xt7zgm81pd72 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7zgm81pd72/data/mets.xml Johnson, James Weldon, 1871-1938 Johnson, J. Rosamond (John Rosamond), 1873-1954 Brown, Lawrence 1925 scores (documents for music) M1670 .J67 1925 English Viking Press Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection African Americans -- Music Spirituals (Songs) The Book of American Negro Spirituals, 1925 text 187 pages, music, 26 cm. Call Number: M1670 .J67 1925 The Book of American Negro Spirituals, 1925 1925 1925 2022 true xt7zgm81pd72 section xt7zgm81pd72

THE BOOK OF AMERICAN
NEGRO SPIRITUALS

Edited with an introduciion by

JAMES VVELDON JOHNSON

Mtsical arrangements by

J. ROSAMOND JOHNSON

Additional numbers by
LAVVREN CE BROWN

NEW YORK THE VIKING PRESS MCMXXV

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MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF ABIERICA
BY THE VAIL-BALLOU PRESS, INC., BINGHAlVITON, N. Y.

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All of the songs in this collection have been
especially arranged for this hook and all
rights to them are reserved by the pub-

lishers.

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To those through whose eﬂorts these
songs have been colleez‘ed, preserved
and given to the world Hm's book
is lovingly dedicated.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

GO DOW’N MOSES

HEAV’N BOUN’ SOLDIER

JOSHUA FIT DE BATTLE OB JERICO
WE AM CLIM’IN’ JACOB’S LADDER
DIDN’T OLD PHARAOH GET LOS’?
SWING LOW SWEET CHARIOT

UP ON DE MOUNTAIN

LIT’LE DAVID PLAY ON YO’ HARP
DIE IN DE FIEL’

RIDE ON, MOSES

ALL GOD'S CHILLI'N‘ GOT \VINGS
DERE’S NO HIDIN’ PLACE DOWN DERE
GIMME DAT OL’—TIME RELIGION
LIS’EN TO DE LAM’S

HE’S JUS’ DE SAME TODAY

STAN’ STILL JORDAN

SOMEBODY’S KNOCKIN’ AT YO’ DO’
SINGIN’ \VID A SIVORD IN MA HAN’
I COULDN’T HEAR NOBODY PRAY
MY “’AY'S CLOUDY

IT’S ME, 0, LORD

I GOT A HOME lN-A DAT ROCK

BY AN’ BY

DEEP RIVER

\VHO DAT A~COMIN’ OVAH YONDAH?
ROLL JORDAN, ROLL

DE BLIN’ MAN STOOD ON DE ROAD AN” CRIED
ROLL DE OL’ CHARIOT ALONG

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CONTENTS

CALVARY

STEAL AWAY TO JESUS

GWINE UP

I’M TROUBLED IN MIND

O, GAMBLER. GIT UP OFF 0’ YO’ KNEES
MY LORD’S A-WRITIN’ ALL DE TIME ’
GIT ON BOARD, LITTLE CHILLEN
GWINTER SING ALL ALONG DE WAY
WHO’LL BE A WITNESS FOR MY LORD?
KEEP A-INCHIN’ ALONG ‘
WHERE SHALL I BE WHEN DE FIRS’ TRUMPET SOUN’?
PETER, GO RING DEM BELLS

NOBODY KNOWS DE TROUBLE I SEE
EV’RY TIME I FEEL DE SPIRIT

FATHER ABRAHAM

I’M A-ROLLIN’

DIDN’T MY LORD DELIVER DANIEL?

O, WASN’T DAT A WIDE RIVER?

KEEP ME F’OM SINKIN’ DOWN

DE BAND 0’ GIDEON

JOHN SAW THE HOLY NUMBER

GIVE ME JESUS

MY LORD, WHAT A MORNIN’

O, ROCKS DON’T FALL ON ME

DONE FOUN’ MY LOS’ SHEEP

WHAT YO’ GWINE TO DO WHEN YO’ LAMP BURN DOWN?
HALLELUJAH !

