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Early Southern Music and Its Influences by Matthew Moye “Early Southern Roots of Modern Popular Music, Part 2” We at Westville hear a whole lot of singing going on. When people come into our Climax Presbyterian Church on their tours, they often burst into versions of their favorite hymns. The wooden walls reverberate the tunes, and the sound is good. After decades of overhearing these spontaneous concerts, we can assert authoritatively that we know hymns. In fact, one hymn wafts high above all others as the most popular. That hymn is Amazing Grace. It is appropriate that this fact should be so, for Amazing Grace has played a critical role in Southern history. The hymn is one of the most influential among a group of early hymns which helped evangelize slaves to Christianity. Christian conversion gave hope to those black men, women, and children who were held in bondage. By freeing the African-American spirit, the hymn made it possible for the slaves to share their talents and culture with the Western World. The impact on us today is staggering. American popular music, the result of a blend of British and African folk music in an American setting, may well be now the most pervasive cultural advance of the last 500 years. (See “The Most Thorough of Revolutions” on page 3 for explanation.) This installment of our series is dedicated to tracing the events which placed the slaves in contact with Protestant hymns, thus stirring the desire for conversion. Both Christian and Slave? At first, slaves were not evangelized. Slave holders felt no moral dilemma in enslaving heathens. If a slave were baptized, however, then the master feared the obvious conclusion. That is, how can a Christian slave holder justify holding a Christian slave? Early American Christians faced this question only because it was thrust upon them by blacks and Indians who asked to be baptized. The first known slave baptism took place in 1641. When an Indian slave was baptized in 1708, he had to promise to serve his worldly master while on this earth. In return, the slave, Tom, required only the promise of being “free and equal in the skies beyond.” Even so, slave holders were panicked for fear of losing their chattel. The issue was finally settled in 1727 when the Bishop of London concluded that baptism should not lead to manumission. Thus, a pathway was opened for churches and slave holders to evangelize the slaves. If the Bishop said it was okay, then it must be okay. Evangelization of the slaves still remained guarded. Slave holders decided that baptism might lead to rebellion. Also, the Great Awakening did not move to the Southern frontier until about 1800. Further, one colony, Georgia, had no slaves until 1749. Gradually, though, other pressures prevailed. Colonial governors in the 1680s were instructed to convert the blacks and Indians. Church of England missionaries by 1701 began to come to America specifically for the slaves. The famous Puritan, Cotton Mather, wrote The Negro Christianized in 1706. Perhaps the most important catalyst of evangelization, however, was the advent of the hymn at the expense of the Psalter. Words of Experience: A Defining Moment in American Music The singing of Psalters was the only music tolerated by colonial churches (except for the Lutherans, who sang hymns). Unlike the Psalters, hymns spoke of personal concerns and did so less formally than was the fashion of the Psalters. Hymns seemed to spring from one human being’s spirit to touch the soul of the next. Calvinist church leaders recoiled at the experientially-based texts of the hymns, fearing a return to Catholicism. However, once loosed upon the people, hymns captured the American mood. It is safe to say that the transition to hymn music was a major factor causing the mass conversion to Christianity of the African-American slave. Amazing Grace Amazing Grace (1779) is one such hymn. It was written by John Newton, an English clergyman, who earlier in life had been a slave ship captain. The words spoke of authentic remorse for his sinfulness and genuine humility at receiving God’s grace. Imagine for a moment that you are a fifth- or eighth-generation slave, as some were in 1790. What a terrible daily despair you would feel, both for yourself and for your children. Then, you hear this verse: Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come; ‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home. The powerful message of this verse of Amazing Grace was that through faith, there would be a reward for enduring the misery of slave life. God is watching, and His grace will be triumphant. Indeed, the rates of slave baptism began to steepen by 1790. By 1800, a tenth of the Methodists and a quarter of the Baptists in the South were blacks. Those figures would continue to rise as hymn-singing became established by 1830. Conclusion The cotton gin was invented in 1793, and cotton became a valuable international commodity. The planting, cultivation, and harvest of cotton thus soared, reviving the institution of slavery which supplied the labor. It was a coincidence that hymns came into use at the same time that slavery broadened. However, the music gave a new source of hope to a people whose future looked bleak. Hymn-singing was thus the birth of “Soul.” Amazing
