Henry C. Knight, Letters from the South and West, 77

Item

Title

Henry C. Knight, Letters from the South and West, 77

Includes music itself or text of song

no

Identity of singers; solo/group

enslaved
group

Voice/instrument

voice
voice

Space/room

plantation

activity

Attending a funeral or wedding

Timbre

---

Ornamentation / improvisation

---

genre

---

Geographical location

"a fine plantation on the banks of the Rappahannock." Virginia

Notable adjectives

"jovial"

Excerpt

When a slave dies, the master gives the rest a day, of their own choosing, to celebrate the funeral. This, perhaps a month after the corpse is interred, is a jovial day with them; they sing and dance and drink the dead to his new home, which some believe to be in old Guinea. Indeed, a wedding, and a funeral, are equally agreeable to those not personally interested in them, as then comes a holiday. It appears to be an instinct of these creatures to dance, to equivocate, and to pilfer; but, for the two latter propensities, ignorance and necessity plead loudly

Context

Knight is describing Virginia plantation life in a letter

Bias of author

Knight was an Episcopal clergyman from MA

Item sets