John Wesley Work, Jr. was an interesting man. His parents were born into slavery and were freed with the Civil War. John, Sr. was, among other things, a song leader in a church. John, Jr. was born in 1871 in Nashville. He grew up with the harshest of racism. Many remembered the good old days when the black folks could be bought and sold and they always knew their place. As young John grew, he wanted more. When he accepted Christ, he became obsessed with succeeding in a white world and doing so in a Christian way. (Please understand, I know that the politically correct form is to refer to these folks as African-American. But we are talking about the late 1800s. It may offend some of you folks out there, but they were never called African-American. At the very best, they were referred as black or Negro. This was how they referred to those of their own race. Most whites had more derogatory words. I am not being disrespectful in this blog, just historically accurate in the language. John Wesley Work, Jr’s work becomes so much more impressive when we remember the times.)

         He grew up in the church, surrounded by music. Not the music most of us are familiar with, but with the powerful (if not always theologically correct) Negro Spirituals. He loved the music. But he also had an ear for languages.

         As he grew, he saw his friends go into the fields to work, drawing only a meager wage for their labor. John did some of that, too, but for himself he decided he was going to go to college. There were a lot of colleges in the country, but not a lot of colleges at the time that accepted black students. There were, however, black colleges that were excellent places to go for an education. One such school was Fisk University, located near Nashville. He enrolled in 1889 and was an excellent student. He majored in languages, focusing on Latin and Greek. He earned his Bachelor degree and then his Masters. He was considered such an expert in those languages that he earned entry into Harvard, an amazing thing for a black in the late 1800s. Eventually he headed back South and became a professor at Fisk.

         But he hadn’t abandoned music. While a student at Fisk he had also studied music. He became a recognized expert in Negro songs, ballads and Spirituals. He saw a need to save these songs before the march of time caused them to fade away. They were his heritage.

         The problem was that these songs were never written down. Some were unique to a particular plantation. Some were just sung in particular families. A large plantation might, or might not, have a black church. If they did the songs there might be written down, but even that was unlikely. Many of the churches in the South before the War had a left side and a right side, and then off of one side or the other a wall was built that went about three quarters of the way down the church. It was open so that the people (black folks) behind the wall could see the pulpit area but the white folks in the rest of the church could not be bothered to see the slaves. In those setting, the music was white folk music. "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" was probably a real toe-tapper. So, the black folks sang their songs, Spirituals or others, on the plantation. If you listen, you can detect the work nature of the songs. A rhythmic back and forth that would work for keeping the field hands in step with the work pace. Anyway, these songs were thought up by some worker on a plantation. The only way it moved on was if a slave was sold to another master. Then the song would be reworked to fit the new plantation.

         This is what young John, the educator, wanted to save. He met a young lady with a similar passion. The young Agnes Haynes was swept off her feet by John and was soon Agnes Work. Together they had six children. John also brought his brother, Frederick, into the search. In 1901 they were able to publish the New Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers. When that was published people began sending them songs that they remembered from plantation days. So, in 1907, they published the New Jubilee Songs and Folk Songs of the American Negro. For the most part, these songs had no formal music and it is thought that Work, himself, actually wrote the music for most of these songs, although he never took credit for that. At the most, he was listed as a collector.

         It was this second work that contained a Christmas song. For the slave, Christmas had been a time of worship. There was very little gift giving, but there would be a meal and a tie of thanksgiving. Imagine giving thanks for being a slave. But for the American slave, it was more. They knew that in time their suffering would be over and they would walk with the Lord. Hopelessness transformed to hope. This was the basis of what Work wanted to preserve. It was this Christmas song that found a real place, even in white society. Look at the words.

Refrain:
Go, tell it on the mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere
Go, tell it on the mountain,
That Jesus Christ is born.

While shepherds kept their watching
Over silent flocks by night
Behold throughout the heavens
There shone a holy light.

Refrain

The shepherds feared and trembled,
When lo! Above the earth,
Rang out the angels chorus
That hailed the Savior’s birth.

Refrain

Down in a lowly manger
The humble Christ was born
And God sent us salvation
That blessed Christmas morn.

Refrain

         Something in the lyrics and the music appeals to all of us. And the message is clear; Go tell!