot be ric;ht. Hi gh ly r·eadable and less academic in her us e of p oe t:lc techniqu es and vocabular ies, Nrs. Harper is neve1 tl1e less quite 1 indebted t o th0 Bible :for much of her i magery a nd moral me ssag e. And she is able to merge and modify the folk a nd religious forms in a poem like 11 Truth II where s he ope ns with u debt to the Spiri tua.ls: A rock, for ages, ste1. . n and hi e;b, S tood fro1-m ing 1 gainst t he e arth a nd sky, And never bowed bis haur;hty crest When angry s tor1-:1s around h i m prest. Horn , spring inc fro m the arms of ni;)1t, �Had often bathed his brou with light, And kissed tbe shadous f1°om his face Uith tender• love and gentlsi grace. Several religious songs are suggested here; but she also loves to return to the theme of women as she does in and "The Slave Hoth er. 11 11 A Double Standard 11 In the ballad "Vashti II she tells of the heroine v1ho dared to disobey her dictator-husband. The strength and dete1 mination of womanhood is expressed in the 1 last two stanzas: She heard again the King's command., And left her high estate; Strong in ber earnest i;-10manhood, She calmly met her fate, And left the palace of the King Proud of her spotless name-A woman who could bend to grief But 1-1ould not bow to shame. Certainly a comprehensive biographical-critical study of }I.rs. Harper is long over.Jue. Selections of her work can be found in Kerlin•s critical anthology, in Negro Caravan, in Robinson's book., in Miller's anthology, in the Barksdale and Kinnamon anthology and in numerous other recent anthologies. Mrs. Harper's works are critically examined by Loggins, Wagner, ·whi tlow, Bro.i-rley, Broun and Sherman (Invisible Poets: Black Americans of the 19th Century, ' 1974). Like other writers, educators and activists of his day, �George B. Vashon (1822-1878) contributed to the influential Anglo-African l1aga.zine which was published intermittently between 1859 unti 1 the end of t11e Ci vi 1 'I.Jal".. Vashon had a good solid educa.tion--in classics and history--at Oberlin College where he received his A.B., in 1844 and I-LA., in 1849 .. ' Vashon, known chiefly for his "Vincent Oge," which Sterling Brown tells us, "is the first narrative poem of any length by a Negro poet,. 11 Vashon distinguished himself as a teacher, la-wyer, lectu1°er and uriter. He practiced laH in Syracuse, taught school in Pittsburg, served on the faculties of College Faustin in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, New York Central College (Hherc he was a colleague of Reason and Allen) and Houard Unive1"'sity in D .. C. uhere he was a law professor. lfuch of Vashon•s poetry reflects debts to his strong education and the influence of Scott and Byron. All are seen in "Vincent Og~," inspired by the courageous (but foolish) . f efforts of Vincent Oge, a Haitian mulatto who was "entrusted with the message of enfranchisement to the people of mixed blood on the is land. 11 The order bad _come down from the Con- vention in France, of i.-J hich Hai ti wa.s a colony.. Internal disruption in France (due to tho Revolution, 1789-1799) had I echoed to its colonies in the Caribbean t~ere Oge led a short-lived armed uprising that cost hir,1 his life when he wa.s refused asylum in Spanish Santo Doraingo and remanded to the French autho1"'i ties in Hai ti. As punishment and a. warning to ' other•s., tbc P1°ench had Oge tortured on the uhee l and severed his body into four parts eae1".l o:f' c-rhich w e Jre-,W.Q,,it" hung . up in the four �leading cities of the island. I Oge's followers were either put to death or i mpr isoned and t he ir pr•operties confiscated. ' example as Has "'\·.J bitfield by Vashon 1-1as as L1.oved by Ogets In the lengthy poem, Cinque's~ II f Vincent Oge, rr Vasbon i1m11or- r talizes Oge in an admixture of classical and Biblical language, using a pleasant iamb ic tetra.111 