I found myself close to tears several times during rehearsal with the Central Oregon Mastersingers a couple of days ago. That’s because I was moved and touched by a spiritual we’re doing for our fall concert. It’s called “Ain’t No Grave.”
It’s a song of hope and optimism even though the people responsible for this powerful song had little reason for such hope and optimism. I think that as this month (August, 2019) marks the 400th anniversary of slavery’s being brought to America, the bright light of that hope and optimism is important. Read the attached piece, please, for context.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/black-history-american-democracy.html
In what seems like bitter irony, those people sang with courage and conviction that they were not going to be held down. Ain’t no Grave gonna hold me down? Right! And they would not be held down by anything else, either, they seem to be saying. They seemed to know, despite abundant evidence to the contrary, that America was better than that. And so were they. And the rest of us? Maybe, perhaps; but only with their help and their tireless push for civil rights.
The notes on the sheet music attribute this tune to the early 20th Century, or maybe a little earlier, but who knows how far back it really goes? As the New York Times story referenced above points out, the era of attribution, the beginning of the 20th Century, was the middle of the post-Reconstruction era called Second Slavery. Black rights often were codified, sure; but they were widely ignored. Beatings, abuse, rape, torture of all kinds, and lynchings were common.
Good jobs for blacks were mostly nonexistent. Prosperity was, for the most part, something to which only white people could aspire. Likewise, voting. Likewise, education. Likewise, of course, healthcare, access to bathrooms, public water fountains, education, and so much more. For more on Second Slavery, go here:
https://sites.google.com/view/colormyhistory/museum/second-slavery
In the course of my choral career, I’ve sung lots of spirituals. I am not a fan. I like the Great Music, the High Church music, if you will, though I have no religious convictions whatsoever, and lack patience with those who do. But “Ain’t No Grave” is special, I think. It seems to have strength and meaning far beyond what’s there on the surface of the text.
Maybe all art is indeed political.
-JFT