Micro Genre: History of Slavery

West Africa (fairly obviously) from Senegal to Angola. That includes Ghana, Nigeria, Congo, Cameroon

Place of Origin

80+ percent of all slaves arriving in North America came directly from Africa

• Senegambia—13 percent (coast between present day Senegal and Gambia)
• Gold Coast—16 percent (most of present day Ghana)
• Bight of Biafra—23 percent (most of present day Nigeria and Cameroon))
• Windward Coast—11 percent (present day Liberia and Ivory Coast)
• Region between Angola and Congo—25 percent (present day Congo, Zaire, Angola, Namibia)

African American Place of Origin

They were reasonably densely populated (unlike sahara etc), convenient for ships and had enough infrastucture.

Notably, it was not the regions nearest the coasts: eg Ashanti in Ghana. They cooperated with the slavers to capture & sell their enemy tribes further inland.

http://www.negrospirituals.com/history.htm

Almost all the first Africans who arrived in the New World were slaves. They came from several regions of the African West Coast.

Their ways of living were described by slaves themselves, in some narratives. They had to work either in plantations or in town.

Slavery was an important issue facing Churches, as slaves were allowed to meet for Christian services. Some Christian ministers, such as J. D. Long, wrote against slavery.

Rural slaves used to stay after the regular worship services, in churches or in plantation “praise houses”, for singing and dancing. But, slaveholders did not allow dancing and playing drums, as usual in Africa.

They also had meetings at secret places (“camp meetings”, “bush meetings”), because they needed to meet one another and share their joys, pains and hopes. In rural meetings, thousands slaves were gathered and listened to itinerant preachers, and sang spirituals, for hours. In the late 1700s, they sang the precursors of spirituals, which were called “corn ditties”.

So, in rural areas, spirituals were sung, mainly outside of churches. In cities, about 1850, the Protestant City-Revival Movement created a new song genre, which was popular; for revival meetings organized by this movement, temporary tents were erected in stadiums, where the attendants could sing.

They also had meetings at secret places (“camp meetings”, “bush meetings”), because they needed to meet one another and share their joys, pains and hopes. In rural meetings, thousands slaves were gathered and listened to itinerant preachers, and sang spirituals, for hours. In the late 1700s, they sang the precursors of spirituals, which were called “corn ditties”.

So, in rural areas, spirituals were sung, mainly outside of churches. In cities, about 1850, the Protestant City-Revival Movement created a new song genre, which was popular; for revival meetings organized by this movement, temporary tents were erected in stadiums, where the attendants could sing.

At church, hymns and psalms were sung during services. Some of them were transformed into songs of a typical African American form: they are "Dr Watts”.

Slavery in America began when the first African slaves were brought to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, to aid in the production of such lucrative crops as tobacco.

The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 solidified the central importance of slavery to the South’s economy.

Around the same time, the mechanization of the textile industry in England led to a huge demand for American cotton, a southern crop whose production was unfortunately limited by the difficulty of removing the seeds from raw cotton fibers by hand.

They were prohibited from learning to read and write, and their behavior and movement was restricted.