Grace A Video To American Protestants, Amazing Grace is as familiar a tune as there is. However, for the rest of the world, it hasn’t always been so. The folk singer, Judy Collins, released her version of the song in 1970, ranking #15 on the pop charts. From that point on, Amazing Grace has become the world’s most popular religious tune. The journalist Bill Moyers prepared a public television program on the song in 1989. He interviewed Collins, opera singer Jessye Norman, shape note singers Hugh McGraw and Dewey Williams, and country music legend Johnny Cash. Jessye Norman sang the song in the Baptist Church of her youth in Augusta, Georgia. As an internationally acclaimed soprano, in the 1980s she sang it at a rock concert to benefit the freedom fight of Nelson Mandela. Hugh McGraw, of Bremen, Georgia, has been to Westville numerous times for shape note singings. In the Moyers video, he noted that the song, known to shape note singers as New Britain, is sung by them essentially as it was in the tune's beginning. Dewey Williams, of Ozark, Alabama, was the grandson a slave. Moore recalled that his grandfather "raised" Amazing Grace for the shape note singers. moore and his Wiregrass Sacred Harp singers demonstrated the rhythms that Africian-Americnas give the tune, which are very different from those of white singers. Johnny Cash sang at prisons early in his career of country music. He said that in the three minutes that it takes to sing Amazing Grace, everyone is free. "[It] is a song that has no guile," said Cash. "Those lyrics are straight ahead, honest, gut-level, and hard-level. When I sing that song, I could be in a dungeon, or have chains all over me, but I'd be free as a breeze. It's a song that mkes a differnece. There are some songs that make a difference in your life, and that song makes a difference." John Newton Author of “Amazing Grace” Most people know that John Newton “once was lost” as a slave ship captain. The first stanza of the hymn—-“I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see”—-makes sense in this light. People are inspired by the contrast of his evil youth and his later humility. His full story is even more amazing. Here are some highlights: Newton was born in 1725 in England. His father, a sea captain, made him a sailor at age eleven. Impressed into the navy, he deserted and was publicly flogged when captured. He next began sailing on slave ships. The white captain of one ship had a black wife. The captain made Newton her slave! Rescued by his father, he sailed on a trading voyage. A storm nearly wrecked the ship, leading to his Christian conversion. It was thus only after he became a Christian that he became a slave ship captain. From 1745 to 1754, he bought and transported Guinean slaves. He began to get pangs of conscience and quit the trade when an illness forced him to leave the sea. He then studied for the ministry, becoming curate to the vicar of Olney in 1764. His fervor was so strong that he held devotional meetings and wrote hymns, both of which the Established Church of the time considered heretical activities. With William Cowper, he published the now famous Olney Hymns in 1779, including Amazing Grace. Late in his long life, he used his experience in slaving and his celebrity to advocate for the bill which in 1807 finally abolished slavery in all of Britain. Favorite Hymns of Westville Staff We asked the Westville staff to name their three favorite hymns. Here are the results: Our staff listed 39 hymns, most of which are familiar. For example, there was one vote each for Sweet Bye and Bye; Precious Lord, Take My Hand; Down By the Riverside; Near the Cross; I’ll Fly Away; and Tell Me the Old, Old Story. Five hymns received two votes. They were: Blessed Assurance, In the Garden, Joyful, Joyful, Just As I Am, and Silent Night. Receiving three votes was Old Rugged Cross. A “recent” hymn got four votes—-How Great Thou Art. With five votes was What a Friend We Have in Jesus. The runner-up for favorite hymn was A Charge to Keep I Have. Charles Wesley wrote the words in 1762, while Lowell Mason wrote the music in 1832. This hymn received all nine of its votes from members of the African-American staff. Staffer Louise Richardson supplied a likely reason. She said, “When I was little, one of the old shape note singers took me on his knee and taught me the words. I’ve loved it ever since. We sing it in church now.” Other staffers agreed that it was shape note singers who assured its continuation. The second verse offers a possible motive: To serve the present age, My calling to fulfill; O may it all my powers engage, To do my Maker’s will. And, the number one favorite hymn among the Westville staff, with 17 votes, is...Amazing Grace. The Most Thorough of Revolutions (Elvis wasn't the first) Many people mistakenly assume that when Elvis belted out, "you ain't nothinbut a hound dog/Cryin' all the time" and other tunes in 1956, he became the first white entertainer to perform to white audiences. There are two major errors in that idea. The first is that even a quick study leads to white jazz players long before Elvis sang rock 'n' roll. For example, Elvis may have been "the King," but the earlier "King of Swing" was the famous (and white) Benny Goodman. Goodman used the arrangements of Fletcher Henderson, a black orchestra leader from Cuthbert, Georgia who invented Swing in the early '30s. There were dozens of other white "black entertainers" who pre-dated Elvis. The bigger error, however, is that Elvis was a singing black music. It is true that rock 'n' roll began its life as a "white" rhythm and blues. Even so, R&B, jazz, Swing, blues, and all the rest are blends of the music of both blacks and whtes. This is one theme of this series: American popular music is a blend of African and British folk music (and some European middle and upper class music), which necessarily coincided with the advent of the Protestant hymn in the late 1700s. The hymn-blend began in the South about 1800 and could not have happened elsewhere—-not Los Angeles, not New York, not Detroit, not Rio, not London, not Dakar, and certainly not Vienna. Yet, there is hardly a corner of the world today that is not filled with modern interpretations of the basic Southern formula. It is the most thorough of revolutions. What Are Your Three Favorite Religious Songs? Please tell us what religious songs really get to you. The Westville staff is doing a survey, and we'd like your opinion. Whether hymns, psalters, chants - any congregational tunes of any sort - tell us your all-time three favorites. Write (Westville, PO Box 1850, Lumpkin, GA 31815); call (229/838-6310, or toll-free 888/733-1850); or e-mail (director@westville.org). Limit three per person. Tell us your personal tradition, if you will. Your name is optional. If we get a good response, we'll report in the next newsletter.
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