African Diaspora at Internet Archive: John Wesley Work

Today was so busy I wasn't sure if I would have time for a post today, but I really wanted to write about this amazing father-son team (I wrote about the Lomaxes, father and son - and daughter too! - earlier this week)... so, today's post is about John Wesley Work, Jr. and his son John Wesley Work III.

Here is John Wesley Work, Jr.'s book, published in 1915: Folk Song of the American Negro.

You can read more about John Wesley Work, Jr. at Wikipedia. Born in 1871 in Nashville, Tennessee, where his father was a choir director, John Wesley Work Jr. was the first African American collector of African American music. Prior to this book, he also published New Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1901 and New Jubilee Songs and Folk Songs of the American Negro in 1907, which was the first publication of the song "Go Tell It on the Mountain." (For me it is also a fascinating fact that he was a professor of Latin at Fish University!)

The book contains some beautiful photographs too, like this portrait of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers:

Then Work's son, John Wesley Work III, also became a musicologist; you will find this important book at the Internet Archive: American Negro Songs and Spirituals.

You can read more about John Wesley Work III at Wikipedia. In addition to his work collecting and studying African American folk songs, he was also a composer.

There is an introduction to the book describing the different genres of folk songs in the book, and each song (230 songs!) has both the lyrics and music:

I've really enjoyed featuring different music books this week, and I am especially glad to finish up the week with this father-son team.

Folk Song of the American Negro

by John Wesley Work, Jr.

 American Negro Songs and Spirituals

by John Wesley Work III