CRUCIFIXION

UNTIL I REACH—A MA HOME

I DONE DONE WHAT YA’ TOL’ ME TO DO
YOU MAY BURY ME IN DE EAS’

YOU GOT A RIGHT

WEARY TRAVELER

THE BOOK OF AMERICAN
NEGRO SPIRITUALS

P R E F A C E
0 BLACK AND UNKNOWN BARDS

0 black and unknown bards of long ago,

How came your lips to touch the sacred ﬁre?
How, in your darkness, did you come to know
The power and beauty of the minstrel’s lyre?
Who ﬁrst from midst his bonds lifted his eyes?
Who ﬁrst from out the still watch, lone and long,
Feeling the ancient faith of prophets rise
Within his dark-kept soul, burst into song?

Heart of what slave poured out such melody

As “Steal away to Jesus”? On its strains

His spirit must have nightly ﬂoated free,

Though still about his hands he felt his chains.

Who heard great “Jordan roll”? Whose starward eye

Saw chariot “swing low”? And who was he
That breathed that comforting, melodic sigh,
“Nobody knows de trouble I see”?

What merely living clod, what captive thing,

Could up toward God through all its darkness grope,
And ﬁnd within its deadened heart to sing

These songs of sorrow, love and faith, and hope?
How did it catch that subtle undertone,

That note in music heard not with the ears?

How sound the elusive reed so seldom blown,
Which stirs the soul or melts the heart to tears?

Not that great German master in his dream
Of harmonies that thundered amongst the stars
At the creation, ever heard a theme
Nobler than “Go down, Moses.” Mark its bars,
How like a mighty trumpet call they stir

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PREFACE

The blood. Such are the notes that men have sung
Going to valorous deeds; such tones there were
That helped make history when time was young.

There is a wide, wide wonder in it all,

That from degraded rest and servile toil

The ﬁery spirit of the seer should call

These simple children of the sun and soil.

0 black slave singers, gone forgot, unfamed,
You—you alone, of all the long, long line

Of those who’ve sung untaught, unknown, unnamed,
Have stretched out upward, seeking the divine.
You sang not deeds of heroes or of kings;

No chant of bloody war, no exulting paean

Of arms-w0n triumphs ; but your humble strings
You touched in chord with music empyrean.
You sang far better than you knew; the songs
That for your listeners’ hungry hearts sufﬁced
Still live,—-but more than this to you belongs:
You sang a race from wood and stone to Christ.

It was in the above lines, which appeared in the Century M agazine
nearly twenty years ago, that I tried to voice my estimate and appre—
ciation of the Negro Spirituals and to celebrate the unknown black
bards who created them. As the years go by and I understand more
about this music and its origin the miracle of its production strikes me
with increasing wonder. It would have been a notable achievement
if the white people who settled this country, having a common language
and heritage, seeking liberty in a new land, faced with the task of con-
quering untamed nature, and stirred with the hope of building an
empire, had created a body of folk music comparable to the Negro
Spirituals. But from whom did these songs spring—these songs un—
surpassed among the folk songs of the world and, in the poignancy of
their beauty, unequalled?

In 1619’ a Dutch vessel landed twenty African natives at Jamestown,
Virginia. They were quickly bought up by the colonial settlers. This
was the beginning of the African slave trade in the American Colonies.
To supply this trade Africa was raped of millions of men, women and

PREFACE

children. 1 As many as survived the passage were immediately thrown
into slavery. These people came from various localities in Africa.
They did not all speak the same language. Here they were, suddenly
cut off from the moorings of their native culture, scattered without re-
gard to their old tribal relations, having to adjust themselves to a
completely alien civilization, having to learn a strange language, and,
moreover, held under an increasingly harsh system of slavery; yet it
was from these people this mass of noble music sprang; this music
which is America’s only folk music and, up to this time, the ﬁnest dis—
tinctive artistic contribution she has to offer the world. It is strange!