eter meter and an over.J.ose of dissonance in his rhyme scheme which featu1,es an alternating a b a b/ a a hb. The style is som01-1bat reminiscent of Whitfield who breaks his rhyme scheme (see "America 11 ) after each group of eight or nine lines. "Vincent Ogt II and · "A Life-Day II were both printed in Auto graph s for Freedom for 1853. For Vashon, the strugele is very much alive, I And Oge stands mid this array Of matchless beauty, but his brow Is brightened not by pleasure 1 s play; He stands unmoved--nay., saddened not., As doth the lorn and mateless bird ' and Oge, dedicated to struggle, presses on. Vashon carefully weaves the graphic details of his protagonist's execution into the narrative and anticipates the more fire-tipped pens of later Black (lynch.:.theme) poets such as Johnson, HcKay, Hughes, Brown and Dodsen: Frowning t he y stand, and in their cold, Silent solemnity 7 unf'old r.r11e strong one Is triumph o'er the weak-The at:ful gr oan--the anguished shriek-The unconscious mutterings of despair-- 145 �11he strained eyeball's idiot stare-The hope less clencb--the quivering frame-The martyr's death--the despot's shame4 The ra.c k--the tyrant--victim,--all Are gathei-•ed in that Judgment Hall. Draw ue a veil, for •tis a sight But fiends cnn gaze on wi tb deligh t. Freighted ·with emotion and terro1~ like much of the work of Mrs. Harper, and setting the stage for such awesome poei@ as Wri ght's "Bet·ween the World and He, " McKay• s "The Lynch inc; , 11 Dunbar Is "The . Haunted Oak" and Dodson's "Lament," Va.shon•s relentless narrative signals a new and sustaining power in t h e work of Black poets. Compare, for example, the last two lines of the stanza above to HcKay 1 s couplet in his sonnet "The Lynching ": And little lads, lynchers that were to be, Da nced round the dredful thing in fiendish gle e ., Unlike HcI(ay , however , Vashon cheers up at the end: Thy coming fame, Ogel is sure; Thy name with that of L · •Overture, And all t he noble souls that stood 1vi th both of you, in times of blood, Will live to be the tyrant's fear-Compare this ending, if you will, to the ending salute to 11 General Hash ington" by Hiss Hheatley. 11 A Life-Day" is a shorter poem, in three parts, a nd, like "Vincent Og~, is founded �on a factual event: the love-ai'fair and eventual marriage of a young white man and a light-skinned Black. For selections of Vashon' s works see Autographs for Freedom and Robinson's anthology. For critical discussions see the works of Brown and Brawley. As we prepare to move to the next phase in the development of Black poetr•y, it is important that we tarry long enough to pay brief attention to some of the Creole poets. He select Pierre Dalcour., Armand Lanusse (1812-1867), Victor Sejour (1817- 1874), Nelson Debrosses and Nicol Riquet. Somewhat of an anomaly in Afro-American literature and poetry, these Creole poets are nevertheless important if the complete p:ortrait of this many-sided and complex tradition is to be understood. There is nothing typically American in their poetry--not even in terms of American imitators of English forms--a.nd they rarel:r display any racial consciousness and general injustice. 01, concern for slavery Nost were fluent in speaking and writing French and from that influence their work derives a spicy melody and an unhibited treatment of romantic love and revelry. Huch of the work is also intimate and sophisticated in its use of conventions and materials gained from French educations. The Creole poets' Horks appeared as "tbe first published anthology of ·Negro verse in America II in a volume called Les Cenelles (New Orleans, 1845). In addition to French, the Creole poets also 1-1rote in Spanish, La.tin and Greek and uere Generall~r from the wealthy land-owner class J-4 7 �and 01-1nod slaves. About Dalcour little is 1-::noHn e::rnept t11at he 11as born of wealthy par•ents uho sent bim to Pr anc e in t he ea.rly 1800 • s t o re c 0i vo a gooc.1 education. Roturninc to l'Tew 01°leans after his schooling, he uas unab le to acc ept tl~e racial tempe1~ and again took up rE: sidency in Fra nce. 1-Jhile i n Hew Orleans, houe ver , ho uroto a number of poems, one of u h ic11 was ~h i tt 0n in th.3 .Alh u~.1 of I:a.dar,10 iselle. 