Spirituals
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Spirituals is a genre of Christian music that is associated with African Americans, which merged varied African cultural influences with the experiences of being held in bondage in slavery, at first d
Engraving of Douglass from his 1845 narrative
Portrait of James Weldon Johnson in 1932
Fisk Jubilee Singers, 1875
Photograph of Harry T. Burleigh, 1936
Field holler
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The field holler or field call is mostly a historical type or figure of vocal work song sung by field slaves in the United States to accompany their tasked work, to communicate usefully, or to vent fe
Spirituals
…songs may include "overlapping layers, and spine-tingling falsetto humming." Stylistic origins include African music, Christian hymns, work songs, field holler,. Historian Jonathan Curiel also noted possible influences from Islamic music. According to a McGraw Hill publication for grade school, "Spirituals…
Chain gang singing in South Carolina
Picking cotton in a cotton field