Anthologies of African American Writing

American Negro Folk-Songs

"American Negro Folk-Songs" . Ed. Newman Ivey White. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1928. x+501 pp.

Preview available via Google Books

Ain't gonna grieve my lord no more -- All my sins been taken away -- An ante-bellum chanted prayer -- Blue -- Brother Eben's got a coon -- Cemetery blue -- City of the refuge -- Climbing Jacob's ladder -- Cotton-eyed Joe -- Creation -- Delie -- Den my little soul will shine -- Don't you see -- Eliza Jane -- Engineer rigg -- Er clim'in' up thine hill -- Fragment of a changed negro sermon -- Frankie and Albert -- Git along Liza Jane -- The gospel pool -- The great Titanic -- Hold your light -- How it tis-a with me -- I got a mother -- I got shoes -- I'm climbing -- I'm going to wear that starry crown over there -- It ain't no harm to trust in Jesus -- John Henry -- Keemo Kimo -- Kingdom coming -- L & N Special -- The little black train -- Little bunny rabbit -- Little David, play yo' harp -- Lulu gal -- Lynchburg Town -- Massa had a yaller gal -- Most done suffering -- Mr. frog went a courtin' he did ride -- My gal -- My Liza Jane -- Oh Mary don't you weep -- Oh Suzanna -- Old ship of Zion -- Ole massa was a stingy man -- Pharaoh's army -- Pomp's soliloquy -- Redeemed -- Roll Jordan roll -- Run nigger run -- Shortnin' bread -- Show me the way -- Simon Slick -- Sis Mary wore three links of chain -- Some folks say -- A Southern Jack -- That gospel train is coming -- That old-time religion -- Theology in the question -- This old hammer -- Tim of this -- The travelling coon -- Uncle Ned -- The voodoo man -- Wake Nicodemus -- We gwineter git down an' pray -- What you goin' to do when the rent comes round -- The wheel -- Where shall I be -- The year of Jubilee.

"A collection of over eight hundred songs, representing most of the southern states and every type of negro folk-song. There are short chapters on twelve of the thirteen groups of songs, and longer chapters on the negro song in general and on religious songs. The full annotations show the history of each song and its connection with other published songs. There are indexes of titles and first lines, an extensive bibliography, and five appendixes containing specimens of tunes and of several types of early American songs closely related to the folk-songs of the negro. The serious student in this field will find the book not only a mine of information but the largest and most fully annotated collection yet published" (from Harvard UP website).

• [Brief Review]. "The English Journal" 17.9 (Nov. 1928): 784. JSTOR.
"Perhaps the most comprehensive collection of Afri-American [sic] folk songs ever made. Over eight hundred specimens with associations and full interpretative chapters are here for the intensive student of contemporary literature or the general reader. The songs are indexed by title and first line. There is an extensive bibliography and several carefully recorded and tested tunes are given in the appendix." [full text of notice]

• Fauset, Arthur Huff. "Hail the Nordic Spiritual!" "Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life" 7.5 (May 1929): 163.

• See also White and Jackson, ed. "An Anthology of Verse by American Negroes" (1924) [above], and White's essays, "Racial Traits in the Negro Song." "Sewanee Review" 28.3 (1920): 396-404; and "Race Feeling in Negro Poetry." "South Atlantic Quarterly" 21 (Jan. 1922): 19-29.

WorldCat] [not in Kinnamon 1997]

A0026