African-American Women Work Songs

A work song is a song sung while doing labor or any kind of work. Usually the song aids in keeping rhythm or is used as a distraction. Work songs can include content focused around the surrounding environment, resistance, or protest. Many different groups throughout history have sung work songs, but enslaved African-American women have a unique history associated with work songs. Because of their particular positionality as African-American enslaved women, their work songs portray their specific standpoint and experiences during the slavery period in the United States.

Work songs are often inspired by traditional African songs. Many work songs are formatted as a call and response. The call and response format showcases the ways in which work songs foster dialogue. The importance of dialogue is illuminated in many African American traditions and continues on to the present day. Particular to the African call and response tradition is the overlapping of the call and response. The leader's part might overlap with the response, thus creating a unique collaborative sound. Similarly, African-American folk and traditional music focuses on polyphony rather than a melody with a harmony. Often times, there will be multiple rhythmic patterns used in the same song "resulting in a counterpoint of rhythms." The focus on polyphony also allows for improvisation, a component that is crucial to African-American work songs. As scholar Tilford Brooks writes, "improvisation is utilized extensively in Black folk songs, and it is an essential element especially in songs that employ the call-and-response pattern." Brooks also notes that often times in a work song, "the leader has license to improvise on the melody in [their] call, while the response usually repeats its basic melody line without change."

The African-American work song tradition is plentiful and provides a unique look into particular resistance tactics used by enslaved people. Though much information is known regarding African-American enslaved (or incarcerated) men and their specific work song traditions, African-American enslaved women similarly incorporated song into their work and resistance narratives. Work songs provide both a release and the creation of a shared narrative. Many of the songs discuss freedom or coping with the suffering associated with slavery. Particularly, enslaved women sang songs to their children about slavery. African-American enslaved women also sang lullabies to their children. These songs illuminate a certain time period and the struggles many enslaved individuals endured. Work songs and lullabies sung by enslaved women commented on the gendered dynamic of slavery. One song speaks of a family being torn apart by slavery:

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