Last updated: June 13, 2021
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Object of the Month June 2021
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For National African American Music Appreciation Month we are highlighting a hymn book to explore African American music and singing at Hampton. Enslaved African Americans developed a genre of folk music called spirituals that combined the traditional rhythms of their homelands with the hymns of the Christian religion that was strongly promoted by slaveholders. They came to embrace the stories of Old Testament in particular, identifying with Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. They retained musical elements like singing style, drumming, and chanting which were a part of their African culture and religions and combined this with lyrics centered around Christian beliefs to create spirituals. They were sung as both religious hymns and work songs, which developed into a significant part of African American culture.
Music was certainly an important part of the community of enslaved and free blacks at Hampton. Enslaved families likely sung spirituals and hymns at weekly church services held in Hampton’s carriage house in the years leading up to the Civil War. A relative of the Ridgelys’ recalled that “a good deal of singing of a melodious character” occurred during these services. Free and enslaved African Americans often hosted their own religious services in the woods around Hampton and organized meetings with neighboring groups of blacks and enslaved persons. These types of meetings often focused around religious expression. Occurring out from under the gaze of white preachers and owners, people were likely empowered to express their beliefs more freely.
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Nick Toogood, an enslaved African American at Hampton was said to be a particularly powerful hymn singer and spiritual leader. He often led religious services and hymn singing during funerals in the Great Hall of the Mansion, featuring hymns such as "Hark from the tombs a mournful sound.” By 1867, Nick was living in the Old West Baltimore neighborhood now called Seton Hill, a notable community for freed blacks living in the city. He later attended Orchard Street African Methodist Episcopal Church, before dying in 1879 at the venerable age of 93. By the 1890s, contemporary hymns were being sung, including “Savior more than life to me.” This hymn was sung by free black mourners on the estate during Ann Davis Williams’ funeral.
This collection of gospel hymns titled Gospel Hymns: Numbers 5 and 6 Combined by Ira Sankey, Stebbins, and McGranahan contains at least one hymn, “Savior more than life to me,” sung by African Americans at Hampton. This book was published in 1892 and owned by Helen Ridgely. There is a pencil mark on the page beside this particular hymn, perhaps indicating it was a favorite. However, Eliza III notes that the hymn sung at Ann’s funeral was from “Moody’s Hymnal” indicating it was likely from “Sacred Songs and Solos,” commonly referred to as Sankey and Moody’s Songbook or Hymnal after the book’s compilers Ira D. Sankey and Dwight L. Moody. (HAMP 9252)