I have termed this music noble, and I do so without any qualiﬁcations.
Take, for example, Go Down, Moses; there is not a nobler theme
in the whole musical literature of the world. If the Negro had voiced
himself in only that one song, it would have been evidence of his nobility
of soul. Add to this Deep River, Stand Still Jordan, TValk Together
Children, Roll Jordan Roll, Ride 0% King Jesus, and you catch a spirit
that is a little more than mere nobility; it is something akin to majestic
grandeur. The music of these songs is always noble and their senti—
ment is always exalted. Never does their philosophy fall below the
highest and purest motives of the heart. And this might seem
stranger still.

Perhaps there will be no better point than this at which to say that
all the true Spirituals possess dignity. It is, of course, pardonable to
smile at the naiveté often exhibited in the words, but it should be re—
membered that in scarcely no instance was anything humorous in-
tended. When it came to the use of words, the maker of the song was
struggling as best he could under his limitations in language and, per-
haps, also under a misconstruction or misapprehension of the facts
in his source of material, generally the Bible. And often, like his
more literary poetic brothers, he had to do a good many things to get
his rhyme in. But almost always he was in dead earnest. There are
doubtless many persons who have heard these songs sung only on
the vaudeville or theatrical stage and have laughed uproariously at
them because they were presented in humorous vein. Such people

1 For a history of the slave trade and its horrors see “The Suppression of the Slave Trade”
by W. E. B. Du Bois.

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PREFACE

have no conception of the Spirituals. They probably thought of them
as a new sort of ragtime or minstrel song. These Spirituals cannot
be properly appreciated or understood unless they are clothed in their
primitive dignity.

No space will here be given to a rehearsal of the familiar or easily
accessible facts regarding the origin and development of folk music in
general. Nor will any attempt be made at a discussion of the purely
technical questions of music involved. A thorough exposition of this
latter phase of the subject will be found in H. E. Krehbiel’s Afro-
Amcrican Folksongs. There Mr. Krehbiel makes an analysis of
the modes, scales and intervals of these songs and a comparative study
between them and the same features of other folksongs. Here it is
planned, rather, to relate regarding these songs as many facts as’
possible that will be of interest to the general lover of music and serve
to present adequately this collection. Instead of dissecting this music
we hope to recreate around it as completely as we can its true atmos—
phere and place it in a proper setting for those who already love the
Spirituals and those who may come to know them.

Although the Spirituals have been overwhelmingly accredited to the
Negro as his own, original creation, nevertheless, there have been one
or two critics who have denied that they were original either with the
Negro or in themselves, and a considerable number of people have
eagerly accepted this View. The opinion of these critics is not sound.
It is not based upon scientiﬁc or historical inquiry. Indeed, it can be
traced ultimately to a prejudiced attitude of mind, to an unwillingness
to concede the creation of so much pure beauty to a people they wish
to feel is absolutely inferior. Once that power is conceded, the idea
of absolute inferiority cannot hold. These critics point to certain
similarities in structure between the Spirituals and the folk music of
other peoples, ignoring the fact that there are such similarities between
all folksongs. The Negro Spirituals are as distinct from the folksongs
of other peoples as those songs are from each other; and, perhaps,
more so. One needs to be only ordinarily familiar with the folk music
of the world to see that this is so.

P R E F A O E

The statement that the Spirituals are imitations made by the Negro
of other music that he heard is an absurdity. What music did Amer—
ican Negroes hear to imitate? They certainly had no opportunity to
go to Scotland or Russia or Scandinavia and bring back echoes of
songs from those lands. Some of them may have heard a few Scotch
songs in this country, but it is inconceivable that this great mass of
ﬁve or six hundred Negro songs could have sprung from such a source.
What music then was left for them to imitate? Some have gone so
far as to say that they caught snatches of airs from the French Opera
at New Orleans; but the songs of the Negroes who fell most directly
under that inﬂuence are of a type distinct from the Spirituals. It
was in localities far removed from New Orleans that the great body
of Spirituals were created and sung. There remains then the music
which the American Negroes heard their masters sing; chieﬂy religious
music. Now if ignorant Negroes evolved such music as Deep Rivrcr,
S'I‘cal Away to Jesus, Homcbmly’s Knockin’ at Yo’ Do’, I Couldn’t
Hear Nobody Pray and Faﬂzcr Abraham by listening to their masters
sing gospel hymns, it does not detract from the achievement but mag-
niﬁes it.