0 11 r e li ves the vaulted sk i es II 11 11 Vor•se Tl.1e poe D toucbinc ly and "gentle flashes rr 11l1 icl1, to the poet , ar e " loss l ovo ly 11 wb.cn seen U.'.:;ainst the la¢ly's eyes Beneath their brown lashes. Lanusse, Le r.enelles editor, contributed to New Orleans nreole newspapers, L'Union and ~a Tribune, served ns a conscript ed Co nfederate sold i e r in the Civil Har , spent some time ns principal of t bo Catholic :J ch o ol for Inc1iscnt Orphans of Color. He also encou rage d lit erary and other artistic exp1·ess ion a1.10nc fcllo-tJ artists and ::rn lici ted uork for Les Cenclles. He culoc;iz0d h is br·othcr , lTuma , in the poem 1 '1.Tn Pr!re/Au Tombeau de Son Pr!re," re calling t h at "u r @!. n:; death has cut you down." VS 0 Elsewhere Lanuss e refers to death as " some other b a nd shutting your e:re lids. 11 S omcH!rn. t no.ught ier a nd more poignant in "Ep igram," La nusse g i ves the account of . a 11 . ·wor:1an of ev il" who wants to "r enounce the devil n but, ask fl . Before pure gr ac e takes me in hand , Shou l dn I t I shoH my daugh t er how to ge t a man?" "'-./ �sJjour• lived ~110st of his life i n France a nd only returned to Hew Orl0ans for br ief visits to h is lilOther . Son of a ·wealthy family, he 111,ote s ever al plays, 21 of wh ich were stage d in Fr•ance a nd three in Hew Orleans in the 1850 1 s. sJjour 's literary a b ilities were praised by Napoleo n III and he rubbed shoulders lJi th major Fre nch literary personalities of bis day. Eis scope is uider t h an some of the other Creole poets. "Le Re tour de FapolJon 11 ( His "The Return of Napoleon 11 ) is an e le g7 f a.nd a celebration all j_n one. While eulogizing Napoleon, Sejour prai ses both his and France's triump~s and g lories. poem of flouing, g-r aphic exaltation. 11 a "sea II that It is a Opening on t h e scene of gr oans under the burning sun, 11 he narrates the gr outh and collapse of France as a. world power: And on a nd on she swe pt, an unleashed tempe st wild, and France mov ed on ahead. No more. All is over • ••• Yet, hail, 0, captainJ Hail my consul of proud bearing. Admonishing France to country that 11 11 1:leep, France, ll$ep., 11 , Se jour reminds the death has lightning struck the people rs g iant. 11 Little is known about the perso nal life of Debrosses which, according to Robinson., "seems in keeping with bis Haitian gained experience in Voodoo, aspects of which he practised in Hew Orleans. 11 In Debrosses' "Le Retour .au Village aux Perles 11 ( "neturn to the Villag e of Pearls 11 ) , he seems to a nti cipate what Waring Cuney sees through the "dishwater" in h is poem 149 �_j_ "Images." The Creole poet returns to the village to find that Her spirit dances here and there in these enchanting places and to locate --that flower-bosomed grove again., the witness of our secret passion, and too, the cherished brook to which my soul would on this day confide its ho.ppy memory. A cigo.r-mal{er by trade., Riquet lived all of bis life in New Orleans where be pursued a vigrous avocation of ·writing light verses. His "Rondeau Redouble/ Aux Franc Amis 11 ( "Double Rondeau/To Candid Friends 11 ) leaves no doubt that Riquet saw himself as at least serious in bis avocation. A rondeau is a French-originated lyrical poem of 13, or sometimes, 10 lines., There are two rhymes throughout the poem and the opening phrase is repeated twice as a refrain. The form is remotely reminiscent of the blues an:1 Spiritual forms of Afro-American poetry., Riquet says that since his "candid friends aJ:'.e calling for a rondeaul he and his ":Muse • • • must worlr a 1vonder. 