For assistance in recording the type melodies in Chapter XIV we are specially indebted to Mr. Lee M. Brooks, and for many of the songs of women to Mrs. Henry Odum. We wish to thank Mr. Gerald W. Johnson for his goodness in going over much of the manuscript and making valuable suggestions. To Dr. L. R. Wilson, Director of the University of North Carolina Press, we are much indebted for coöperation and suggestions. CHAPEL HILL _January, 1926_ H. W. O. G. B. J. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. BACKGROUND RESOURCES IN NEGRO SONGS AND WORK 1 II. THE BLUES: WORKADAY SORROW SONGS 17 III. SONGS OF THE LONESOME ROAD 35 IV. BAD MAN BALLADS AND JAMBOREE 47 V. SONGS OF JAIL, CHAIN GANG, AND POLICEMEN 71 VI. SONGS OF CONSTRUCTION CAMPS AND GANGS 88 VII. JUST SONGS TO HELP WITH WORK 118 VIII. MAN’S SONG OF WOMAN 135 IX. WOMAN’S SONG OF MAN 152 X. FOLK MINSTREL TYPES 166 XI. WORKADAY RELIGIOUS SONGS 188 XII. THE ANNALS AND BLUES OF LEFT WING GORDON 206 XIII. JOHN HENRY: EPIC OF THE NEGRO WORKINGMAN 221 XIV. TYPES OF NEGRO MELODIES 241 XV. TYPES OF PHONO-PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORDS OF NEGRO SINGERS 252 BIBLIOGRAPHY 265 INDEX TO SONGS 271 NEGRO WORKADAY SONGS CHAPTER I BACKGROUND RESOURCES IN NEGRO SONG AND WORK To discover and present authentic pictures of the Negro’s folk background as found in his workaday songs is a large and promising task of which there are many phases. Here are spontaneous products of the Negro’s workaday experiences and conflicts. Here are reflections of his individual strivings and his group ways. Here are specimens of folk art and creative effort close to the soil. Here are new examples of the Negro’s contributions to the American scene. Here is important material for the newer scientific interest which is taking the place of the old sentimental viewpoint. And here is a mine of descriptive and objective data to substitute for the emotional and subjective attitudes of the older days.