Regarding the origin of this music, I myself have referred to the
“miracle” of its production. And it is easier to believe the miracle
than some of the explanations of it that are offered. Most difﬁcult of
all is it to believe that the Negro slaves were indebted to their white
masters for the sources of these songs. The white people among
whom the slaves lived did not originate anything comparable even
to the mere titles of the Spirituals. In truth, the power to frame the
poetic phrases that make the titles of so many of the Spirituals be—
tokens the power to create the songs. Consider the sheer magic of:

Swing Low Sweet Chariot

I’ve Got to Walk My Lonesome Valley

Steal Away to Jesus

Singing With a Sword in My Hand

Rule Death in His Arms

Ride on King Jesus

\Ve Shall \Valk Through the Valley in Peace
The Blood Came Twinklin’ Down

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PREFACE

Deep River
Death’s Goin’ to Lay His Cold, Icy Hand on Me

and confess that none but an artistically endowed people could have
evoked it.

No one has even expressed a doubt that the poetry of the titles and
text of the Spirituals is Negro in character and origin, no one else has
dared to lay claim to it; why then doubt the music? There is a slight
analogy here to the Shakespeare-Bacon controversy. The Baconians
in their amazement before the transcendent greatness of the plays de-
clare that Shakespeare could not possibly have written them; he was
not scholar enough; he did not know enough Greek; no mere play
actor could be gentleman enough to be so familiar with the ways of the
court and royalty; no mere play actor could be philosopher enough
to know all the hidden springs of human motives and conduct. Then
they pick a man who ﬁlls these requirements and accounts for the phe—
nomenon of the crowning glory of the English tongue. Lord Francis
Bacon, they say, wrote the plays but did not claim them because it
was not creditable for a gentleman to be a playwright. However,
though it was creditable for a gentleman of the age to be a poet, they
do not explain why Lord Bacon did not claim the poems. And it is 1 {;
easy to see that the hand that wrote the poems could write the plays. '

Nobody thought of questioning the Negro’s title as creator of this
music until its beauty and value were demonstrated. The same thing,
in a greater degree, has transpired with regard to the Negro as the *
originator of America’s popular medium of musical expression; in
fact, to such a degree that it is now completely divorced from all
ideas associated with the Negro. Still, for several very good reasons,
it will not be easy to do that with the Spirituals. ' 1'2,

When the Fisk Jubilee Singers 2 toured Europe they sang in Eng- ' '
land, Scotland and Germany, spending eight months in the latter
country. Their concerts were attended by the most cultured and so-

; ué-t'

‘3 The Jubilee Singers of Fisk University ﬁrst introduced the Spirituals to the public. From
1871 to 187.) they gave many concerts in the United States. and made two tours of
Europe. They raised a net sum of more than $150,000 for the University. Jubilee Hall , \
is one of the monuments of their efforts.

PREFACE

phisticated people as well as the general public. In England they
sang before (Queen Victoria, and in Germany the Emperor was among
those who listened to them. Music critics paid special attention to the
singers and their songs. The appearance of the Jubilee Singers in
Europe constituted both an artistic sensation and a ﬁnancial success,
neither of which results could have been attained had their songs been
mere imitations of European folk music or adaptations of European
airs.

The Spirituals are purely and solely the creation of the American
Negro; that is, as much so as any music can be the pure and sole
creation of any particular group. And their production, although
seemingly miraculous, can be accounted for naturally. The Negro
brought with him from Africa his native musical instinct and talent,
and that vas no small endowment to begin with.

