Slave Song's of the U.S. is considered one of the best available collections of black music from the days of slavery. However, a couple of rather well known slave songs are not included in that collection, so a further search was made to try to find if perhaps Swing Low or Jacob's Ladder are not as period as we think. They are.

Both those songs and more were found in Cabin and Plantation Songs, listed inside as Religious Folk Songs of the Negro as sung on the Plantations. It was originally published in 1874. The copy I found was reprinted by The Institute Press, of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. The original was by Thomas P. Fenner.

Like the authors of Slave Songs, Mr. Fenner set out to collect songs from various parts of the South before these songs were forgotten, as they became immediately out of style with their former singers as being vestiges of slavery. Luckily these period researchers, and others whose works are still available, recovered these songs, which offer a hint of a way of life that we can not imagine now, and serve to remind us of the beauty of the human spirit, even within the bonds of slavery.

The following song was among Mr. Fenner's collection. "The introductory remarks from the original, copied here, sum up the song better than I can. Once I entered the music into my music processor, I knew this was my next selection. It is hauntingly beautiful."