Charleston William Faux, Memorable Days in America, Part 1 (London, 1823), 119-120.
Item
Title
Charleston William Faux, Memorable Days in America, Part 1 (London, 1823), 119-120.
Includes music itself or text of song
no
Identity of singers; solo/group
enslaved?
group
Voice/instrument
voice
voices
Space/room
church
activity
worship
genre
worship
Geographical location
Georgetown, Washington DC?
Notable adjectives
"poor", "wild"
Excerpt
This being Sunday, I visited the white and black Methodist
congregations at George town, to the latter of which (the black) the white mayor of
the town, a rich Englishman, of long and high standing, is minister. At half a mile distant, we could distinctly hear their devotional songs. We found a mighty assemblage of priests and priestesses, for all preached, prayed, and sung together. The pious prayers, and sensible, cheerful singing of the poor negroes, (who are, however, apt to rise into wild enthusiasm), are very honourable to black capabilities, and exonerate them from the charge of natural and moral inferiority.
congregations at George town, to the latter of which (the black) the white mayor of
the town, a rich Englishman, of long and high standing, is minister. At half a mile distant, we could distinctly hear their devotional songs. We found a mighty assemblage of priests and priestesses, for all preached, prayed, and sung together. The pious prayers, and sensible, cheerful singing of the poor negroes, (who are, however, apt to rise into wild enthusiasm), are very honourable to black capabilities, and exonerate them from the charge of natural and moral inferiority.
Context
Faux describes a trip that he made to Georgetown at a church
Bias of author
Bias presented in this text is about average for nineteenth-century sources written by learned, traveling white men.