Chapter 44: Jubilees and Jubilation: The African American Spiritual Tradition
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Both African Americans (freedmen and slaves) and European Americans gathered in ______ to
sing hymns of praise to popular or folk tunes.
a. camp meetings c. cotton fields
b. concert halls d. New York
2. What Christian movement was sweeping the United States at the turn of the 1800s?
a. the First Great Awakening c. camp meetings
b. the Second Great Awakening d. ring shout
3. What is the name of the black tradition that utilizes an extended call and response that builds to a
religious fervor?
a. camp meeting c. spiritual
b. ring shout d. all of the answers shown here
4. What singing tradition incorporated coded messages about earthly escape concealed in texts that
promised heavenly deliverance?
a. spirituals c. camp meetings
b. ring shout d. monophony
5. What singing group brought spirituals a broader cultural presence immediately after the Civil War?
a. the Fisk Jubilee Singers c. the Harry T. Burleigh Chorus
b. the New Christy Minstrels d. the Shaw University Singers
6. Which composer made the statement, “In the Negro melodies of America I discover all that is
needed for a great and noble school of music.”
a. John Philip Sousa c. Antonín Dvorák
b. Stephen Foster d. Harry T. Burleigh
7. Which African American composer began to create arrangements of spirituals, first published in
the 1910s?
a. Antonín Dvorák c. Scott Joplin
b. William Grant Still d. Harry T. Burleigh
8. What early-twentieth-century cultural movement attempted to counteract the systematic racism and
marginalization African Americans suffered in America?
a. the Harlem Renaissance c. the Second Great Awakening
b. the Jazz Age d. Ragtime
9. Who is the former slave that is thought to have created Swing Low, Sweet Chariot?
a. Wallace Willis c. Harry T. Burleigh
b. Reverend Alexander Reid d. John Brown
10. The melody for Swing Low, Sweet Chariot uses the ______ scale.
a. harmonic minor c. pentatonic
b. blues d. chromatic
11. Who suggested to the Fisk Jubilee Singers that they add Swing Low to their repertory?
a. Wallace Willis c. Harry T. Burleigh
b. Reverend Alexander Reid d. Antonín Dvorák
TRUE/FALSE
1. Camp meetings were developed by slaves from African traditions into extended call and response
that built to a religious fervor.
2. After the Civil War, the Fisk Jubilee Singers helped to broaden the cultural appeal of spirituals.
3. The Fisk Jubilee Singers only sang arrangements of spirituals.
4. In an effort to create an American style, many white composers in the early twentieth century
embraced black musical traditions.
5. Burleigh’s arrangements of spirituals for solo voice and piano positioned the black tradition
alongside the European American art song tradition as a valid aspect of American art.
6. The pentatonic scale is a seven-note scale.
7. The Reverend Alexander Reid wrote Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.
8. The Fisk Jubilee Singers helped make Swing Low, Sweet Chariot a well-known spiritual after the
group added the song to its repertory.
9. European Americans took no part in camp meetings.
10. The ring shout was developed from a mixture of African and European musical traditions.
11. Spirituals contained coded messages about earthly escape concealed in texts that promised
heavenly deliverance.
12. The Fisk Jubilee Singers toured the northern United States and Europe during the 1870s to raise
funds for Fisk University.
13. The Harlem Renaissance attempted to claim a “high culture” space for African American artists
and philosophers.
ESSAY
1. How does Swing Low, Sweet Chariot reflect the cultural mix that characterizes vernacular music of
the United States?
ANS:
Answers will vary.
PTS: 1 DIF: 2 REF: Essentials: p. 245
TOP: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot MSC: Applied
2. Explain how Harry T. Burleigh’s piano and voice arrangements of spirituals position black musical
traditions alongside European American musical traditions.
ANS:
Answers will vary.
PTS: 1 DIF: 3 REF: Essentials: pp. 243–245
TOP: Spirituals and Art Song MSC: Applied