Many things are now being learned about Africa. It is being learned
and recognized that the great majority of Africans are in no sense
“savages”; that they possess a civilization and a culture, primitive
it is true but in many respects quite adequate; that they possess a
folk literature that is varied and rich; that they possess an art that is
quick and sound. Among those who know about art it is generally
recognized that the modern school of painting and sculpture in Europe
and America is almost entirely the result of the direct influence of
African art, following the discovery that it was art.3 Not much is
yet known about African music, and, perhaps, for the reason that the
conception of music by the Africans is not of the same sort as the
conception of music by the people of Western Europe and the United

3 “Of all the arts of the primitive races, the art of the African Negro savage is the one
“dnch has had a posﬁﬁve inﬂuence upon the art(ﬁ our epoch. Fronlits princﬁﬂes oflﬂasﬁc
representation a new art movement has evolved. The point of departure and the resting point
of our abstract representation are based on the art of that race. It is certain that before the
introduction of the Iﬂasth: principles of )Cegro zlrt, abstract representathnis dhl not exist
among Europeans. Negro art has reawakened in us the feeling for abstract form: it has
brougld into our art ﬂleineans to express our purely sensorial ﬁndings in regard.to fornn or
to ﬁnd neurforni hi our ideas. 'Fhe abstract representation of nlodern art is unquestionalﬂy
the offspring of the Negro Art, which has made us conscious of the subjective state. ob-

literated by objective education.” African Negro Art—Its Inﬂuence on Modern Art, M. de
Zayas.

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PREFACE

States. Generally speaking, the European concept of music is melody
and the African concept is rhythm. Melody has, relatively, small
place in African music, and harmony still less; but. in rhythms African
music is beyond comparison with any other music in the world. Kreh—
biel, after visiting the Dahomey Village at the VVorld’s Fair in Chicago,
and witnessing the natives dance to the accompaniment of choral sing-
ing and the beating of their drums, wrote of them:

“The players showed the most remarkable rhythmical sense and skill that ever
came under my notice. Berlioz, in his supremest effort with his army of drum-
mers, produced nothing to compare in artistic interest with the harmonious
drumming of these savages. The fundamental effect was a combination of
double and triple time, the former kept by the singers, the latter by the drum-
mers, but it is impossible to convey the idea of the wealth of detail achieved by
the drummers by means of exchange of the rhythms, syncopation of both simul-
taneously, and dynamic devices. Only by making a score of the music could this
be done. I attempted to make such a score by enlisting the help of the late
John C. Fillmore, experienced in Indian music, but we were thwarted by the
players who, evidently divining our purpose when we took out our notebooks,
mischievously changed their manner of playing as soon as we touched pencil
to paper. 1 was forced to the conclusion that in their command of the element.
which in the musical art of the ancient Greeks stood higher than either melody or
harmony, the best composers of today were the veriest tyros compared with these
black savages.” 4

The musical genius of the African has not become so generally
recognized as hi.) genius in sculpture and design, and yet it has had a
wide influence on the music of the world. Fricdenthal points out that
African Negroes have a share in the creation of one of the best known
and most extended musical forms, the Habanera.” This form which is
popularly known as the chief characteristic of Spanish music is a
combination of Spanish melody and African rhythm. Friedenthal, re-
garding this combination, says:

Here stand these two races facing each other, both highly musical but reared
in different worlds of music. Little wonder that the Spaniards quickly took

411. E. Krehbiel. .1fr0-lmcrican .l"017.‘songs. New York, l9l4.
r»Alfred Friedenthal, Stimmcn dcr Tolker. Eerlin, 1911.

PREFACE

advantage of these remarkable rhythms and incorporated them into their own
music. . . . The melody of the Habanera came out of Middle or Southern Spain,
and the rhythm which accompanies it had its origin in Africa. \Ve therefore
have, in a way, the union of Spanish spirit and African technique.” ‘5

The rhythm of the Habanera reduced to its simplest is:

and is the rhythm characteristic of Spanish and Latin-American music.
A considerable portion of Bizet’s opera, Carmen, is based on this
originally African rhythm.

