The Sounds of Slavery: Discovering African American History through Songs, Sermons, and Speech Book

I loved this book. African Americans had had so much snatched from them, and there was so little recognition of their humanity, and yet they were able to establish communication, connection, and culture solely through their voices. The accounts of the time are mostly from letters of white visitors to the south, and they had never heard anything like the rhthyms, harmonies, and vocal techniques that were all around them. White people were also surprised at the constant mixture of spiritual and secular themes. Since singing could go on for many hours, the singers had many ways of keeping the music flowing. There also accounts from former slaves who were interviewed in the WPA. They talked about how wonderful it was to be allowed to have a black preacher.