Bibliography
Publications of Spirituals, 1862–1900
This list is based on the index compiled in Eileen Southern & Josephine Wright (SW), African-American Traditions in Song, Sermon, Tale, and Dance, 1600s–1920: An Annotated Bibliography, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Black Music (NY: Greenwood Press, 1990), plus a bibliography given in William Fisher, Seventy Negro Spirituals (Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1926), extensive lists in the Negro Year Book (Tuskegee, AL: Negro Year Book, 1922), and in Monroe N. Work, A Bibliography of the Negro in Africa and America (NY: H.W. Wilson, 1928). Reprints and reissues are not listed here, nor are individual songs printed as broadsides or folios.
Manuscripts/Archives
Negro Songs, Thomas W. Higginson Papers, MS FMS 1162.7, Houghton Library, Harvard University [SW 1756: “In regard to Charles Ware as the collector of the songs, see Sinful Tunes and Spirituals by Dena Epstein, 312–314.”]
Fisk University Archives & Special Collections:
https://www.fisk.edu/academics/library/special-collections-and-archives#J
Hampton University Archives:
https://hamptonarchives.org/content/home
African American Sheet Music Collection, Brown University Library:
https://library.brown.edu/cds/sheetmusic/afam/about.html
Periodicals/Articles
1862 Aug. 9 / J. Miller McKim, “Negro Songs,” Dwight’s Journal of Music, vol. 21, no. 19, pp. 148–149: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1863 Aug. / H.G. Spaulding, “Under the palmetto,” Continental Monthly, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 188–203: HathiTrust | Archive.org
1864 Oct. 1 / SW 1749 / “The freedmen’s songs: The original minstrelsy of the war,” Littell’s Living Age, vol. 83, no. 1061, pp. 47–48 [Reprinted from the NY Evening Post]: Google | HathiTrust
1865 Dec. 14 / SW 1735 / William Frances Allen, “The Negro Dialect,” Nation, vol. 1, no. 24, pp. 744–745: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1867 June / Thomas Wentworth Higginson, “Negro spirituals,” Atlantic Monthly, vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 685–694: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org | The Atlantic
1868 Dec. / John Mason Brown, “Songs of the slave,” Lippincott’s Magazine, vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 617–623: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1870 Mar. / SW 1770 / Elizabeth Kilham, “Sketches in color,” Putnam’s Magazine, vol. 5, no. 27, pp. 304–311: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1872 Aug. 1 / W.A. Barrett, “Negro hymnology,” The Musical Times, vol. 15, pp. 559–561: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1873 Apr. 5 / SW 1775 / “Negro folk songs: Slave melodies of the south—the Jubilee and Hampton Singers,” Dwight’s Journal of Music, vol. 32, no. 26, pp. 411–413: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1876 Mar. 17 / SW 1754 / Lafcadio Hearn, “Levee life,” Cincinnati Commercial.
1881 / SW 1739 / Lillie E. Barr, “Three months on a cotton plantation,” Independent, vol. 33, no. 1700 (30 June 1881), pp. 1–2; vol. 33, no. 1702 (14 July 1881), pp. 4–5: Archive.org 1 | Archive.org 2
1886 Feb. / SW 1743 / George Washington Cable, “The dance in place congo,” Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 517–532: HathiTrust | Archive.org
1886 Apr. / SW 1742 / George Washington Cable, “Creole slave songs,” Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 807–828: HathiTrust | Archive.org
1886 July 17 / SW 1737 / “American Negro hymns,” The Musical World, vol. 58, pp. 461–462: Archive.org
1888 / SW 1748 / Alcee Fortier, “Bits of Louisiana Folklore,” Transactions of the Modern Language Association of America, vol. 3 (Baltimore), pp. 100–168: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1889 / SW 1782 / Clarence Stedman, Ellen Mackay Hutchinson, “Negro hymns and songs,” A Library of American Literature from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time (NY: Charles L. Webster & Co.), vol. 8, pp. 265–270: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1891 Jan. / Ruth McEnery Stuart, “Christmas Gifts,” Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 104–115: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
[The story is apparently fictitious, but it contains the earliest known account of “Rise up, shepherd.”]
