Lesson Plan: Slavery in Antebellum South

2. Minstrel song sheet music covers from the Lester Levy Collection at Johns Hopkins University (NOTE: the depictions of African-Americans in these front pieces may be offensive to some students and faculty. Please use discretion and proper historical context in presenting them to your classes if you choose to do so.)

Old Black Joe

Jim Crow

Uncle Ned

3. Slave Narratives:

Annotated Collection of Slave Narratives from the University of Virginia

Collection of Slave Narratives from the University of North Carolina

Links to online slave narratives from Washington State University

"Voices of Slavery” Audio Interview Project from the Library of Congress

Secondary Sources:

(by clicking on these links, you leave the website for the Center for American Music. The Center for American Music is not responsible for the content of outside websites)

Background Information:

Just as the Civil War was starting in the United States, some four million African-Americans were enslaved by the Southern United States, most of them working as plantation slaves, harvesting cotton, tobacco, sugar, rice or indigo. There had been slaves in the America since the colonies were first settled, as far back as 12 generations by 1860 and though it was essential to the early growth and development of America, by the 1840s and 1850s, many Americans, particularly in the industrial North, began to feel ashamed by slavery and felt dependence on slavery was holding the country back. These sentiments were fired further by the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe that was unflinching in its portrayal of the cruelty of the slave system. In its most memorable scene, escaped slave Eliza runs across the perilously frozen Ohio River, baby in arms, in an effort to escape slave catchers. Harrowing scenes such as Eliza’s flight affected many normal citizens. Abolition societies began to appear throughout the North, attempting to influence government policy towards slavery.

Meanwhile, the South, who relied on slave labor to produce their agricultural goods, fiercely resisted any attempt at limiting slavery. It had firmly become entrenched as a way of life, they argued, and even the most moderate Southerner noted that if slavery had to end, it should be done gradually, over decades, rather than all at once. These views were widely unpopular in the North, and indeed, among many large plantation owners themselves in the South, who did not wish for emancipation of any sort.

For the slaves themselves as well, gradual emancipation held no appeal. They began running away in greater and greater numbers, utilizing the Underground Railroad, a system of safe houses stretching from the Upper South to Canada. These safe houses were run by freed blacks, white abolition sympathizers and a great number of clergymen, and when the escaped slaves reached Canada, they could become free men and women. The success of the Underground Railroad led to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, which made aiding an escaped slave a federal crime punishable by a $1000 fine or six months imprisonment.

Slave life was difficult, often involving back-breaking labor from sun-up until late at night, six and a half days a week. Slaves were often under-fed, poorly clothed and forced to live in stables or other substandard housing. Rebellious slaves could find themselves whipped by overseers, or separated from their families and sent to the Deep South, where rates of slave mortality were extremely high.

Ultimately, the tensions between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery elements in American society would lead to the coming of the Civil War, and slavery was finally ended by the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865.

A Brief Contextual Note About the Stephen Foster Songs:

Read and listened to in today’s climate, Stephen Foster’s minstrel songs seem horrible offensive and racist. However, these songs must be placed into the popular historical context.

Apart from his honeymoon, Foster had never been to the South and had a dim understanding of the realities of slave life. Hence his portrayals of slave life (especially in his early songs) seemed to romanticize slavery and suggest that African-Americans enjoyed being enslaved. However as time past, Foster strove to show African-Americans in a much more positive, well-rounded light than his contemporaries, who portrayed African-Americans as either simple children or happy-go-lucky charlatans. Foster instructed song performers (white singers in blackface) not to mock the characters in his songs, but to create sympathy for them. Indeed, many early African-American activists seemed to recognize the care Foster took in crafting his minstrel songs. W.E.B. Dubois called “Old Folks at Home” an “authentic song of the negro race” and Booker T. Washington praised “Foster’s sensitivity to the colored man.” Perhaps African-American musicologist Josephine Wright said it best:

I believe as a teacher, and as a historian, that they should be placed in the historical context and people should understand where these songs fit and why…I would introduce them to my students because it's a part of the American culture and American heritage.(source)

Suggestions for Using Streaming Audio

Have the students listen and read the lyrics to Stephen Foster’s minstrel songs. Ask them to consider the following questions as they listen to the songs.

About the Tone:

What is the tone of each song?

Happy? Sad? Angry?

Is it a fast song or a slow song?

Who seems to be the song’s narrator?

About the Words:

Why do you think the words are in a dialect form?
Are there any important words that seem to appear frequently? What words are they and why?
Are the verses long or short?
Is there a chorus? If so, does it repeat? What is the point of the chorus?

About the Songs/ Discussion Points:

Based on the songs, what does Foster think slavery? Of slaves? Does he have sympathy for them?
Foster's music was often incorporated into stage productions of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Why would his music have been a good choice for these productions?
Why would these songs seem controversial today? Would they have been controversial when Foster wrote them?
What is the slave’s attitude toward his dead master in “Massa’s in de Cold Ground?”
What is the theme of “Old Folks at Home?” Why would noted African-American activist W.E.B. Dubois call it “an authentic song of the negro race?”

Suggested Classroom Activities/ Assignments

Comparison and Contrast- Ask students to compare the slave narratives listed above to the Foster songs. How does each present slavery and slave life?
Linking Past and Present- Ask students to investigate the controversy around Foster’s minstrel songs and present a brief report, analyzing the arguments of each side.
Linking Past and Present- Compare Stephen Foster’s minstrel songs, to some rap music of today and ask students to compare how the songs present African-American culture. (some suggestions for non-profane rap songs are: Kanye West- “Touch the Sky,” Public Enemy “Fight the Power,” and NWA “Express Yourself”)
Then and Now: Both "My Old Kentucky Home" and "Old Folks at Home" are state songs (for Kentucky and Florida, respectively). Both have also been revised to remove offensive terminology. Examine the original lyrics and the new lyrics. How have the words changes altered the meanings of the songs? Find newspaper articles that discuss continuing controversy over the songs. Why do lawmakers still wish to change the state songs of both states?
Evaluating Primary Sources- Ask students to write an essay examining one of the slave narratives, discussing how the slave narrative acts as an example (or an exception) to what we know historically about slavery.
Conducting Research- Students should choose a topic of slave life of interest to them and using resources in this lesson plan, text book and their own reading, present the results of their research to the class. Topic examples include the Underground Railroad, Slave Spiritual Songs, the effect of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the Northern abolition movement and Types of labor done by slaves.
Evaluating Primary Sources- Ask the students to examine the covers of sheet music for “Old Black Joe,” “Jump Jim Crow” and “Uncle Ned.” How did these images perpetuate stereotypes about African-Americans? What differences do you find in the lyrics of Stephen Foster's minstrel songs versus those by other authors?