Praxis Journal Entry 5 -- 9/25/16
“The slaves selected to go to the Great House Farm, for the monthly allowance for themselves and their fellow-slaves, were peculiarly enthusiastic. While on their way, they would make the dense old woods, for miles around, reverberate with their wild songs, revealing at once the highest joy and the deepest sadness. They would compose and sing as they went along, consulting neither time nor tune…they would sing, as a chorus, to words which to many would seem unmeaning jargon, but which, nevertheless, were full of meaning to themselves…They told a tale of woe…they breathed the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish. Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains.” (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, in the Oxford Frederick Douglass Reader, p. 37-8)
Later, while watching 12 Years a Slave in class, the scenes that impacted me the most were the ones where the slaves sang. All their songs followed a call-and-response pattern, where one slave would sing the “call”, and the other slaves would sing in response. In the beginning of the film, the slaves (excluding Solomon Northup, the main character) sing while cutting sugarcane:
One slave: My ma
Chorus: She dead
One slave: My pa
Chorus: He dead
One slave: My Lord
Chorus: Sunshine
Singing was a way for slaves to express their pain, send messages, and even covertly control the pace at which they worked (working in time to a slow song could hide a slave who was lagging behind). What I thought was most memorable and powerful about the scenes in the Narrative and the film was how much emotion and meaning was contained in so few words. The lyrics might be simple, but their meaning is so much more complex. Going to the Great House Farm was one of the few exciting moments in a slave’s life, and one of the few times they could freely express themselves. The slave songs in 12 Years a Slave described their hope for peace in heaven because they had none in their mortal lives. Douglass explained wonderfully and poetically how powerful hearing those songs was, but in the film the viewer actually hears them instead of reading a description. I got goosebumps while I was watching and had the songs stuck in my head for days. Douglass’ description of the slaves singing on their way to the Great House Farm is really the only time in the Narrative where music is mentioned. Music plays a more prominent role in 12 Years a Slave, with slaves singing and playing instruments in several scenes. Solomon’s ability to play the violin is a large part of his identity and one of the ways he was able to hold on to his identity as a slave. When working in the fields Solomon didn’t sing with the other slaves, but he did join the chorus of “Roll Jordan Roll” during a slave’s funeral.