...if he is not thus impressed, it will only be because ' there is no flesh in his obdurate heart.' " I have often been utterly astonished, since I came...mistake. Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them only as an aching...

...flesh in his obdurate heart.' " I have often been utterly astonished, since I came to thr north, to fmd persons who could speak of the singing among slaves...mistake. Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart ; and he is relieved by them only as an aching...

...there is no flesh in his obdurate heart.' " I have often been utterly astonished, since I came to thr north, to find persons who could speak of the singing...impossible to conceive of a greater mistake. Slaves sing ihost when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he...

...soul,—and if he is not thus impressed, it will only be because "there is no flesh in his obdurate heart." I have often been utterly astonished, since I came...mistake. Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching...

...pathetic tone," a set of oppositions which led to the song's misreading by nonslaves. As Douglass admits, I have often been utterly astonished, since I came...happiness. It is impossible to conceive of a greater mistake.3i This great mistake of interpretation occurred because the blacks were using antiphonal structures...

...effective readers. Douglass writes of nineteenth-century white hearings of the slave songs as follows: "I have often been utterly astonished, since I came...slaves, as evidence of their contentment and happiness." Rather than a mishearing produced by incorrect inference, Douglass implies that the attribution of...

...truth about how they were treated, Douglass points out, were grossly misled. Also misled were those who "could speak of the singing among slaves, as evidence...It is impossible to conceive of a greater mistake" (Douglass, Narrative, 58). Interestingly, in "A True Story, Repeated Word for Word as I Heard It,"...

...-century white hearings of the slave songs as follows: "1 have often been utterly astonished, since l came to the north, to find persons who could speak...slaves, as evidence of their contentment and happiness." Rather than a mishearing produced by incorrect inference, Douglass implies that the attribution of...

...and if he is not thus impressed, it will only be because "there is no flesh in his obdurate heart." I have often been utterly astonished, since I came...mistake. Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching...

...thought. I Frederick Douglass, commenting on slave songs, remarked his utter astonishment, on coming to the North, "to find persons who could speak of...slaves as evidence of their contentment and happiness." 7 The young Du Bois, among the first knowledgeable critics of the spirituals, found white Americans...