I love music. I don’t think I could get through my day to day without it. Music is how I fill the silence, how I lift my mood, and how I protect myself from the awkward and negative things around me. Listening to music has the power to influence my mood with its tone and melody, but singing…singing is how I express my emotions; my inner feelings are surfaced when I sing. Joy, anger, sadness, fear, confusion, bitterness, contentment, they all have the ability to take on the form of sound waves, and they do.
I don’t know what it’s like to have to endure the horrors of slavery, or to have my soul “boiling over with the bitterest anguish,” but I know the salve of singing, I know the hope it can bring to the worst of situations. I would be surprised if the former slaves didn’t sing at their lowest points.
Singing isn’t a solution or a remedy, but I hope singing brought them some relief.
My Thoughts on African American Literature 