Negro workaday songs

Name: Negro workaday songs
Author: Howard Washington Odum

By Howard Washington Odum

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American Literature Music Sociology

About This Book

A sociological and musical study gathers work songs collected from Black laborers in the American South and presents them as evidence of everyday life and expression. The collection catalogs and transcribes blues, road and jamboree tunes, bad-man ballads, jail and chain‑gang pieces, construction and camp songs, male and female love songs, religious numbers, and extended workingman epics, accompanied by musical notations and phono‑photographic records. The authors supply social context and analysis, favoring spontaneous, semi‑folk variants over polished anthology pieces, and organize typologies and melodies to highlight labor relations, communal rhythms, vocal style, and the functional role of song in work and movement.

About the Author

Howard Washington Odum

Howard Washington Odum was an influential American folklorist and sociologist known for his extensive work on African American culture and music. He contributed significantly to the documentation and preservation of Southern Negro folk traditions. His notable works include "Negro Workaday Songs," which captures the everyday musical expressions of African Americans, and "Religious Folk-Songs of the Southern Negroes," which explores the spiritual and religious dimensions of their musical heritage. Odum's research played a crucial role in highlighting the richness of African American folklore and its impact on American culture.