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Frederick Douglass

Slave Work Song "Rosie"
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Work songs

Work songs were adapted to fit the distinct kinds of labor required by the slave system, including gang Slave Work labor, task labor, and individual work. Work songs became an important Song "Rosie" precursor of the blues, and in fact many slave work songs were adapted quite easily by famous bluesmen like Huddy "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Singing accompanied all kinds of slave work, ranging from picking cotton and tobacco to tedious household chores.

The work song was an old African tradition, and thus was present in slave culture before any other form of music, yet it quickly took on distinct American characteristics. The work song was stripped of all pure African rituals and instead created a new cultural reference.

Work songs were often performed in large gangs, and a singing leader became necessary to keep the other slaves in a working spirit. This represents the way in which black singers retained a kind of high social position even under the yoke of slavery.

Frederick Douglass, perhaps the most famous ex-slave of his day, eloquently described the importance of the work song in 1855:

"Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as work. A silent slave is not liked by masters or overseers. 'Make a noise,' 'make a noise,' and 'bear a hand,' are the words usually addressed to the slaves when there is silence amongst them. This may account for the almost constant singing heard in the southern states. There was, generally, more or less singing among the teamsters, as it was one means of letting the overseer know where they were, and that they were moving on with the work."

In the aftermath of the American Civil War that brought the institution of slavery to an end, the work song survived in the form of railroad, chain gang, and prison songs among others. Eventually, work songs were to become assimilated through the blues into the cultural mainstream.

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