1892 Jan. / SW 1778 / Charles J. Ryder, “The theology of the plantation songs,” American Freeman, vol. 46, pp. 9–12.
1892 Mar. / SW 1785 / Henry Cleveland Wood, “Negro camp-meeting melodies,” New England Magazine, vol. 6, pp. 60–64: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1894 Oct.-Dec. / Emma M. Backus, “Cradle songs of Negroes in North Carolina,” Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. 7, no. 27, p. 310: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1894 Nov. 1 / SW 1747 / Charlotte Forten Grimke, “Folksongs of the Sea Island Negroes,” Independent, vol. 46, pp. 5–6: Archive.org
1895 / SW 1777 / Charles J. Ryder, “Christian truth in slave songs,” The Afro-American Encyclopedia (Nashville: Haley & Florida), pp. 254–264: Google | HathiTrust
1898 Jan.-Mar. / Emma M. Backus, “Negro hymn from Georgia,” Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. 11, no. 40, p. 22: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org; “Negro hymn from North Carolina,” p. 60: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1898 Dec. / William E. Barton, “Old plantation hymns,” New England Magazine, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 443–456: HathiTrust | Archive.org
1899 Jan. / William E. Barton, “Hymns of the slave and the freedman,” New England Magazine, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 609–624: HathiTrust | Archive.org
1899 Feb. / William E. Barton, “Recent Negro melodies,” New England Magazine, vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 707–719: HathiTrust | Archive.org
1899 Aug. / SW 1753 / Marion Alexander Haskell, “Negro spirituals,” Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 577–581: HathiTrust | Archive.org
see also:
1928 Oct.-Dec. / SW 1738 / Mary Dickson Arrowood & T.F. Hamilton, “Nine Negro spirituals, 1850–1861, from lower South Carolina,” Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. 41, no. 162, pp. 579–584: HathiTrust | Archive.org
Books/Scores
1867 / SW 1736 / William Frances Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, Lucy McKim Garrison, Slave Songs of the United States (NY: A. Simpson): Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1869 / SW 1780 / Linda Warfel Slaughter, The Freedmen of the South (Cincinnati: Elm Street): HathiTrust | Archive.org
1870 / SW 1755 / Thomas W. Higginson, Army Life in a Black Regiment (Boston: Fields, Osgood & Co.): Google [1882] | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1870 / SW 1774 / David Macrae, “Black Christianity,” The Americans at Home (Edinburgh: Edmonston & Douglas), vol. 2, pp. 90–117: HathiTrust | Archive.org
1872 / SW 1758 / Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University (NY: Biglow & Main): Archive.org | HathiTrust
1872 / SW 1759 / Jubilee Songs Complete, as Sung by the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University (NY: Biglow & Main): U. Wisconsin
1872 / SW 1744 / Spirituelles (Unwritten Songs of South Carolina) Sung by the Carolina Singers During Their Campaigns in the North, in 1872–1873 (Philadelphia):
1873 / SW 1760 / Gustavus Pike, The Jubilee Singers and Their Campaign for Twenty Thousand Dollars (Boston: Lee, Shepard & Dillingham): Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1874 / SW 1761 / Slave Songs of the Jubilee Singers (London: W.H. Guest):
1874 / SW 1750 / Mary Alice Armstrong, Helen W. Ludlow, Thomas P. Fenner, Hampton and Its Students (NY: G.P. Putnam): Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1874 / SW 1762 / Gustavus Pike, The Singing Campaign for Ten Thousand Pounds, or The Jubilee Singers in Great Britain (NY: American Missionary Association): Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1874 / Songs of the Tennesseans (Broadside)
1875 / SW 1763 / Ten New and Popular American Slave Songs, Being the Additional New Songs of the Jubilee Singers (London: W.H. Guest):
1875 / SW 1764–5 / J.B.T. Marsh, The Story of the Jubilee Singers, with Their Songs (London: Hodder & Stoughton): Google | HathiTrust
1875 / SW 1771 / Edward Smith King, “Negro songs and singers,” The Great South: A Record (Hartford, CT: American Publishing), pp. 609–620: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org || The Southern States of North America: A Record (London: Blackie & Son): Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1876 / SW 1751 / Thomas P. Fenner, Cabin & Plantation Songs As Sung by the Hampton Students (NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons): Google | HathiTrust
1876 / SW 1767 / J.B.T. Marsh, The Story of the Jubilee Singers, with Their Songs, 6th ed. (London: Hodder & Stoughton): HathiTrust | Archive.org
1876 / H.R. Palmer, “Religious songs of the freedmen,” The Song Herald (Cincinnati: John Church Co.), pp. 157–160: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1877 / C.S. Adama van Scheltema, De geschiedenis van de Jubilee-Zangers (Amsterdam: Het Evangelisch Verbond): Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
[Translations of Fisk Jubilee spirituals into Dutch]