Further, regarding the musical genius of the Africans, Friedenthal
says: “Now the African Negroes possess great musical talent. It
must be admitted, though, that in the invention of melodies, they do
not come up to the European standard, but the greater is their capac—
ity as inventors of rhythms. The talent exhibited by the Bantus in
contriving the most complex rhythms is nothing short of marvelous.” 7

Now, the Negro in America had his native musical endowment to
begin with; and the Spirituals possess the fundamental characteristics
of African music. They have a striking rhythmic quality, and show
a marked similarity to African songs in form and intervallie structure.
But the Spirituals, upon the base of the primitive rhythms, go a step
in advance of African music through a higher melodic, and an added
harmonic development. For the Spirituals are not merely melodies.
The melodies of many of them, so sweet or strong or even weird, are
wonderful, but hardly more wonderful than the harmonies. One has
never experienced the full effect of these songs until he has heard
their harmonics in the part singing of a large number of Negro Voices.
I shall say more about this question of harmony later. But what led
to this advance by the American Negro beyond his primitive music?
Why did he not revive and continue the beating out of complex rhythms
on tom toms and drums while he uttered barbaric and martial cries to

6Alfred Friedenthal, .llusilc, Tan: and [717071ng bei den, Kreolen Amcrikars.
7Alfred Friedenthal, Stimmcn der lec'illccr. Berlin, 1911.

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PREFACE

their accompaniment? It was because at the precise and psychic mo—
ment there was blown through or fused into the vestiges of his African
music the spirit of Christianity as he knew Christianity.

At the psychic moment there was at hand the precise religion for
the condition in which he found himself thrust. Far from his native
land and customs, despised by those among whom he lived, experienc-
ing the pang of the separation of loved ones on the auction block,
knowing the hard task master, feeling the lash, the Negro seized
Christianity, the religion of compensations in the life to come for the
ills suffered in the present existence, the religion which implied the
hope that in the next world there would be a reversal of conditions,
of rich man and poor man, of proud and meek, of master and slave.
The result was a body of songs voicing all the cardinal virtues of
Christianity—patience—forbearance—love—faith-and hope—through
a necessarily modiﬁed form of primitive African music. The Negro
took complete refuge in Christianity, and the Spirituals were literally
forged of sorrow in the heat of religious fervor. They exhibited,
moreover, a reversion to the simple principles of primitive, communal
Christianity.

The thought that the Negro might have refused or failed to adopt
Christianity—and there were several good reasons for such an outcome,
one being the vast gulf between the Christianity that was preached to
him and the Christianity practiced by those who preached it—leads
to some curious speculations. One thing is certain, there would have
been no Negro Spirituals. His musical instinct would doubtless have
manifested itself; but is it conceivable that he could have created a
body of songs in any other form so unique in the musical literature
of the world and with such a powerful and universal appeal as the
Spirituals‘? Indeed, the question arises, would he have been able to
survive slavery in the way in which he did? It is not possible to
estimate the sustaining influence that the story of the trials and tribu<
lations of the Jews as related in the Old Testament exerted upon the
Negro. This story at once caught and ﬁred the imaginations of the
Negro bards, and they sang, sang their hungry listeners into a ﬁrm
faith that as God saved Daniel in the lion’s den, so would He save
them; as God preserved the Hebrew children in the ﬁery furnace, so

PREFACE

would He preserve them; as God delivered Israel out of bondage in
Egypt, so would He deliver them. How much this ﬁrm faith had to do
with the Negro’s physical and spiritual survival of two and a half
centuries of slavery cannot be known.

Thus it was by sheer spiritual forces that African chants were
metamorphosed into the Spirituals; that upon the fundamental throb
of African rhythms were reared those reaches of melody that rise above
earth and soar into the pure, ethereal blue. And this is the miracle
of the creation of the Spirituals.