11 11 Other Creole poets included Niebel Saint-Pierre (18? - 1866)., Camille Threrry (1814-1875), Joanni Questi (18? - 1869 compiled an Alma nach of Laughter) and T.A. Desdunes Nb om Jahn says "is reminiscent of the Senegalese poet Birago Diop. 11 The duty of the poet is to "rhyme in an uncommon uay 11 or he will "earn the name of poetaster--from our candid friends." 150 �The Creole poets are examined and represented by selections in E. Nn ceo Coleman 's Creole Voices (Hasbington, D.C., 1945) See also Charles Rousseve 1 s The and in Robinson•s anthology, Negro and Louisiana (Xavier University Press, 1937), and the critical selection by Jahn. in Hughe s r and Bontemps Lanusse and Lecour also appear The Poetry of tbe Hegro (1949~ 1970). I There were other poets Hriting and publish ing during this same period. I1any of them published their works in single editions, and copies of some are no longer extant., refers too. poet knoun as 11 Caesar 11 who allegedly 1vrote but 1,1bosc poetry is not available. are: Brawley Other poems and their collections Ilaria and Harriet Falconar, Poems on Slavery (London, 1783); Jo.mes Hontgomery, Jamas Graham, E. Benger, Poems on the A1) oli tion of the Slave Trade (London, 1809); Anonymous, Tbe Uest Indies and 0th Gr Poems ( 1 8 11); John Bull, The Slave and Other Poems 1824); Rev. Noah c. Cannon, Tbe nock of l!isdom .,. (London, To Hhich Ar•c Added Several Interesting Hymns (New York,? 1833); Anonyu1ou s, "The Comlilemorative Hreath: In Celebration of the Extinction of Negro Slavery in the Bri tisb Dominions (London, 1835); Anonymous, Anti-Slave ry l-Ielodies (Hingb a 1;1, Hasso.chusetts, 1834); George 1'n1itfield Clark, compiler, The Liberty I-Ii nstrel (Neu York, 1844); Hilliam Hells B1 own, Anti-Slavery Harp (Boston, 1 1849); 11 A West Indian, 11 Charleston, Soutll Carolina: a satiric poem shouinc; that slavery still exists in tbe conntr~r which boasts, above all otbcrs, of being the seat of liber·ty. 1851); Sar.1-----------------Darlmcss BronGb t to li ch t 151 (London, (Derry , �lTeH Hampshire,? 1855); George H. Cletrk, The Har•p of Preedom (:New York, 1856); and Abel Charles Thomas, The Gospel of Slavery ( Heir York, 1864). In 1860 Blacks represented l.4.1~; of' the United States population and were 4,1~41, 830 str•ong. The sour tastes lei't by the 1vorst internal social inflagration until the 1960 1 s and 70 • s, the problems of car int; for and protecting the soon-to-be-released slaves, the need to develop and staff educational facilities i'or Blacks, all engulfed Afro-Americans in a deluge of horror and hope. Although it is clear that the works of many poets leap the arbitrarily-imposed chronological boundaries, the temperments, themes, dictional preferences and limitations discussed generally hold for most of the poetry of the period. Despite the surprising successes, and the flashes of brilliance intertwined with mediocrity and comedy, the Black poet would labor long to remove "the image of a face 11 that, in the uords of Corrothers, on the wild s1veet flowers. 11 Lieth, like shado1v 11 The following poems are included as examples to enhance and possibly clarify the foregoing discussion on the and Agitation II of "African Voices In Ee lips e. 152 11 11 Imitation ... � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_08_11 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, p. 43-152, typed manuscript Description An account of the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, p. 43-152, typed manuscript. Draft includes IV. Folk Seculars, V. Spirituals, Section, VI. Folk Seculars, Chapter III. African Voice in Eclipse: Imitation & Agitation, and III. The Voices on the Totem. Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B.