1878 / SW 1772 / W.J. Linton, Poetry of America: Selections from One Hundred American Poets . . . and Some Specimens of Negro Melody (London: George Bell & Sons): Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1880 / SW 1741 / William Wells Brown, My Southern Home, or The South and Its People (Boston: A.G. Brown & Co.): Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1881 / SW 1776 / New Orleans University Singers (Philadelphia: William Syckelmore):
1882 / SW 1783 / Marshall W. Taylor, A Collection of Revival Hymns and Plantation Melodies (Cincinnati: Marshall W. Taylor & W.C. Echols): Google | Archive.org
1883 / SW 1745 / Z.A. Coleman, The Jubilee Singers: A Collection of Plantation Melodies (Cincinnati: John Church & Co.):
1883 / SW 1768 / J.B.T. Marsh, The Story of the Jubilee Singers, with Their Songs, Rev. Ed. (NY): Google | HathiTrust
1884 / Theodore Seward & George White, Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Jubilee Singers
Part 1 Enlarged: Google | HathiTrust
Part 2 Enlarged: Google | HathiTrust
1884 / SW 1746 / Clarence Deming, By-Ways of Nature and Life (NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons): Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1884 / SW 1773 / Helen W. Ludlow, Tuskegee Normal and Industrial School with Cabin and Plantation Songs (Hampton, VA: Normal School): HathiTrust | Archive.org
1884 / SW 1779 / Jacob J. Sawyer, Jubilee Songs and Plantation Melodies (J.J. Sawyer): HathiTrust
1884 / Selections of Plantation Songs As Sung by Donavin’s “Famous” Tennesseeans (Delaware, OH): HathiTrust
1887 / SW 1757 / Jubilee and Plantation Songs: Characteristic Favorites, As Sung by the Hampton Students, Jubilee Singers, Fisk University Singers, and Other Concert Companies (Boston: Oliver Ditson): Google | HathiTrust
1891 / SW 1752 / Thomas P. Fenner, Frederic C. Rathbun, Cabin & Plantation Songs As Sung by the Hampton Students, Enlarged Ed. (NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons):
1890 / SW 1784 / Maria Waterbury, Seven Years Among the Freedmen, Rev. & Exp. (Chicago: T.B. Arnold): Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org || 1891 / 2nd Ed. Rev. & Enl.: HathiTrust || 1893 / 3rd Ed. Rev. & Enl.: Google | Archive.org
1892 / SW 1769 / F.J. Loudin, The Story of the Jubilee Singers by J.B.T. Marsh, with Supplement, New Ed. (Cleveland Printing & Publishing): Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1893 / Twenty-Two Years’ Work of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (Hampton, VA: Normal School): Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1894–1901 ca. / SW 1781 / M.G. Slayton, Jubilee Songs As Sung by Slayton’s Jubilee Singers (Chicago: Thayer & Jackson):
1895 / Charles L. Edwards, Bahama Songs and Stories (Boston: American Folk-Lore Society): Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
1898 / SW 2300 / H.F. Kletzing and W.H. Crogman, “Plantation Melodies,” Progress of a Race: The Remarkable Advancement of the Afro-American Negro (Atlanta: J.L. Nichols & Co., 1898), pp. 583–590: Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org [1902]
1899 / Songs Sung by the Famous Canadian Jubilee Singers (Hamilton, Ontario: Duncan Lith. Co.): HathiTrust | Archive.org
1899 / SW 1740 / William Eleazar Barton, Old Plantation Hymns (Boston: Lamson, Wolffe & Co.): Google | HathiTrust | Archive.org
Mixed-Genre/Incidental Appearances:
Compiled primarily by Erin Fulton
1859 / G.W. Offley, A Narrative of the Life and Labors of the Rev. G.W. Offley, a Colored Man, Local Preacher and Missionary, p. 22 (“What a Mercy”): HathiTrust
1872 / James R. Murray, Pure Diamonds, pp. 11, 99 (“O Tell the Joyful Story,” “This is Not Your Rest”)
1884 / A.J. Showalter, The Temple of Song, pp. 39, 40, 61, 66, 77 (“In the Heavenly Morning,” “Gideon’s Band,” “When the Bridegroom Comes,” “Golden Slippers,” “O Redeemed”)
1885 / Aldine S. Kieffer, The Zion Songster No. 1 & 2 Combined, pp. 11, 39, 60 (“I’ll Be There,” “I Am with Thee Every Hour,” “O Redeemed!”)
1886 / R.A. Glenn and D.W. Christ, Joy and Praise for Sunday-Schools, no. 11 (“The Other Bright Shore”)
1888 / James R. Murray, Royal Praise for Sunday Schools, p. 144 (“The Ten Virgins, or, When the Bridegroom Comes”)
1890 / J.B. Herbert, Y.M.C.A. Gospel Songs, pp. 34–36 (“My Lord Is Calling (‘Steal Away’),” “Tell the Joyful Story”)
1892 / Anna A. Gordon, The White Ribbon Hymnal, p. 56, 58 (“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Steal Away”) [both reprinted with permission from Fisk]
1893 / R.M. McIntosh, McIntosh’s Class and Chorus pp. 77, 99, 118 (“Mary and Martha,” “Good Old Chariot,” “Rock a Dem in His Arms”)
1895 / William J. Holtzclaw, Gospel Gleaner (“I’ve Been Redeemed,” as sung by the Tennesseans)
1891 / W. Henry Sherwood, Soothing Songs pp. 13, 20 (“Steal Away,” “Room Enough”)
1893 / W. Henry Sherwood, Harp of Zion, pp. 82, 83, 97, 134, 135 (“Nobody Knows the Trouble I See, Lord!” “Room Enough,” “Steal Away,” “Camp-Meeting,” “The Rocks and the Mountains”)