Musical Practices of Early Black Americans

Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (Massachusetts, 1845), 69.

no

enslaved

solo

voice

voice

plantation

singing a hymn before doing a prayer.

hymn

Maryland

Mr. Covey’s FORTE consisted in his power to deceive. His life was devoted to planning and perpetrating the grossest deceptions. Every thing he possessed in the shape of learning or religion, he made conform to his disposition to deceive. He seemed to think himself equal to deceiving the Almighty. He would make a short prayer in the morning, and a long prayer at night; and, strange as it may seem, few men would at times appear more devotional than he. The exercises of his family devotions were always commenced with singing; and, as he was a very poor singer himself, the duty of raising the hymn generally came upon me. He would read his hymn, and nod at me to commence. I would at times do so; at others, I would not. My non-compliance would almost always produce much confusion.

One of Frederick Douglass's slave owners, Mr. Covey, would have daily prayers and would start off by singing. Douglass writes that Covey was a bad singer, so he had to sing instead. This is one example of how slave owners made the enslaved sing/dance for entertainment.