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

by Shane White, Graham White

This exploration of African American slavery through sound is a groundbreaking way of understanding both slave culture and American history

"A work of great originality and insight."
-Ira Berlin 

"Shane White and Graham White's book is a joy."
-Branford Marsalis

"A fascinating book . . . that brings to life the historical soundscape of 18th- and 19th-century African Americans at work, play, rest, and prayer . . . This remarkable achievement demands a place in every collection on African American and U.S. history and folklife. Highly recommended."
- Library Journal

"The authors have undertaken the difficult task of bringing to contemporary readers the sounds of American slave culture . . . [giving] vibrancy and texture to a complex history that has been long neglected."
- Booklist

"The book's strongest point is its attention to detail . . . [it] will not only be valuable to young scholars, but . . . to young performers and composers, especially with the explosion of interest in 'roots music,' looking for new sources of original and searing music."
-Ran Blake,  Christian Science Monitor

"A lyrical and original treatment of the musical and spoken culture of American slaves. This book is moving testimony to how scholarship can penetrate the transcendent spirit once considered exotic or unknowable, how historians can trace social survival to the human voice in slavery's heart of darkness."
-David W. Blight, professor of history, Yale University, and author of  Race and The Civil War in American Memory

"A seminal study of a neglected aspect of Southern and African-American culture . . . and the approach to the topic is both creative and resourceful. The book is highly recommended."
-Michael Russert,  The Multicultural Review

Shane White and Graham White,  who are not related, are professor and honorary associate, respectively, in the history department at the University of Sydney, Australia. They are the coauthors of  Stylin': African American Expressive Culture, from Its Beginning to the Zoot Suit.

Genres: History, Music, Nonfiction, African American, American History

241 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2005

About the author

SHANE WHITE is the Challis Professor of History and an Australian Professorial Fellow in the History Department at the University of Sydney specializing in African-American history. He has authored or co-authored five books, including "Playing the Numbers", and collaborated in the construction of the website Digital Harlem. Each project has won at least one important prize for excellence from institutions as varied as the American Historical Association and the American Library Association. He lives in Sydney, Australia.

Reviews

[Kristin Traylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cultural history of sound during American slavery, focusing on the musical and spoken culture of American slaves. A scholarly work for a general audience. The authors used various contemporary accounts along with later recorded interviews of former slaves made in 1930s.

Fascinating glimpses into the utter strangeness of that era. It doesn't paint a comprehensive picture, but you do get these vivid bits of a completely foreign, yet very nearby universe. For example, in July 1852 in Richmond, VA, four free blacks were arrested because they had been serenading "some black damsels" late at night. Two got sentenced to ten lashes and the younger two got five lashes. Around the same time inn Richmond, Kunkel's Opera Troupe, a minstrel show, was playing to standing room only audiences. So, you have white Richmond lashing blacks for singing and on the other they are paying money to see whites perform watered-down versions of black music in blackface.

There's much more to this book than this one example, it covers sounds of work, play, religious practice, etc. There are all sorts of obvious limitations to this type of project and I thought the authors did a great job of contextualizing their work within these limitations.

It's a short book, but it did take me a while to get through.

[Dr. Yvette Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed the CD that accompanied the book.

[Patrick Whitman]

With the CD, $6, ex Brisbane City Council Library!