As is true of all folksongs, there are two theories as to the manner
in which the Spirituals were “composer ”; whether they were the
spontaneous outburst and expression of the group or chiefly the work
of individual talented makers. I doubt that either theory is exclu—
sively correct. The Spirituals are true folksongs and originally in-
tended only for group singing. Some of them may be the spontaneous
creation of the group, but my opinion is that the far greater part of
them is the work of talented individuals inﬂuenced by the pressure
and reaction of the group. The responses, however, may be more
largely the work of the group in action; it is likely that they simply
burst forth. It is also true that many of these songs have been modi-
ﬁed and varied as they have been sung by different groups in different
localities. This process is still going on. Sometimes we ﬁnd two or
more distinct variations of the melody of a song. There are also
the interchange and substitution of lines. Yet, it is remarkable that
these variations and changes are as few as they are, considering the
fact that these songs have been for generations handed down from ear
to ear and by word of mouth. Variations in melody are less common
than interchange of lines. The committing to memory of all the lead—
ing lines constituted quite a feat, for they run high into the hundreds;
so sometimes the leader’s memory failed him and he would have to
improvise or substitute. This substituting accounts for a good deal
of the duplication of leading lines.

In the old days there was a deﬁnitely recognized order of bards,
and to some degree it still persists. These bards gained their recogni—
tion by achievement. They were makers of songs and leaders of

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P R E F A C E

singing. They had to possess certain qualiﬁcations: a gift of melody,
a talent for poetry, a strong voice, and a good memory. Here we
have a demand for a great many gifts in one individual; yet,‘they
were all necessary. The recognized bard required the ability to make
up the appealing tune, to fashion the graphic phrase, to pitch the tune
true and lead it clearly, and to remember all the lines. There was, at
least, one leader of singing in every congregation but makers of songs
were less common. My memory of childhood goes back to a great
leader of singing, “Ma” IVhite, and a maker of songs, “Singing”
Johnson. “Ma” IVhite was an excellent laundress and a busy woman,
but each church meeting found her in her place ready to lead the
singing, whenever the formal choir and organ did not usurp her an-
cient rights. I can still recall her shrill, plaintive voice quavering
above the others. Memory distinctly brings back her singing of 176
Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder, Keep Me From, Sinking Down, and l'Ve
Shall lValk Through the Valley in Peace. Even as a child my joy in
hearing her sing these songs was deep and full. She was the recog-
nized leader of spiritual singing in the congregation to which she
belonged and she took her duties seriously. One of her duties was to
“sing-down” a long-winded or uninteresting speaker at love feasts
or experience meetings, and even to cut short a prayer of undue length
by raising a song. (And what a gentle method of gaining relief from
a tiresome speaker. IVhy shouldn’t it be generally adopted today?)
“Ma” White had a great reputation as a leader of singing, a reputa—
tion of which she was proud and jealous. She knew scores of Spirit-
uals, but I do not think she ever “composec ” any songs.

On the other hand, singing was “Singing” Johnson’s only business.
He was not a ﬁxture in any one congregation or community, but went
from one church to another, singing his way. I can recall that his
periodical visits caused a ﬂutter of excitement akin to that caused by
the visit of a famed preacher. These visits always meant the hearing
and learning of something new. I recollect how the congregation
would hang on his voice for a new song—new, at least to them. They
listened through, some of them joining in waveringly. The quicker
ears soon caught the melody and words. The whole congregation
easily learned the response, which is generally unvarying. They sang

P R E F A C E
at ﬁrst hesitantly, but seizing the song quickly, made up for hesitation
by added gusto in the response. Always the strong voice of the
leader corrected errors until the song was perfectly learned. “Sing—
ing” Johnson must have derived his support in somewhat the same way
as the preachers,——part of a collection, food and lodging. He doubt—
less spent his leisure time in originating new words and melodies and
new lines for old songs. “Singing” Johnson is one of the indelible
pictures on my mind. A small but stocky, dark—brown man was he,
with one eye, and possessing a clear, strong, high—pitched voice. Not
as striking a ﬁgure as some of the great Negro preachers I used to see
and hear, but at camp meetings, revivals, and on special occasions only
slightly less important than any of them. A maker of songs and a
wonderful leader of singing. A man who could improvise lines on the
moment. A great judge o