The African Roots of Field Hollers and Work Songs
Field hollers and work songs have their roots in West and Central African traditions as well as in the dehumanization of slaves in America. As Robert Darden writes in People Get Ready, "Some of the initial impetus in the process to dehumanize slaves may have begun with the constant reports of slave rebellions, most notably Toussaint L'Ouverture's extraordinary crusade in Haiti in 1791. But southern slaves, chafing under brutal conditions, constantly fled or rebelled, as extant references beginning as early as the 1650s reveal" (Darden 2004, 57).
He writes:
In the South, slave owners believed that to control a conquered people, it was necessary to follow the old wartime adage, 'Divide and conquer.' This was accomplished, as nearly as possible, by separating members of families as well as slaves who came from the various African tribal nations. Slaves, thus fragmented and isolated, would be less likely to unify and resist. In addition to formal laws forbidding a host of African survivals, slave owners systematically 'demeaned the sacred tales of the black fathers, ridiculing their myths and defiling their sacred rites. Their intention was to define man according to European definitions so that their brutality against Africans could be characterized as civilizing the savages.'
However, generations of slaves still managed to transmit some African beliefs and customs to their descendants, thus preserving-against all odds-African music, work songs, the ring shout, snippets of various languages, lore, and even religion. African survivals persisted for generations, particularly in isolated communities and on the far-flung plantations of the South.
Southern colonies were more successful in their efforts to outlaw the use of African drums, either for communication or entertainment. But no laws could prohibit African Americans from keeping time with their feet or hands. And while many overseers prevented slaves from speaking in the tobacco and cotton fields, they quickly saw the value in the African-influenced work songs, cries, and hollers.
(Darden, 2004)
It is clear that slaves brought the field hollers and work songs (also known as "cottonfield hollers," cries, or "whoops") with them from Africa:
A slave's call or cry could mean any one of many things: a call for water, food, or help, a call to let others know where he was working, or simply a cry of loneliness, sorrow, or happiness
Eileen Southern
Like most work songs, the hollers contained a rhythmic quality that seemed to make the work-rowing, picking cotton, or laying railroad ties-more manageable. Slaves performed in the now-familiar "call-and-response" format.
Ashenafi Kebede
There is no doubt that these calls were African in derivation and that they were sung in African dialects in the early part of slave history.
Luke 9:62, NKJV
No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God