2. African American Music
The Colonial Era
• White Settlers brought instruments and psalm
books
• Slave brought memories, cultures, and their
rich tradition
3. African American Music
Music in the Colonies
Primary Source of Information
1.The Colonial Newspaper
2.Town and Court Records
3. Assembly Journals
4. African American Music
Music in the Colonies
Congregational Singing
• Singing In the Meeting Houses
• Special Pews marked “BW” Black Women and
“BM” Black Men
• “Lining Out” Practice
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdXIYUgYZgQ
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrDLj_dmugE
• The Bay Psalm Book
5. African American Music
Music in the Colonies
Singing in the Community
• Black Servants sang with their Masters on
Special Occasion
• Music used in Services and Praise to God
• Music used for the Solace of Man
• Thought as a blessing of cheer for men after
work and long study
6. African American Music
The Colonial Era
The Reform Movement
• No instruments in the meeting houses
• The Anglicans believed in instruments
The Growth of Hymnody
• New Songs “Hymns”
• Religious Poems instead of Scriptural Psalms
7. African American Music
The Colonial Era
The Growth of Hymnody
Dr. Isaac Watts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_oaDuACG
F4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wicra58W0
mE
8. African American Music
The Colonial Era
The Growth of Hymnody
Dr. Isaac Watts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xP2DYpy2D
Q
9. African American Music
The Colonial Era
The Growth of Hymnody
Dr. Isaac Watts
*Listen to Slave Songs and created Hymns
1737 John Wesley, George Whitfield
(official Methodist hymnals)
A Collection of Psalms and Hymns
Moravains (German religious sect brought hymns)
10. African American Music
The Colonial Era
Religious Instruction and Psalmody
Patterns of Slavery in the North and South
• Groups interested in Black men and women
• Quakers, Moravians, the Congregationalist,
Catholics, and the Methodist
• Slaves were associated as a part of the family
• The slaves took the family’s last name
11. African American Music
The Colonial Era
Religious Instruction and Psalmody
Conversion and Religious Instruction in the North
• Clergy concerns: Conversion of the heathen
• African Americans, and the Native Americans
• Dutch Youth and Blacks were taught Christ
• A teacher’s contract of 1682 in New York
• “School shall begin with prayer and closed by
singing a Psalm” (1)
12. African American Music
The Colonial Era
Religious Instruction and Psalmody
Conversion and Religious Instruction in the North
• SPG 1702-85 (Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts)
• Purpose to convert slaves to Christianity
• Established Church of England Missionary Organization
• Founded schools for Religious instruction for black folks
