Negro Slave Songs In The United States Summary

Negro Slave Songs in the United States by Miles Mark Fisher Miles Mark Fisher’s Negro Slave Songs in the United States has been one of the most informative novels I have ever read about anything dealing with the African slave culture. I was captivated by every detail, and I was provided more background information to further enhance my knowledge of music in the lives of African-Americans during the period of slavery. Fisher’s book has given me a new way to look at the history of my culture and increased my appreciation for it. I’d like to start off by saying that I have read a few books and articles about the use of song in the lives of slaves. Prior to reading this book, I learned and was taught that song was mainly used as a way to communicate and as a source of entertainment. Likewise, it is a common misconception to believe that this is the sole purpose of the music. Yes, the songs were used for those reasons, but according to Fisher, the initial purpose of creating the songs was to pass down the history of their customs and values to future

According to Fisher, long before Africans were brought to America as slaves, music had been a major part of their culture. It wasn’t until they became enslaved that the songs began being used to pass down history. They began creating secret meetings, particularly held on Sundays, to discuss their freedom. These meetings allowed the slaves to come together and create a language that the whites couldn’t understand. Slaves typically did not know how to read or write, so they used their own codes in their songs that were difficult for outsiders to understand. When whites witnessed the slaves singing and dancing, they found it repulsive because they could not understand it. They also found it strange that the slaves were able to happily unite, despite their miserable living